Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1914-09-25
STORIES OF GERMAN ATROCITIES NOT
PROVED, SAYS AMERICAN WRITER

The Chicago Tribune prints a long
copyrighted dispatch from James
OD0nnen Bennett, staff correspondent,
dated al Aixla-Chapelle. Germany,
which IN. specific detail disputes and
denies the charges of cruelties and
atrocities lodged against the Germans
in Belgium. Mr.. Bennett, in company
with John I. McCutcheon Of the Chica-
90 Tribune, Irwin 8. Cobb of the Sat
nrday Evening Post, Roger Lewis OF
the Associated Press and Harry Han
sen of the Chicago Daily News, trav-
eied 100 miles through 20 towns and
their observations lead him to the firm
conviction that the reports of bar
bErities alleged to have beer perpe-
trated by German troops are false
heOds.
The following dispatch to the Asso-
Ciated Press, evidently forwarded by
Roger Lewis, is in substantial agree.
ment with Mr.. Benefits story in the
Chicago Tribune
BY the Associated Press.
New York.-An Associated Press
Etaf correspondent of American birth
and antecedents, who was SEN from
the New York office and was caught
IA Brussels at the time of the Ger
KAN invasion, held as a prisoner for
several days, and who finally escaped
to Holland, has sen by mail the fol-
lowing 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 IN
Eeakable German atrocities, maltreat-
ment of old men and children, and the
violation of ONE
The Belgian capital reeled with APP
Erehension- Within an hour the gay
aty. the vivacity, and brilIiancy 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
BY and locked themselves into this
homes, where they put up the shut
7ers and drew in their tri-colored Bel
gfan flags.
Fears of Brussels Quieted.
The historic Belgian city went
through a state of morbid consterna-
lion, remarkably like that from which
e. suffered on June IS. 1915, when It
1rembled with the fear of a French vic
nDry at Waterloo.
In less than "a hours the Belgian
citizens were chatting comfortably
with the German invaders and the al
8eeatTons of German brutality and de-
Hoaiacal torture dissolved into one OF
she myths which have accompanied all
wars.
Neither in Brussels o in it's en-
vfrons was a single offensive act, so
far as I know. committed by a German
soldier In a city of over half q mil
lion people, invaded by a hostile army
OF perhaps a quarter of a million sol
diers. no act sufficiently fragrant to
aemand punishment or to awaken pro-
test came to my attention.
None Knows Of Outrages.
The frightfuI reports that had pre-
ceded the German army into Brussels
INCLUDED the disemboweling of old men
End the fmpaling of children on lances
INST outside Louvain. Investigation
mct only failed to s~ubstantiate these
xaErors, but could not even discover
my one In the immediate vicinity who
rredited them.
IAN eye witness of un~impeachable
veracity told me that the worst be-
7aFior he had observed during the first
German entry into Louvain august
I'D was that Of a German soldier who
7cnned from his horse and kissed a
pretty Flemish girl who brought him
glass of beer.
Il marched for days with the Ger
Mnaa columns, often only one day be-
kdzsd the fighting, with the HOUSES that
had been burned still smoldering, the
ground freshly broken by shell and
tranpled by horses and men. and the
memory of the German advance vivid
ia the minds Of the Inhabitants.
"a No Proofs of Murder.
Il interviewed an average of twenty
persons in each of a dozen towns and
scund only one instance of a noncom-
hatant who had been killed without
n 5ustifzable ~provocation. In this case
1Ee evidence did not clearly prove that
The man had been wantonly murdered.
He lived In one Of the typical small
Rzlgkan countryside houses which com
Aane the comforts of home with the
1Ere of a small public bar. This house
Exs at the north Of Merbesle-Chateau,
n town through which a large part of
me German army passed on the road
IA Maubeuge-
"A son of the murdered man, whose
nazEc was Arthur Nicodem, showed me
blood clots ON he floor marking the
place where Nicodem fell, his throat
eut by a ~saw-edged German saber.
English Fired From House.
1T was said by some inhabitants
THAT the murdered man showed a pair
Of binoculars; but a more probable
explanation is that English outposts
lad concealed themselves in the house,
9rcu which they poured a rain of fire