Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-10-06
[By Latest NALL


ISOLATED Press staff correspondent OF
American birth and antecedents, who
was sent from the New York office and
was caught in Brussels at the time oil
the German invasion, held as pris-
oner for several days, and finally es.
capped to Holland, has sent by mail the
following 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 LOU
vain, they brought stories of unspeak-
able German atrocities, maltreatment
of old men and children and the yio-
lation of women.
"The Belgian capital feeled with
apprehension Within an hour the
the city went out like broken light
The radiance of the cafes was ex-
changed for darkness; whispering
groups of residents broke up hur-
riedly and locked themselves in their
homes, where they put up the shutters
and drew in their tri-colored Belgian
flags The historic Belgian city went
through a state of morbid consterna-
ton, remarkably like that which it
suffered on June Is, 1915. when it
trembled with fear of French vic
tory at Waterloo.
In less than twenty-four hours the
Belgians were chatting comfortably
with the German invaders, and the
allegation of German brutality and
demoniacal torture dissolved into one
of the myths which have accompan-
led all wars
Neither in Brussels nor its envi-
rons was single offensive act. SO far
as | know, committed by a German
soldier. In city of 100000 people,
invaded by hostile army of perhaps
100000 soldiers, no act sufficiently
Migrant to demand punishment or to
awaken protest came to my atten-
ton. p
piscredit Wild Stories.
.'The frightful reports that had pre-
ceded the Germans into Brussels in
Guided the disemboweIing of old men
and the impaling of children on lanees
Just outside Louvain Investigation
not only failed to substantiate these
rumors, but could not even discover
any one in the Immediate vicinity who
credited them.
An eyewitness of uniInpeachable
yeracity told me that the worst be-
havior he had observed during the
first German entry into Louvain
august 18th was that of a German
soldier who leaned from his horse and
kissed pretty Flemish girl who
brought him glass of beer.
Il marched for DAYS with the Ger
man columns, often only one day be-
hind the lighting, with the houses that
had been burned still smoldering, the
ground freshly broken by shell and
trampled by horses and man, and the
memory of the German advance vivid
in the minds of the inhabitants. in
terviewed an average of twenty per-
sons in each of a dozen towns, and
found only one instance of a, nom
combatant who had been killed with
out justifiabIe proyocation. "
'tIn this case the evidence did not
clearly prove that the man had been
wantonly murdered. He lived in one
of the typical Belgian countryside
houses. which combine the comforts
of home with the lure of small pnh-
lie bar. This house was at the north
end of Marbes-le-C Chateau, town
through which a large part OF the.
German army passed on the road 10
Marbeuge. A son of the murdered
man, whose name was Arthur Nicodem,
showed me bloodciots on the floor,
marking the place where Nicodem fell,
his throat cut by a saw-edged German
Saber.
at was said by some inhabitants
that the murdered man had showed a.
pair of binoculars, but more proba-
bic explanation was that the English!
outposts had concealed themselves in
the house, from which they poured a.
rain of fire on the first German in
yaders. The inference is that the
shooting was done by Belgian ciyil-l
ians and may have inhamed the Ger-l
mans to reprisals. In that neighbor-
hood four houses had been burned and
one was still ablaze when passed on
Wednesday. August 20.
Il have emphasized the one fatality
of the non-combatant because theI
news of it travelled up and down the