The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1914-10-15
BLOOD CURDL|NG
ATROCITIES TOLD
Of RUSSIANS
WOMEN ARE VIOLATED AND
BOYS SHOT DOWN.
INNOCENT PAY FOR DEFEAT
Correspondent Says Scenes Of Tor.
ture, Death and Devastation Left
by Cossacks In East Prussia
Are Almost Unbelievable.

Are Almost Unbelievable.
BY Karl H. Won Wiegand, United
Press staff correspondent, Konigs.
burg, Oct 10. BY telegraph to Ber
lin and thence by way of Nauen by
wireless through Sayville, l.. |. The
czar's Cossacks left a bleeding trail
o. desolation, and woe across the
fields of East Prussia as they swept
back into their own land smarting
under the defeat by the German
army. have reached this city aft.
er a six hundred mile trip through
this area of desolation.
Death and Devastation.
| saw path of torture, death and
devastation almost unbelievable.
The battles of Tannenberg and Me.
denberg were bad enough with then
still present reminders of sacrifices
Of human life but tne country
through which | have just passed
shows murder, rapine and inhuman
cruelty almost beyond belief. Around
Niedenberg the Russians satisfied
their lust by violating girls and wo-
men, some of the women being from
so to 20 years old. In the region
where for a time the Russians made
q stand against the Germans who
were forcing them back, conditions
arc terrible.
Russian Revenge on Women.
The Russians took full revenge for
their defeat on the women and girls.
Catholic Sisters and young girls have
been left dying. The Russians killed
every male they encountered of mil
itary age The countryside has been
stripped of all men between the ages
OF IA and As. Old men who protest
ed were also murdered. Nor is this
confined to the country near Nieden
berg. The Russian invasion of Kon
| igsberg was accompanied by thu
same riot OF lust,
! Boys Shot by Russians, .a
!. At AbschwangeHy a small Rillag
ten miles from Konigsberg, 81 mel
were shot, including ten bays be
tween the ages of and Is. The
father of a fourteen year old BIO!
with his eyes bloodshot from days
of weeping told how the CossackF
shot the little group one by one
"They did not kill them by volley'
he said the Russians shot them one
by one. My wife and | got on oul
knees and prayed to God that Oul
boy might be spared. We saw him
with his hands OutstretChed to US il
unayailing appeal
Made Widow Witness Killing,
Here at AbsChwangen also | wen
to the sick bed of a young widow
| who raved of the horrors she haC
| Fnrrn1 hn,
to stand at window and watch
while in the garden below they shO
down her husband of a month, her Z!
year old father and 62 year old faith
in-in-law. Pastor Rocket at Griesde
men told me how his brother was
gored to death by a COssack wht
plunged his lance into the body
again and again and gOuged out thu
eyes.
Oefenseless Burned to Death.
At Ortelsburg those who witnessed
the Russian retreat told me how tht
Cossacks locked four defenseless per
ISons, among them a deaf and duml
man and child, in house and set tir'
to it. From an S2-year.old inmate o
the poor mousse at Santoppen | heart
of more murder sickening in its yer!
telling. Thirteen of our villagers,
he said. were lined up and shot, al
because the church bells were tolle'
for one of the men honorably kille,
in battle.
Priests and Preachers Shot.
Among the thirteen was the villag
, school teacher, several priests an
several prominent men of the town.
Motoring over the desolated regio1
near Darkehmen | personally counte
81 farms Laird waste by the Russians
verified the story that 35 citizen
of this village mad been shot dowT
At Gardauer, an important railroa
, junction. at least 100 were shot an
more than a score are missing. Her
again were stories of atrocities o
women. | was told by reputable me
that not even mere girls of Ia wer
a spared from assault. Mothers an
D daughters met the same fate.
: Dead Bodies MutiIated.
!. At Christiapkehmen, 10 men weI
n snOt and their bodies so badly mutt
s ated that their own wives could M
o identify them. Scores OF villages
S the country | passed through wei
O laid waste and the houses either who
g Ily or partially destroyed. Those lie
s standing were unprintably befoutt
l. from cellar to garnet. Pictures We
Il torn from their frames, furnitu
d smashed and belongings scatter'
& abroad met family after family
mourning for some male relatiV
WAC had either been killed or vi
4. missing Tney said that the Russian
1t carried men off with them in the
)f retreat.
Is Campaign One Of determination.
10 was told That the Russian ca
ii paign was one OF determination.
s. possible soldiers were murders
ia They wanted to clear the countrysi
al of men. The material devastati
90 alone, the houses destroyed and pr,
O. lerty ruined. has been estimated
ct tween one quarter and onehalf
billion dollars.