Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1914-10-02
FIND No 'ATROC|IY"
American Correspondents Unable
to Confirm Belgian Charges.
Reported CrueitIes of Germans Seem
to Have Been Only Retaliation
After Most Extreme
Provccation.
Ev HARRY HANSEN,

| to Germany and to German arms de-
mands fair play from America with
reference to stories of atrocities and
barbarities alleged to have been
practiced by the German troops. Sew
eral weeks of close scrutiny convince
re that it is extremely unlikely that
the men Of this great organization,
probably the best disciplined troops
ever brought into the field, have
played the part Of the barbarian an
have wantonly pillaged and burned vii
lagos and murdered noncombatants.
Such shootings as have taken place
appear to have been reprisals made
necessary by hostile acts on the part
Of civilians.
These conclusions are the outcome
of observation of German methods, in
the course of which | visited prac-
tically all parts of Belgium. where
German troops passed on their way to
tnv French frontier.
Not only was it impossible to verify
the gossip of the countryside, but in
most instances the troops were found
to have suffered from midnight am
buscades, and civilians were found to
have fired in the dark on officers and
men, to have cut off the ears OF Ger
man wounded and to have robbed the
dead on the battle fields.
Punishment for those individuals
was swift and sure, and the action
takel. by the Germans was such as
might have been followed by every
army in the world.
The German general staff does not
countenance the presence of war cor
respondents. 1t acts promptly and
effectively to keep correspondents be-
yond it's lines, yet in the course of
the German march through Belgium
It was possible for five American cor
respondents to mingle freely with Of
ficers and men, to dine at their mess
and to march with their troops.
These men were Irwin S. Cobb Of
the Saturday Evening Post, John T.
McCutcheon and James O'Donnell
Bennett of the Chicago Tribune, Roger
Lewis of the Associated Press and
the representative of the Daily News
Until their arrival at the headquarters
of the Aeneral staff in Beaumont these
men had every facility for observing
the conduct of troops, especially in
the villages through which they
passed.
On the night Of Thursday, August
27, sat In the tiny back parlor of
the cafe at Beaumont, quaint Rel
gisn village scarcely two kilometers
from the French frontier, when Lieu
tenant Millendorfer, temporary com
mander of the village, threw himself
in a chair opposite me with tired,
detected expression. He stared sor
a moment at the table, then ex-
claimed:
81 have just had q disagreeabla
task. l ordered two persons to be
shot. They were old, more than sew
enty, a mas and a woman. Their age
alone should have entitled them to
clemency. But it was impossible.
The law of war is memorable"
What did they do?" l asked.
Fed poisoned coffee to my sol
diers," he exclaimed, with blazing
eyes, MEAN, dirty business. They
confessed it and they died"
1t was the law of war. It is the law
Of war, too, that man who harbOrs
combatants or who fires on troops
shall have his house burned over his
head. 1t is the law of war likewise
that city which plans an ambuscade
and fires on soldiers shall be burned.
/ had heard of German cruelties
from Belgian soldiers on the retrea;
of the columns to MaIines. l had beef
told that farm houses had been ruth
lessly destroyed. Peasants moving
along the countryside with their lit
tie bundles of goods had reiterated
the story, but no one had been able
to give first hand information. Cos
sip pointed to Landen as the source
of some of the rumors, yet the burgo
master of Landen, Octave Remarquez,
who had interviewed the German
troops and knew what had occurred in
his part of Brabant, said that the Ger
mans had been courteous to marked
degree, had paid for their entertain
ment, had pillaged no homes and had
asked no favors.
He had heard of one shooting, that
of a Belgian farmer who had cut
holes in his shutters out Of which to
fire at the Germans, and he had sus-
picion that the farmer might have
been even more seriously implicated.
Subsequently I passed through
dozens of Belgian villages, sometimes
with the German troops and some |
times after they had passed, and for
two days 1 remained in the town of |
Binche, famed for its annual carnival, |
while thousands of infantry and cav
airy soldiers and miles of transports |
proceeded to the French border.
From Niveiles the 70 > lay through |
Seneffe, Monage and Fayt-les-Seneffes |
thence to La Louviere, Marlemont |
Morlanwelz, Pieton, Binche, Merbes |
Ste Marie, Merbes-le-Chateau, Bonnie |
Esperance, Sorle-sur-Sambre, Sor-le |
Chateau and other villages, all Of |
which had been visited by troops and |