The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1914-09-25

Ihe CDicdko AA W
.rrrishted dispatch from james
n,f.ouneIl Bennett, staff correspondent
IVA at Aix-ra-C hapelle, Germany
-sIch in specific detail disputes an,
..ries the charges Of cruelties AMI
.srocities lodged against the German.
!. pelgium. Mr.. Bennett, in compan!
an John 7. McCutcheon Of the Chica
7. tribune, Irwin 8. Cobb Of the Sat
.,day Evening Post. Roger Lewis o
A. Associated Press and Harry Han
a Of the Chicago Daily News, trav
"a 100 miles through 20 towns ant
NAT observations lead him to the firm
sonyiction that the reports Of bar
h.rities alleged to have been perpe
/ ,rated by German troops are false
hoods.
The following dispatch to the Asso
'e,ted Press, evidently forwarded b,
Rorer Lewis, is in substantial agree
nent with Mr.. BENEFITS story in the
Chicago Tribune;
BY the Associated Press.
New York.--An Associated Press
stafR correspondent of American birth
and antecedents, who was sent from
the New York office and was caugh,
IN Brussels at the time Of the Ger
man invasion, held as a prisoner fol
several days, and who finally escaped
10 Holland, has sent by mail the fol
bwing story of his experiences:
The night before the Germans en-
tered Brussels, when the Belgian civil
guards and refugees began pouring
into the city from the direction OF
Louvain, they brought stories of un,
epeakable German atrocities, maltreat.
rnent of old men and children. and the
violation of women.
The Belgian capital reeled with APP.
prehension. Within an hour the gay,
ETY., the vivacity, and ~brilliancy of the
city went out like a broken arc light.
The radiance Of the cafes was ex.
changed for darkness; whispering
groups OF residents broke up hurried.
ly and locked themselves into this
homes, where they put up the shut,
ters and drew in their tri-colored Bel
glan flags.
Fears Of Brussels Quieted.
THE historic Belgian city went
through a state Of morbid c~onsterna-
ton, remarkably like that from which
1t suffered on June Is, 1915, when it
trembled with the fear Of a French vic
tory at Waterloo.
In less than "a hours the Belgian
citizens were chatting comfortably
with the German invaders and the al.
legations Of German brutality and de.
moniacal torture dissolved into one Of
the myths which have accompanied all
wars.
Neither in Brussels nor in its en-
virons was a single offensive act, SO
far as | know, committed by a German
soldier. In a city OF over half a mil
lion people, invaded by q hostile army
Of perhaps a quarter of a million sol
diers, no act sufficiently fragrant to
demand punishment or to awaken pro-
test came to my attention.
None Knows Of outrages.
The frightful reports that had pre-
coded the German army into Brussels
included the disemboweling Of old men
and the impaling OF children on lances
Just outside Louvain. Investigation
not only failed to snbstantiate these
rnmors, But could not even discover
any one in the immediate vicinity who
credited them.
An eye witness Of unimpeachable
vsracity told me that the worst be-
havior he had observed during the first
German entry into Louvain august
ls) was that OF a German soldier who
leaned from his horse and kissed a
pretty Flemish girl who brought him
aglass Of beer,
! marched for days with the Ger
man columns, often only n day be
mind the fighting, with the houses that
had been burned still smoldering, 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.
No Proofs Of Murder.
I interviewed an average Of twenty
persons in each Of q dozen towns and
found only mi instance Of a noncom-
blatant who had been killed without
2 justifiable provocation. In this case
the evidence did not clearly prove that
the man had been wantonly murdered.
He lived in one OF the typical small
Belgian countryside houses which com
bine the comforts Of home with the
lure of a small public bar. This house
vas at the north Of Merbes-le-Chateau.
= town through which a large part Of
me German army passed on the road
to M~aubeuge.
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 a saw-edged German saber.
English Fired From House.
1t was said by some inhabitants
mat the murdered man showed a pair
Oh binoculars; but a more probable
explanation is that English outposts
mad concealed themselves in the house,
from which they poured a rain OF fire