Grand Forks daily herald. (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1914-1916, 1914-11-12
ANTWERP REFUGEES
TELL TALES Of HORROR.
Thousands Fleeing into Holland on the Verge of Starva.
tion-The Dutch Gave them Everything, and now Hate
Germans, Fearing they will be next Victims of Kaiser

ly little Belgian soldiers who foun,
asylum at Flushing. '"They stopped
one night to ask their a A dozel
of the Night Men leaped into the tom
neau.'
Three German officers died there,
silently. Because the fourth CRIED
out. and thereby spoiled a plan, they
took him away. AS he liked to cry
he should have his fill OF crying. the
Night Men said. Strong men die 81.
lently; but as weeping seemed -tc
death he should weep until he was
content before. he died.
They heard him cry for miles,
M'sieu." said my little Belgian soldier,
shivering. But it was dark, and the
German soldiers could not find him
until it was too late" ;
a German war correspondent I met
in Flushing-just. before he was
evicted by the Dutch government
The Germans do not mind these
hedge dogs" said he. angrily. They
Kill men on post. but we do not mind
death in a But when they cap
ture our men, Herr, they kill them
slowly"
1t appears. also. that there is sin
gularly little pleasure to be extracted
from the execution Of these hedge
dogs" They laugh at the ri1emen,
n tell Of the Germans they have
killed and how these Germans died.
1t was after Antwerp. had been
evacuated that the silent hell" came
Of which my refugee friends spoke.
Many Anversois had determined not
to leave their town. Most Of these
were infected by that blind panic
which seized on the town and ran
with the rest. The others waited until
the Germans came
Then we left" said they. "M'sieu,
it is quite true that the city was COM
pletely empty. It was not harmed
greatly. Many of the streets looked
just as they had before. But there
was no one in them"
1t is impossible. of course, that
every man and child and woman left
Antwerp. But it is probably true that
those who remained hid themselves
for the first few hours. The Germans
seized and s%entinelled the streets.
They had no occasion to be noisy. It
must have been q muted nightmare
Of a town.
Their plans had been made, down
to the last detail. The German pas
sion for organizati and system was
never shown to greater advantage.
Six weeks before Antwerp was taken
a Dutch photographer wrote from
Rotterdam to Berlin:
II know you are going to take Ant
werp," said he. II wish to apply for
lures OF the city without interfer,
He received in return a most i'm
posing parchment, lettered in black
and red and blistered with golden
seals, In which he was given permits
sion to enter Antwerp upon the same
day that the German troops entered
it. When he presented himself at
Headquarters with the pass he was
turned over to a junior officer.
Our lunch is ready said the junior
officer.
The Dutch photographer found a
we'll set table. His place was marked
for him by a name card. His name
had not been written but printed.
Germans Well-Behaved in Antwerp.
The Germans were d%ispleased by
the evacuation. They wished the
Anversois to remain there and go on
about their business. The Germans
We're Very distinctly upon their good
ton upon them to capture only an
empty city. but living is difficult un-
der such conditions. So they set
guards at the city gates. Very few
were permitted to go out. but almost
any one could go in. In a few days
the Anversois, treasured by these
tidings, began to drift back to their
homes.
The Germans paid for every farth-
ing's worth Of goods they took" said
a man who had Just arrived from
Antwerp. They did not break open
q store, unless they needed the goods.
Then they took only what they need.
ed and left a receipt for 1t. That re-
ceipt could be turned into cash at the
Hotel de Vile. The cash was newly
minted German silver"
For eight days before Antwerp fell
the water works had been out OF
commission. A stray shell had knock
ed it out. The first thing the Ger
mans did a to restore the water
works. Then they took their own
men, and every other man they could
find, and cleaned the city. The streets
were filled with dead animals and
debris and the frightful refuse of q
siege: ALL this was carted away. Lime
was freely sprinkled where it wal
needed.
1T was not the discipline of the
Germans that impressed me most