The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1873-02-07

were no orders to kill os rianasf; bu
there was freedum given to the soldier.
to do VIII at they pleased There was nc
concerted massacre /, but there was .
general and deliberate murder, without
the weak apology Of provocation. AL
the men found in Liege were prisoners
slaves. They were hanged. singiy o,
in groups, as il for diversion MANY
were carried to the house-tops, and
thence hurled to the street below. The
majority, however, who were killed, were
taken to The bridge over the Meuse, tied
together in pairs, and there thrown into
the river. How many perished by these
and other means of death is unknown.
The historians, who were. of the Bur
grmdians, never gaveany details, though
they acknowledged the massacre. Va
rious estimates, founded upon more OF
less historical data, are given i and many
writers place the number as high as
&C, 600. Those who had fed the city be-
fore the advent OF the troops met a fate
hardly less dreadful, and in some in-
stances more cruel than those who re-
manned. They sought refuge and shell.
ter in the woods. They we're destitute
of food and clothing. They could go
nowhere else. Harboring or giving
shelter to fugitives from Liege was held
to be a crime, and punished accordingly.
Strong bodies of troops were sent after
them. They were hunted as beasts.
They perished with cold and hunger,
and from exposure. -Alel
The soldiery had exhausted all their
ingenuity and strength in wiping out
Dinant, but regular laborers were en-
ployed to make more thorough work
of the demolition of Liege, and erase
almost its very ruins, from the land
scape.
| Some pains were taken to isolate the
churches, in order to prevent their tax
ing fire when the latter should be
kindled. These precautions, however,
failed in many instances, and the
churches shared the fate of the less
sanctified property. On the 9th Of No
vember, the torch was first applied and
Charles and his army, then far away on
their cruel mission, saw from their
camp the light from the burning city.
The fires thus Endled were allowed to
exhaust themselves. Each morning o
fresh fire was started and thus, con-
tinuously, for seven weeks, did men la
Dor, unopposed, to burn what was com
bustible in the city; and during these
long weeks of days and nights, the fires
thus used to crafty the royal demand
for revenge, ragged through the once
beautiful city. At last these fires went
out there was nothing more to burn.
The churches which had been exempted
by the Dukes command, and spared by
the flames, stood surrounded on all sides
by desola.ion. IT is unnecessary to go
into details The havoc which had been
enacted at Dinant was repeated, but ona
more extensive field. The walls and
ruins were leveled the ashes and Gin
ders carefully sifted. Everything of
value was carried off and sold ; and all
that was left of Liege, that had been
erected by man, were the churches with
out congregations, and priests without
people. @ -it ..- 81
While Charles the Bold lived, Liege
remained unpeopled Some stragglers
sole survivors of her people-found
shelter in the rocky heights behind the
city. After long and feryid appeals, the
clergy were allowed to hire a few
mechanics but no step toward the re-
building or re-inhabiting the city was
allowed. No vessels were permitted to
land and in commanding part of the
city fort was erected, commanding
both sides of the river, and which sup
pressed any attempt to renew the in
dustry which had once been SO found.
The history of Liege may encourage,
both Boston and Chicago. Its loss was
total and yet, despite the extermina-
ton of it's inhabitants and its indus
tries, Liege, in the quiet growth of a
few centuries, has become one of the
busiest centers of human activity in the
world. 4. ' -,
It is one vast workshop. Each man,
and it would seem each woman and
child, is an artisan. Nature has de-
posted in close vicinity inexhaustible
beds of iron and coal. Forever, by day
and night, the miners are delving the
ore and the fuel to feed the seemingly
endless array of furnaces that never go
out. In countless shops are strong,
hardy, and skillful men, fashioning and
forging this iron into every imaginable
article which the wants Of man require.
Hardware, cutlery, engines, and locomo.
lives, mills, nails, machinery; firearms
md cannon /; carriages, and every de-
,cription of vehicle /; these are the em-
ployments of men. In other vast estab-
lishments the women and the children
ire as industriously at work upon linen
md cotton goods, troadcloth and leather
1mil