The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-17
STORY OF HORRIBLE ATROCITIES IS LAID
 BEFORE WILSON BY
 BELGIAN COMMITTEE
,continued from Page One,

|, DGLU1AN OlJN1Ml r1 E
 (Contfnued from Page ODc) } gian troops and two gendarmes. A Ger
 man officer was killed by the Belgian soldiers during the fight, and subsequent ly buried at the request of the Belgian officer in command No civilians had taken part in the fight; nevertheless. the village was invaded at dusk August To- | by strong force of German cavalry. artillery and machine guns. In spite of the formal assurances by the burgomas- ter that no civilians had taken part in the fight. two farms and six outlying houses were destroyed by gun fire and re- duced to ashes. All the male population was compelled to come forward and hand over whatever arms they possessed No recently discharged firearms were found. Nevertheless the invaders divided these peasants in three groups Those in one group were bound and Il of them placed in ditch where they afterwards were found dead, their skulls fractured by the butts of rifles.
 Fire Into House | During the night of August 10 Ger man cavalry entered velm: the inhabit- ants were asleep. Without provoeation I the Germans fired on M. Deglimme' S house and broke into it, They destroyed furniture and footed valuables They burned his barns, hay. corn stacks im- l plements, cattle and his farm yard. They carried off Madame Deglmme, half , naked to place two miles away. She then was released and as she fled was fired on without being hit Her husband was carried to point in another direc- tion and fired on; he is dying. The same troops sacked and burned the house of a railway watchman.
 Farmer Jeff Dkerckx of Neerhespen is an eyewitness to the following atroei- 1 ties committed by German cavalry at | Oresmael and Neershespen August 1O II l and 12. An old man had his arm cut in three longitudinal slices He then was | hanged head downward and burned alive Young girls were raped and little children outraged at 0rsmael, and mutilations. too | horrible to describe were inflicted on other inhabitants Prisoners were hanged while others were tied to telegraph posts and shot.
 After an engagement at Haelen Commandant Van Damme was so se- verely wounded that he was lying prone on his back. He was murdered by German infantry firing their re- volvers into his mouth.
 | Numerous wounded and unarmed soldiers were i'll treated or killed by German troops, and in different places doctors and nurses and ambulances were fired on.
 Violate White Flag
 "At times the Germans went into the battle with a Belgian flag. l While digging trenches and with the white flag hoisted Belgian soldiers were set on by Germans and shot
 Another time, near a fort at Lon cin, group of German infantry hoist ed the white flag and when the Bel gian soldiers approached them to take them prisoners. they were fired on at 1 close range.
 'The massacre of Aerschot: "Aerschot. town of 5000 inhabitants, was invested by the Germans in the morning Of August 19. No Belgian troops remained behind No sooner had | tho Germans entered the city when they began by shooting several inof- l feEsiye civilians. In the evening, claim | ing that a superior German officer had l been shot by the son of the burgo- master or, according to another ver- sion of their story, that a conspiracy had been matched against the German commandant by the burgomaster and his family. the Germans took hold of every man in the city, carrying them, 50 at time. within some distance of the town There they grouped them | in lines of four men, made them run ahead of tnom and fired upon them, killing them afterward with their bay onets. More than 40 men were found thus massacred.
 "They pillaged the whole town, talk ing from private residences all they conld lay their hands on. The follow 1 ing morning they took one man out of every three whom they had arrested the previous evening and, leading them outside the city. shot them. Among | these were the burgomaster of the town. his 15-year-old son and his brother.
 "Then they compelled the remaining villagers to dig holes to bury their victims.
 "For three whole days they continued to pillage and set fire to everything in their way.
 15O Perish
 About 150 inhabitants of Aerschot are supposed to have thus perished
 "The largest part of the city Is de- stroyed. Five times the Germans tried to set fire to the big church, having sacked the interior of it's contents The town records were destroyed or car- ried off.
 Tt must be borne in mind that the l civil population of Aerschot had been Repeatedly warned by their burgomas- ter not to offer any resistance or com init any hostile act toward the in- | vaders. The Germans shot at the flee ing citizens. set fire to private houses i and sacked them. They wanted to make the victimized citizens declare that they themselves had set fire to their homes. Everywhere along the road of the German march the same horrors were visible. The witness men tions the names of IS persons who were to his Knowledge massacred at Aer- schot.
 The Destruction of Louvain
 Tine destruction of Louvain: The German army penetrated into Louvain after having set fire to the surround ing towns and villages.
 From the moment of their entrance into the city they requisitioned lodg- iingirg and food for their troops. They entered every private bank and footed its reserve. They entered private resi- dences and sacked and pillaged them l and indulged in orgies of all kinds. They took hostages; all the promi- nent men of the city were detaincS. Women and children were outraged and i'll treated by the soldiers.
 :! Previous to the German invasion tn , whole city had been warned repeat l edly not to offer any resistance to the 7 German troops, or to oppose hostile ootc Moro than that al rms rc-