Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1873-02-08

were no orders 10 XIII or plllnQer, but
there was freedom given to the soldiers
to do what they pleased. There was no
concerted massacre but there was a
general and deliberate murder, without
the weak apology of provocation. All
the men found in Liege were prisoners
slaves. They were hanged, singly or
in groups, as if 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
gundians, never gave any details, though
they acknowledged the massacre. Va
rious estimates, founded upon more or
less historical data, are given and many
writer's place the number as high as
10000. Those who had fled the city be-
fore the advent of the troops met n fate
llaINiN ltSS uita'tl'il, Hi'i III SoIuc III
stances more cruel than those who re-
manned. They sought refuge and shell
ter in the woods. They were destitute
of food and clothing. They could go
nowhere else. Harboring or giving
shelter to fugitivcs 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 pcrishcd with cold and hunger,
and from exposure.
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 Liegc, and erase
almost its very ruins from the land
scapc.
Some pains were taken to isolate the
churches, in order to prevent their tax
ing fire when the latter should be
kindlcd. These precautions, however,
failed i'll many instances, and the
churches shared the fate of the less
sanctificd 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 kindled were allowed to
exhaust themselves. Each morning a
fresh fire was started and thus, con-
tinuously, for seven weeks, did men Ia
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 desolation. 1t is unnecessary to go
into details. The havoc which had been
enacted at Dinant was repeated, but on a
more extensive field The walls and
ruins were levelcd 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.
While Charles the Bold lived, Liege
remained unpeoplcd. Some stragglers
sole survivors of her people-found
shelter in the rocky heights behind the
city. After long and fervid appeals, the
clergy were allowed to hire 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 ucourage
both Boston and Chicago. Its loss was
total and yet, despite the e1termina-
ton of its 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.
1t 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-
tives, mills, nails, machinery; firearms
and cannon carriages, and every de-
scription of vehicle these are the en-
Payments of men. In other vast estab-
lishments the women and the children
are as industriously at work upon linen
and cotton goods, broadcloth and leather
manufactures.
ABSOLUTELY the latest statistics of the
battles of Koniggratz, Gravelotte and
Sedan have appeared. In the first 900,