Grand Forks daily herald. (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1914-1916, 1914-09-23
CHARGE
GIRLS ARE Cruel
Witness to War Horrors
Says Women Gouged
Out Eyes.

Berlin, Sept. 23.-"A cry Of indig-
nation has been called forth through
out the world" writes w. Scheuer-
mann, a correspondent Of several
German newspapers. who accompanies
the German general staff. "by the So
called cruelty with which the Ger
mans are carrying on this war.
In all countries that get their news
through English and French sources
stories of German barbarism are re-
peated. 1t is, therefore. doubly the
duty of a raj correspondent who can
speak Of what his W ayes have seen
to report what he saw"
In q long account of misery and
desolation h correspondent then ac-
cuses Belgian civilians. among them
young girls, of gouEing out h eyes
of German wounded and of other
cruelties.
simultaneously the destruction of
part Of Louvain Is explained in an
official statement.
Describes Ruins of Homes.
Herr Scheuermann's story Is a de-
tense of the German soldiers.
II have spent DAYS in the worst
Franc-Tireur regions Of Belgium and
France" he writes. my first impress
slons of the horrors of war were OBJ
tanned at Battice. on the road from
Aachen to Liege. where there had
oeen fighting between Franc-Tireurs
and our soldiers. Instead Of q -four
ishing village. with clean houses and
neat villas. one sees there now char
red ruins stretching along the high
way for a mile.
II passed through a village that was
quite burned out. where only a few
German landwehr soldiers were stand
Ing guard-no other living beings Wis
i0le anvwharn
Woman Weep in Wreckage.
But when I came to the doorway
OF . house that had fallen in I saw in
room a white-haired woman with a
KITCHEN knife raking in the debris. I
called to her. She did not hear me.
Her face was like q gray stone, and
her eyes fixed as in death. She dug
as II n was expecting to find some
thing under the fallen bricks.
In a front garden. which had been
scorched by the flames. a woman in a
plack dress was %crouching and Weep
ing, weeping.
I'm the upper story Of one house
everything had been destroyed by fire,
put at n place on the ,smoke-be-
srimed wall there hung the discolored
long dead.
OAAAU uIu0O 10 u0dCn.
Al n place a blue enameled
child's bedstead peers out of the
smoking debris; still filled with its
scorched mattress and pillows.
Whoever has a child at home in its
snow white bed g
But a curse and thrice a curse
upon those who caused all this mis-
cry. For them there is ms punish
ment in his world sufficient to atone
for their evil deed. And when they
now denounce, our brave warriors as
the cause Of this desolation.f this latter
Islander. shameful as it is. does not
weigh much in comparison with what
they actually did.
Accuses Civilians Of Belgium.
Our German soldiers and landwehr
men marched into the country Of the
enemy with the same order and disci-
pline that they maintain on the drill
ground and in army maneuvers.
Whenever we came we guaranteed to
the 1nhabttante security for life and
property; we are waging war with
the armies Of the enemy, not with
civilians.
Nov. what happened in Battice,
Giermont, Herve. Fleron and other
Belgian places was. with singular sim
ularity, as follows:
The Inhabitants let the Germans
march in, received them with cringing
fr1endltness. offered them wine in SUI
perduous Quantities and then fell upon
them at night.
Germans Avenged the Murders.
IT goes without saying-for mere
self-preservation demanded it-that
every murdered German was avenged.
Where the murderers could be caught
they were brought before a court
martial; and II their guilt was evident.
tney were blot or hanged.
All this was done in perfect order.
How 9 the self-control of our troops
extends was proved to- me by an ex-
ample only day before Yesterday.
AT tne entrance to the French for
tress OF Longwy, just captured, I saw
German soldiers bringing in a troop of
rranc-tireurs, quite old fellows, and
among them a few common thieves
scarcely beyond schoolbov age, all
With criminal faces Of the hardest
type.
Describes Deeds of cruelty.
what did these men do?' demand
They put on Red Cross scarfs,
then went upon the battlefield and
mutilated our wounded. we caught
them in the act was the reply.
Why dtdn't you beat the ecoun-
drels to death. at once?'
we dare not do that. They must
De Dug before q courtmartial.'
The reader should know what was
the Character OF this mutilation. The
eyes OF our wounded men. lying help
less IN their pain upon the battlefield,
were cut vi with knives.
old ana young mel and women
We're caught as hyenas of tho battle
held-and they received their re.
ward.
AT Wise q 16-year-old girl had to
pc shot because she wal caught in the
act OF n1Utiiatinr our u,oiindAd Irhauo