The river press., 1914-11-11

for run along the battlefield, from
Wise to Liege. l rather expected the
trip would be exciting. It would be
glorious to be one of the first on those
fields where the Belgians had been sc
vahantly fighting for hearth and home
against the invaders.
would that l had been the last to
visit them-after the wounded had all
been taken up and the dead burned
or buried. might then have been
spared the fearful picture of carnage
which is now painted on my mind in
horror forever.
"There were flowers and smiling
faces in the neat cottage windows as
I sped through the peaceful frontier
village of Mesch. Yet only a little
further on, as we rounded turn, we
found the machine Utterly plowing
through a cluster of dead soldiers, the
wheels skidding in blood. There had
been a skirmish of outposts there. Be-
yond was the site of German camp,
marked by heaps of the dead. Bel.
gians and Germans lay strewn in in.
describable confusion, giving mute
evidence that the conflict had been
hand to hand-bayonet against sabre.
Lying among the corpses, on them,,
under them, were the bodies of horses
and the wrecks of autos and bicycles.
The Belgian cyclist infantry, l sur
missed, had caught body of German
infantry and cavalary here in a flank
movement.
''The silence was CHASTITY. The
was two days old, and the
had all been picked up, or
more likely, had found relief in death
All along the route villages were in
ruins, fields flattened, forests charred
by flame. A sheet of fire and steel
seemed to have blazed across the
and left it a dreary wilder
ness.
"Much farther along | came to the
real carnage-the fresh battlefelds
around Liege. The living, still uncar
ed for, lay among the corpses. Have
you ever turned out huge nest of
worms to writhe as whole because
Of the still wriggling, agonizing forms
scattered through it? Just enlarge
that picture to human proportions and
add to it's silence the horror of
,roans and cries. That is what saw
IN the outskirts of the great battle
fields at Liege.
Here a mans body turned over.
Another was jerking spasmodically in
he death grip. There bloody arm
vas raised, and further on hand
)eckoned in appeal. Bleeding forms
we're painfully crawling over the
'hambles as aimlessly, it seemed, as
single insects. Red Cross surgeons
md ambulances were working their
way methodically across the field,
which under the gloomy drizzle of
ain had grown sodden. Its mire and
mud pudddles were stained red.
"As l moved along the slope fearful
details began to sink in. Here was a
path of wheels in the mass of flesh,
where artillery, changing it's position
in mad haste, had torn wheel ruts
right through the dead and dying
forms. An inarticulate sob issued
from a body at my feet. 1t was
broken and bathed in blood,
md the whole face had been crushed
n by horses hoof. Yet that blind,
shapeless thing was still alive. l |
moved away in a panic Of cowardice
But what more could | do? pointed
,ut the spot where it lay to one of the
Red Cross surgeons, yet know he
would pass it by for the wounded |
Germans near at hand, who might !
still be saved.
Somebody cried for water. but
lad none. Water the hoarse voice
still sobbed as went on. l escaped
t only to come to something worse. A I
'oung boy, sore wounded in the
,reast was deliriously crying: Moth
n, O my MOTHER The anguish in
hat voice, alone on that awful field,
alling on the loved one who would
lever hear it more, brought burning
ears to my eyes when thought
hat all feeling had been blunted by
orrOr
"lt turned to my motor and took
he road back toward Holland, in
light.
81 have been into hell--not of fire,
ut OF macerated flesh and gore. of
agony and ghastly death.
"The flames of hell would seem
'ure. swift and sweet by COMPARE
on"