The Sentinel=record. (Hot Springs, Ark.) 1900-current, 1914-10-02
TRAVELLER DESCRIBES SCENE OF
DEVASTATION WHICH FOL-
LOWED WAKE SF GERMANS.
Little Country Resembles More
Bleak Wilderness Than the Once
Prosperous Kingdom.

Mr. Whitehouse made the journey |
outside Antwerp with two military !
cars, attended by Belgian officials. |
Describing the damage which he says |
the Belgians had to inflict upon them |
selves to supplement the defences of
Antwerp, he said
Hundreds of thousands of trees |
had been cut down so that at some
points of our journey we had the IN |
preston of passing through a wider |
ness of roots. The tree trunks had |
been removed so as to afford no |
cover to the enemy. All houses had |
been blown up or otherwise de- |
stroyed. Later we passed through |
the country which had been flooded |
as a further measure of defense. The |
damage resulting from these precad-
tionary measures alone amounted to |
$50 900, 000.
In the villages all ordinary life |
was arrested. Women and children
We're standing or sitting dumb and
patient by the roadside.
81 had read newspaper accounts of
the destruction of Termonde and had
seen photographs, but they had not
conveyed any realization of the hor
ror Of what actually happened. Ter
monde, few weeks ago was beau
tiful city of about 10000 Inhabitants,
city which contained buildings of
SURPRISING interest.
Il went through street after street,
square after square, and / found
every house entirely destroyed with
all its contents. 1t was not the re-
suit of bombardment; it was syste
matte destruction. In each house a
separate bomb had been placed
which had blown up the interior and
set fire to the contents. All that re-
NAMED were portions of the outer
walls, still falling, and inside the
cinders of the contents of the build
ings. Not shred of furniture or
anything else remained.
'Of the population, l though that
not a sou, remained. | was wrong,
for as we turned into a square where
the wreck of what had been one of
the most beautiful Gothic churches
my eyes met a blind woman and her
daughter CROPPED among the ruins.
| They were the sole living creatures
in the whole town.
SHOPS, factories, churches and
houses all were destroyed. One quail
fication only have / to make to this
statement. Two, or perhaps three,
houses bore the German command in
chalk that they were not to be
burned. Where a destroyed house
had obviously contained articles of
value, looting had taken place.
Il inquired what had become of the
population. 1t was a question to
which no direct reply could be given.
They had fled in all directions.
Some had reached Antwerp but
great number were wandering about
the country panic-stricken and stary-
ing. Many were dead.
What happened at Termonde was
similar to what had happened in
other parts of Belgium under the
military occupation of Germany. The
| lbodiL' ID that Nbtihili1AE nave OCth
set up for the civilian population
throughout the occupied territory Of
unexampled misery.
Many Belgians have reached this
| country. Others remain wandering
about Belgium, flocking into other
towns and villages or fleeing to
points across the Dutch frontier.
The whole life of the nation has
been arrested. Food supplies which
ordinarily would reach the civilian
| population are being taken by the
German troops for their own support.
| The peasants and poor are without
the necessities of life and starvation
| conditions grow more acute every
day. Even where there is a supply
of wheat available the peasants are
not allowed to use their windmills,
owing to the German fear they will
send signs to the Belgian army.
I'VE therefore are face to face with
a condition which rarely if ever has
in the history of the world been
faced-an entire nation in a state of
| ANAAAAhb hiAA AAihb NAAtiAA udlL a udg
journey of our own shores.
The completeness of the destruc-
ton in each individual case was ex-
planned to me by the Belgians Not
only were various hand bombs car
ried, but each soldier was supplied
with quantity Of small black discs,
little bigger than a six penny
piece.
81 saw some of these discs, which
had been taken from German soldiers
on the battlefield. These were de
! scribed as composed of compressed
anzne. When lighted they burn
Brilliantly for few minutes and are
sufficient to start whatever fire is
necessary after the explosion of
bomb.
The conditions of famine and
homelessness which exist on such a
|stupendous scale must be added one
which is bad-the mental panic many