The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1914-09-23

An Associated Press staff CORES
pondent of American birth and antece
dents who was sent from the New
York office and was caught in Brus
sells at the time of the German inva
sion, held as 4 prisoner for severa
days and finally escaped to Holland
las sent by mail the following story
of his experiences:
"rhe night before the Germans en-
tered Brussels, when the Belgian civi
guards and refugees began pouring in
to the city from the direction of Lou
vain, they brought stories of unspeak
able German atrocities maltreatmen
of old men and children and the VIC
ation of women.
The Belgian capital reeled with ap
prehension Within an hour the gaiety
the vivacity and brilliancy OF the cit,
went out like a broken arc light.
Lock Selves in Homes.
The radiance of the cafes was ex
changed for darkness: WHISPERING
groups of residents broke up hurriedly
and locked themselves into theil
homes where they put up the shutters
and drew in their tricolored Belgian
flags. The historic Belgian city went
through state OF morbid consterna
ton remarkably like that from
which it suffered on June IS, 1915
when it trembled with the fear of a
French victory at Waterloo.
In less than tWenty-four hours the
Belgian citizens were chatting COM
tortably with the German invaders and
the allegation Of German brutality and
demoniacal torture dissolved into one
of the myths which have accompanied
all wars.
Offensive Acts Missing.
Neither in Brussels nor in its en-
virOns was single offensive act, so
far as ! know, committed by a Ger
man soldier In city of more than
half million people, invaded by a
hostile army OF perhaps quarter Of
million soldiers. no act sufficiently
Migrant to demand punishment or to
awaken protest came to my attention
1.-The frightful reports that had pre-
coded the German army into Brussels
included the disemboweling of old men
and the inpaling of children on lane
es, just outside Louvain.
Investigation not only failed to
substantiate these rumors, but could
not even discover anyone in the i'm
mediate vicinity who credited them.
Kissing Girl Worst Act.
AN eyewitness Of unimpeachable
veracity told me that the worst be-
havior he had observed during the
first German entry into Louvain aug.
19) was that Of German soldier who
leaned from his horse and kissed a
pretty Flemish girl who brought him
q glass Of beer. 40
II marched for days with the Ger
man columns, often only one day be-
hind the fighting, with houses that
had been burned still smouldering,
the ground freshly broken by shell
and trampled by horses and men, and
the memory of the German advance
vivid in the minds of the inhabitants
! interviewed an average of twenty
persons in each of dozen towns, and
found only one instance of noncom-
blatant who had been killed without a
justifiable provocation.
Evidence Not Clear.
III llllS CASE lle eNIueLce ulu uOI
clearly prove that the man had been
wantonly murdered. He lived in one
of the typical small Belgian country
side houses, which combine the COM
forts of home with the lure OF a small
public bar.
This house was at the north end of
Merbes-le-Chateau, town through
which large part of the German
army passed on the road to Maubeuge.
A son of the murdered man, whose
name was Arthur Nicodem, showed
me blood-clots on the floor marking
the place where Nicodem fell, his
throat cut by saw-edged German
saber.
ut was said by some inhabitants
that the murdered man showed pair
OF binoculars; but a more probable
explanation was that English outposts
had concealed themselves in the hous-
es, from which they poured rain of
fire on the German invaders.
Germans in ReprisaIs.
1.-The inference that the shooting
was done by Belgian civilians may
have inf1amed the Germans to repris.
ais. In that neighborhood four houses
had been burned, and one was still
ablaZe as | passed on Wednesday
Aug. 26.
This town of Merbes-le- Chateau
which had been the scene OF an unim-
portant skirmish between the Ger
mans and the English on the previous
Sunday was riddled with riffs shots
The small number of windows intact
showed that the Germans had made
deliberate assault upon the residents
of the town.
But the inhabitants themselves ad
mitted that all of the shooting had
been done by comparatively small
number of Germans, and that the fir
ing had not begun until English sol
diers, who had concealed themselves
in the houses, had fired upon the Ger
mans.
81 have emphasized the one fatality
of noncombatant because the news
of it travelled up and down the Sam
bre and was greatly magnified. With
this one possible exception, | did not
encounter in Nivelles, in Binche, Buis-
siere or Solre-sur-Sambre or any of
the other towns | visited, single in
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