The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1914-09-24
TRAIL Of MISERY
MARKSPROGRESS
OF GERMAN ARMY

naIlOn mas Deen Cdlleu lOTlu luPOuSH-
out the world" writes w. Scheur-
mann, correspondent of several
German newspapers who acoompan-
les the German general staff, by
the so called cruelty with which the
Germans are carrying on this war.
In all countries that get their news
through English and French sources
stories of German barbarism are re-
peated 1t is therefore doubly the
duty for war correspondent who
can speak of what his own eyes have
seen to report what he saw and what
he can answer for before the forum
Of historical truth.
81 have spent days in the worst
franc tireur regions of Belgium and
France. My first impressions OF The
horrors of war were obtained at Bat.
tice, on the road from Aachen to
Liege, where there was fighting be-
tween franc tireurs and our soldiers.
Instead of fourishing village, with,
clean houses and neat villas, one sees
there today charred ruins stretching
along the highway for mile.
Witnessed Pitiful Scenes
Il saw things there that l shall
remember as long as l live. l pass
ed through a village that was quite
burnt out, where only few Ger
man soldiers were standing guard
no other living beings visible any.
where. But when l came to the door
way of house that had fallen in
saw in what had probably been the
living room, white haired woman
with kitchen knife raking in the
debris. l called to her. She did not
hear me. Her face was like a gray
stone, and her eyes fixed as in death
She dug as If she was expecting tG
find something under the fallen bricks
In a front garden, which had
been scorched by the flames, Som-
an in a black dress was crouchiIg
and weeping. l have stood at many
an open grave in the churchyard, but
! have never heard anybody weep like
that woman. The sound of it vii!
ring in my ears forever as one of the
most terrible experiences OF my
life.
Even the betty losses of property
are painful to see. In the upper
story of one house, everything had
been destroyed by fire, but at one
place, smoke begrimed, there lrng
the discolored photograph of WON
an probably long dead. At one place
a blue enameled child's bedstead
peers out of the smoking debris still
filled with its scorched mattress and
pillows. Whoever has a child at
home in its snowwhite bed
But curse and thrice curse
on those who caused all this misery.
For them there is no punishment in
this world sufficient to atone Tor their
evil deeds. And when they now de-
nounce our brave warriors as the
cause of this desolation this latter
Islander, shameful as it is, does not
weigh much in comparison with that
they actually did.
Reprisals Taken for Treachery
"Our German soldiers and land
weir men marched into the country
of the enemy with the same order and
discipline that they maintain on the
drill ground and in many maneuvers
Wherever we came we guaranteed to
the inhabitants security for life and
property; we are waging war with
the armies of the enemy, not with
civilians. In Battice, the German
proclamation promising the Belgians
peace and the integrity of their ter,
ritory was still seen on the walls of
the burnt houses.
"Now, what happened in Battice,
Clermont, Herye, Fleron and other
Belgian places was, with singular
similarity, as follows:
THE inhabitants let the Germans
! march in, received them with cring-
ing frlendliness, offered them wine
in superfluous quantities, and then
fell on them at night. 1t goes with
out saying-for mere self preserva-
ton demanded it-that every MUIR
dered German was avenged. Where
the murderers could be caught they
were brought before a court martial;
and II their guilt was evident, they
were shot or hanged.
"All this was done in perfect Or
der. How far the self control of our
troops extended was proved to me by
an example only day before yesterday.
At the entrance to the French for
tress of Longwy just completed,
When the bowels feel uncomfort-