Mountain advocate., 1914-09-25
BRUSSELS NOT HURT
Capture Of Belgium's Capital
Described by a Briton.
German Troops Behaved In Esem-
plary Manner-stern Warning TO
Citizens Posted by the
Governor.
international News servlceJ

international News Service)
Ostend.--A graphic story of the
taking of Brussels, the Belgian cap
ital, by the Germans, was told by AL.
fred Wilson of Leeds, England. He
said:
ITO essay an escape from Brussels,
to run straight towards a German bat
terry. to be fired upon by German
patrol. to find my path crossed by an
armored train-these are some Of the
experiences which befell me.
MY wife and children went to Eng
land some time ago, and as there was
no business in Brussels, decided to
follow. My premises and my villa
we're all locked up. and on Wednes'
day afternoon | left the capital and
walked towards Grinbergen, which
lies to the left OF Vilvorde. ran into
a German column carrying munitions
and at that moment a motor car
rushed along. Germans popped up
from everywhere and challenged the
driver to stop. and in the confusion
| darted into field on my right and
made towards a belt of trees.
"On the way | heard the pip, pip
Of rifle fire far beyond the trees, and
then to my establishment | saw the
fash of artillery from the trees them
selves This was followed by sec.
ond fash at another point, and then
continuous flashes. From their con.
cealment the guns we're apparently
being trained to the west OF VIII
vorde, and | saw an observation bal
loon Just over the belt Of trees. 1t
was sausage-s shaped and was fitted
with wireless.
Il returned towards the road, and
at hundred yards distance | was
called upon to halt by party Of
Germans, who Immediately dis
charged revolvers at me. The
bullets sank about me, and In
a crouching position reached a
cluster of houses There the peasants
told me that fighting was proceeding
towards Vilvorde and that a mass
of German soldiers, which | had dis
covered in my wanderings in the
field, was strongly entrenched.
81 realized that it was impossible
| for me to get out of Brussels by that
route and very cautiously | made my
way to the town. In the course of do
ing so | had to cross the railway, and
l saw heavily armored train rumble
| by. There we're two or three steel
! plated coaches in front of the engine
and two behind and 1t looked a very
formidable machine indeed. Bags OF
sand were piled against the sides OF
the coaches, which were filled with
soldiers
con the following day | made a
! second attempt to escape from Brus'
sells but this time by different road.
| was accompanied by two friends
and by great good luck we fell in with
a potato merchant who offered us
seats in the two carts in which he
had just delivered Ave tons of pota
toes to the capital. He took us as
far as Aasche. and on the road we
picked up a couple of soldiers who
told us that they had escaped from
Namur They were exhausted. o.
their military equipment all that they
retained were the trousers. They
wore civilian caps and coats. much the
worse for wear, which they had con
trived to borrow. and they had NJ
shirts.
From Alost it was easy to reach
Ostend, and our Joy at beholding the
British marines in the streets canno
be described.
was very quiet-a condition largel,
due to the exertions OF Burgomastel
Max, who posted up notices every
where urging citizens to be tranquil.
There we're only about. three thou
sand German troops In the city, anC
the new governor was never seen II
the streets, but he caused notices t
be posted to the eject that II tn,
troops were In any way interfere'
with. or II a citizen was guilty OF
misdemeanor towards the new regime
the most rigorous penalties would b.
enforced, not only upon the individual
but upon the whole quarter In whicl
II occurred.
THE soldiers were billeted all owe
Brussels. and they moved freely amonl
the populace Generally speaking
their behavior has been above re
proach, and this is also true OF then
in the day when they occupied tn,
capital. For four days they wer
passing through and. although the.
appeared to be fatigued. It must b.
remembered that they had marche,
many miles. They certainly did no
walk through with the 'goose-step' no
were they insolent to the citizens
What struck most of us was tn
excellence OF their equipment and tn
good physical standing OF most OF tn
men. Their field kitchens as the
went by were smoking with prepare
tons OF the meals"