The Sentinel=record., 1914-09-17
BARBARITIES
ARE DENIED
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.

Flemish girl who brought him a glass
of beer.
81 marched for days with the Ger
man columns, often only one day be-
hind the fighting, with the houses
that had been burned still shoulder
ing, the ground freshly broken by
shell and trampled by hoTse9 and
men, and the memory of the German
advance vivid in the minds of the IT.
habitants.
The town of Merb and LeSczd,
which had been the scene of an unim-
portant skirmish between the Ger
mans and English on the previous
Sunday, was riddled with rifle shots.
THE small number of windows in
tact showed that the Germans had
made a deliberate assault upon resi-
dences of the town, but the inhabi-
tants themselves, admitted that all OF
the shooting had been done by com
paratively small number of Germans,
and that the firing had not been be-
gun until English soldiers who had
concealed themselves in the houses
had fired first on the Germans.
Buissiere-particula the lower
part of the city virtually had been
destroyed by a cross-fire from French
and German artillery. Tops of brew
cries had been hurled bodily to the
ground and walls had either disap-
peared or become grotesquely dis
lodged. The whole city lay in smok-
ing ruins, with only its drawbridge
across the Sambre and few marble
stands and boat houses showing
above the debris. But here, two days
after the battle, women and chilsren
were moving comfortably about the
town and not a single complaint was
uttered against German conduct.
Robert ]. Thompson, American
consul at Aachen, visited Liege dur
ing and after the capture of the forts.
It is the opinion of Mr.. Thompson
that no outrage was committed by
Germans during the several days
fighting there.
"There are, of course, reported out
RACES beyond investigation, either on
account of their vagueness or be-
cause il is impossible TO weigh the
provocation. 1t is known, for in
stance. That 112 natives were killed
in Renouchamp, not far from Ar
DENIES; German soldiers say that
they were killed because they fired
upon them from the roofs and win
dows of the houses.
THE history of the absolute de-
struction of the historic city OF Lou
vain with its cathedral and its univer-
sity is by this time well known. The
German version of this is that the in
habitants under the direction of the
burgomaster established themselves
in the church, where they installed a
machine gun. They proceeded TO
greet the Germans with a deadly fN1.
"The Beigians say, on the other
hand, that part of the German army,
mistaking one of their own retiring
divisions for the enemy, opened fire
upon them, whereupOn, deluGed into
thinking this an assault by Belgian
civilians, the Germans RACED the
whole city.
Il have not been able to acquire
any direct evidence in regard to
these last two instances, but the ex-
PLANTATION generally credited by disin-
terested persons is that the Belgians
who had laid down their arms accord
ing to the burgomaster's proclama-
ton on the entrance of the enemy,
took them up again when it looked as
if the Germans were retreating from
the town and opened fire from their
windows upon a retiring German
train
The most authoritative German
denial of German offences come from
Major General Thaddeus Won Jarotz-
sky, military governor of Brussels,
who informed me that in numerous
cases he had been received with a
pretense of friendliness by Belgian
civilians who later fired upon the Ger
man soldiers from windows and from
between the roof tiles. This was
done, he said, after a declaration OF
surrender by the burgomaster and a
proclamation warning the citizens
against any show of resistance.
''In such violations Of the rules OF
war, the general said, he punished
the offender by burning the houses
from which the shots were fired.
Il have actual knowledge Of the
sniping by Belgian civilians at Mango
and other towns, and even the Bel
CLANS admit that in few instances
they have been guilty of this This
furnishes a provocation for the only
German severity which I have had an
opportunity to observe--the burning
of houses.
"A Belgian fugitive from a suburb
of Charleroi brought to Nvelles a
story Of the Germans marching the
priest and several of the inhabitants
before the army as a protection
against fire from the houses. This
has received ample notification but
hardly comes under the head of afro.