The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1914-10-01
FIND NO 'A7R|0|CIIY'
American Correspondents Unable
to Confirm Belgian Charges.
.f,eported crueIties Of Germans Seem
to Have Been Only Retaliation
After Most Extreme
sProvocation.
Ry HARRY HANSEN.

to Germany and to German arms oe-
mands fair play from America with
reference to stories of atrocities and
barbarities alleged to have Deen
practiced by the German troops. sew
eral weeks of close scrutiny convince
me that it is extremely unlikely that
the men of this great organization,
probably the best disciplined troops
ever brought into the field, have
played the part of the barbarian and
have wantonly pillaged and burned VII
lagos and murdered noncombatants.
Such shootings as have taken place
appear to have been repr1sals made
necessary by hostile acts on the part
Of civilians.
: These conclusions are the. outcome
of observation of German methods, IN
the course of which i visited prac-
tically all parts of Belgium Where
German troops passed on their way 20
the French frontier.
Not only was it impossible to verify
the gossip of the countryside, Dut IN
most instances the troops were touno
to have suffered from midnight am
huscades, and civilians were found to
have fired in the dark on officers and
men, to have cut off the ears OF Ger
mail wounded and to have robbed the
dead on the battle fields,
Punishment for those individuals
was swift and sure. and the action
taken by the Germans was such as
might have been followed by every
army in the world. i F.
The German general staff does not
countenance the presence Of war cor
respondents. 1t acts promptly and
effectively to keep correspondents be-
yond it's lines, yet in the course OF
the. German march through Belgium
1t wa possible for five American cor
respondents to mingle freely with Of
f1cers and men, to dine at their mess
and to march with their troops.
These men were Irwin S. Cobb of
the Saturday Evening Post, John T.
McCutcheon and James "O'Donnell
Bennett of the Chicago Tribune, Roger
Lewis of the Associated Press and
the representative of the Daily News.
Until their arrival at the headquarters
OF the general staff in Beaumont these
men had every facility for observing
the conduct of troops, especially In
the villages through which they
passed. = -" = 80
On, the night of Thursday, August
27, I sat in the tiny back parlor of
the cafe at Beaumont, a quaint Bel
Ct It'll I'll
from the French frontier, when Lieu
tenant Millendorfer, temporary COM
mander of the village, threw himself
in a chair opposite me with a tired,
detected expression. He stared Cor
a moment at the table, then ex-
claimed:
81 have just had a disagreeable
shot. They were old, more than sew
enty, man and a woman. Their age
alone should have entitled them to
clemency. But it was impossible.
The law of war is inexorable."
What did they do?" asked.
Fed poisoned coffee to my SOL
diers." he exclaimed, with blazing
eyes. Mean, dirty business. They
confessed it and they died"
1t was the law of war It is the law
of war, too, that man who harbors
combatants or who fires on troops
shall have his house burned over his
head. It is the law of war likewise
that a city which plans an ampuscade
and fires on soldiers shall be burned.
had heard of German cruelties
from Belgian soldiers on the retreat
of the columns to Malines. I had been
told that farm houses had been ruth
lessly destroyed. Peasants moving
along the countryside with their lit
tie bundles of goods had reiterated
the story, but no one had been able
to give first hand information. Cos
sip pointed to Landen as the source
of some of the rumors, yet the burgo-
master of Landen, Octave Remarquez,
who had interviewed the German
troops and knew what had occurred in
his part of Brabant, said that the Ger
mans had been courteous to a marked
degree, had paid for their entertain
ment, had pillaged no homes and had
asked no favors.
He had heard Of one. shooting, that
of a Belgian farmer who had cut
holes in his shutters out Of which to
fire at the Germans, and he had sus-
picion that the farmer might have
been even more seriously implicated.
Subsequently passed through
dozens Of Belgian villages. sometimes
with the German troops and some-
times after they had passed, and for
two days | remained in the town of
Binche, famed for Its annual carnival
while thousands of infantry and cav
airy soldiers and miles of transports
proceeded to the French bord or.
From Nivelles the route lay through
Seneffe, Manage and Fayt-les-Seneffes
thence to La Louviere, Marlemont.
Morlanwelz, Pieton, Binche, Merbes-
Ste. Marie, Merbes-le-C Chateau, Bonnie
Esperance, Sorle-sur-Sambre, sor-le-
Chateau and ,nfhar vilIooos IN "a