Gilpin observer., 1914-10-01
BY EDWARD PRICE BELL.


London.-Moving stories of the ruin
and agony of war in central Belgium
have been told me by F. A Mckenzie,
editor of the London Weekly Times,
| best known for his work as cor
respondent in the Japanese war and
| the Russian revolution. Obviously Nc
| KenZie spoke honestly in every word
he uttered. and like every other ex-
| perienced war correspondent from Bel
| GUM and France / have interviewed
| he was unable to describe what he wit
| messed without an occasional redden-
| ing OF the eyes and faltering of the
| voice.
II have seen savage war in many
| lands" said Mr. Mckenzie, but never
| before anything like that which Bel
gium shows was done there. Oriental
armies in the hour of victory or Rus
sian troops when relentlessly sup
| pressing internal rebellion were mild
and merciful compared with the treat
ment given to this people.
THE German plan of terrorism was
| carefully calculated and Germany
does not deny this. Its aim is not
alone to prevent people from attempt
ing to break the lines of communica-
tion in Belgium, but even more SO
to alarm the neighboring Dutch peas
antry that Holland would not join
| the allies.
Burning Of Belgian Towns.
The German excuse is that the
burning of Belgian towns and villages
was done only as punishment for
attacks by civilians. Yet in case aft
er case entire districts were burned
| out apparently because of the stub
born resistance offered by the Belgian
army. Take, for example, Belle,
place four miles from Client. Here
little force Of 500 Belgian volunteers
with two cannon successfully held up
several thousand Germans for two
| hours and made them pay heavily in
life before the defenders retired.
When the Germans entered the
town there was no resistance by the
| villagers, who knew too we'll what
their fate would be The troops went
into the houses and feasted off the lit
tie stores of provisions. Officers occu-
pied the largest buildiL~c in the viii
lage, the home of a lawyer, com
Portable three story building. The
lawyers wife anxiously gave them her
best. but when the dinner was over
the house was burned with so other
small houses.
| Graves in Front Of Kitchens.
Il stood in the village street after
the Germans had gone as it was
marked by the burning ruins. I no
ticed that the graves of the victims
had been dug sometimes in front of
their own kitchen doors. i had to ask
myself whether the whole thing was
not fevered dream. The only crime
of these people was that their village
had been the scene of a battle in
which several German officers had
been shot
Il entered the ruins of a farmhouse
where the eldest son, a lad of nine
teen. had been shot before his mother
and fathers eyes, because the Ger
mans thought he was old enough to
be a soldier The house was burned
so thoroughly that not dish, not a
scrap of wood and not an article worth
five cents remained. A child had
been killed close by. possibly by ac-
cident. With home gone. crops ruined
and the eldest son dead, the family
was SO stupefied with grief that they
scarcely could reply to my questions
Down the roadway l could see
mothers coming back, gazing distract
edly at the ruins of their old homes
seeking for husbands and sons. fear
ing to ask for their daughters and in
some cases looking for their babes
and finding them in the ashes oi
DEATH
While Termonde Burned.
Not long afterward l stood in one
of the few houses left in Termonde
German officers also made this theil
headquarters during the sack of the
town, and they had marked on the lin
tel-the writing still remained-direc
tions that the house was to be spared
While Termonde was burning they
made holiday here. They found {
gramophone and plenty of champagne
They seated themselves in the garden
played tunes, sang and drank to the
, cracking chorus of l 500 burning
homes. A woman who witnessed the
feast said to me: These Germans ar,
veritably without hearts
When the officers had gone tn,
camp followers, who acted as order
lies and hangers-on around the army
burst open the door and ravaged the
house. Every window was broken, al
most every bit OF glass shattered. tn,
furniture smashed, drawers pulled ou
and emptied, desks ransacked and cup
boards laid bare. In the day nursery
children's toy dresser was forced
open and rummaged. The plaything.
were thrown all around the nursery
and books were torn and hurled to diff
ferent parts OF the room. Every
| ,sbara In ha bnnoa the