Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1914-11-26
BY RAYMOND z. SWING.
Correspondence of The Chicago Daily
News)


Correspondence of The Chicago Daily
News)
Berlin, CeTmauy.-The task of gath
ering material about atrocities is per
haps the simplest Of the activities Of
those reporting this war, but the task
Of confirming these stories is one to
drive a trained jurymau mad. After
spending several days among soldiers
at the front I have come to the con
clusiOn that one of the horrors of war
is the wildly exaggerated stories about
atrocities, and that these stories are
nearly as harmful as the verified
atrocities themselves. They will
make any sane and progressive peace
movement extremely difficult, which
must find its support from a people
believing with biUterest hate every eX-
aggerated statement about an enemy
and refusing to believe the crimes Of
its own army.
There are plenty Of atrocities with
incontroYertibIe evidence. Such cases
East Prussia. Henry c. a Mead, who
went to East Prussia for The Chicago
Daily News. brought back a report of
which / quote the following:
In the hospital Of Soldau there lies
a woman who can speak with terri
BILE conviction about the bestiaIity Of
Cossacks. When the Russians came
through Soldau she was working as
nurse in the little Soldau hospital.
With three aged men she hid in a shed
behind the hospital shell burst
near the shed and drove them from
their hiding place. They ran to the
street as the Cossacks were riding
past. The three men were immediate
Iy killed and she was attacked by five
Cossacks and then shot The bullet
struck her shoulder and she survived
to tell her story. I had it from her
own lips as she lay in the hospital"
Swears to Mutilatlons.
MIR. Mead continues to quote from
an affidavit of August Kurz of the
Fifth company landwehr:
I'VE were marching from Lauten-
burg to Hohenstein when attacked.
Our company entered the woods, and
in the woods l was separated from my
comrades In the woods I came on
the bodies of II women, all of them
mutilated"
This affidavit is supported by anoth-
er member of the same detachment of
troops who saw the same gruesome
sight.
la East Prussia there are many sto-
ries where conclusive proof of this
sort is lacking, but which apparently
bear the earmarks of truth, and
which will make it difficult for the
East Prussians to believe that the Cos
sack is better than his reputation. The
cruelties inflicted on women, the muir
der Of old men and the horrible abuse
of children are told in many quarters
There are several instances where
Russian officers themselves warned
the population to fee, as they declined
to be responsible for the actions of
the Cossacks.
Saw Evidence of Plundering.
Mr. Mead himself saw many evil
dences of plundering. Tapiau, Web
lau, Soldau and AIlenburg were ruth
lessIy robbed by the Russians. Shops
and homes we're in the greatest dis
order when he was there ten days af-
ter Russian evacuation. Allenstein,
Insterburg and Tilsit, however, were
not plundered, though in Tilsit were
found papers indicating that the city
was to have been plundered in two
days. General Hindenburgs victory
of Tanneburg interviewed. In these
three latter cities the Russians be-
haved Well, paid for everything they
bought in the shops and gave bonds"
for Communicated supplies.
Mr.. Mead heard conflicting stories
about a general massacre in Absch-
wangen. All versions agreed that the
Russians had killed nearly all the pop
uIation. and the likeliest reason he
could find was that the invaders, be-
lieving that the landsturm troops there
were civilians, had revenged what they
thought to be franC-tireurism. The
number of dead is variously estimated
from $50 to 800 The evidence about
Abschwangen is confusing and the
truth is hard to determine
Seeking to Poison Water.
Another story, for which there was
good authority, though no direct evil
dence was found by Mr.. Mead, was
that a man had been captured in
Koenigsberg with several tubes of ty-
phoid bacilli. with which he was try
ing to poison the water supply of the
city.
With the western armies stories
about atrocities and plundering are as
plentiful as in East Prussia. The
world is fairly familiar with accounts
OF alleged German and Belgian atroci-
ties in Belgium. There are many
variations Of these stories; they seem
to include ali the most horrible
crimes which the human mind can
conceive. I shall add only one TO this
list. A German flyer in Belgium, a
man whose reputation is exemplary
and who bears a name known to the
world, was forced to descend with his
machine when his observer was
wounded. He left his observer with
the aeroplane while he went back to
seek help. When he came back he
found his observer-who was his most
intimate friend-with eyes gouged
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