El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-09-17
AMERICAN DENIES
GERMANS CRUEL
Says Reported Atrocities in
Belgium Became Myth
When Investigated.

New York, Sept 17-NO instances
OF Wanton German cruelty TO Belgians,
or OF the commission Of multitudinOus
atrocities, were found by an American
correspondent Of the Associated Press.
be was sent from the New York office
and was in Brussels at the time of
me German invasion He has sent the
following mail story from Holland:
The night before the Germans en-
tered Brussels, when the Belgian civil
guards and refugees began pouring
INTO the city from the direction OF
LOuFaln, they brought stories Of IN
speakable German atrocities, maltreat-
ment Of old men and children ana the
violation Of women
The Belgian capital reeled with ap-
plelenSlOn- W ltn1n an hour the gaiety,
the vivacity and brilliance Of the city
went out like broken arc light The
radiance Of the cafes was exchanged
Ior darkness; whispering groups Of
residents broke up hurriedly and locked
themselves in their homes. where they
put up the shutters, and drew in their
trlcolored Belgian flags. The historic
belgian city went through a state Of
morbid CONSERVATION remarkably like
that which il suffered on June IS, 1915,
when It trembled with the fear Of
french victory at Waterloo.
Torture Becomes Myth.
In less than p hours the Belgian
citizens were chatting comfortably
with the German invaders and the
allegations of German brutality and
demoniacal torture dissolved into one
o. the myths which have accompanied
Neither in Brussels nor fin its en-
ylrons was single offensive act. so
Tar as I know, committed by Ger
man soldier. In a city Of over
army OF perhaps 100000 soldiers. no
act sufficiently fragrant to demand
punishment or TO awaken protest came
TO my attention.
Reported Atrocities UncOnffrmed.
The frightful reports that had pre-
ceded the German army into Brussels
included the disembOWeling Of old men
and the impaling of children on lances.
Just outside of Louvain. Investiga-
llOn not only failed to substantiate
these rumors, but could not even dis
cover anyone in the immediate vicinity
who credited them. An eve witness
o. unimpeachable veracity told me
that the worst behavior he had oh
served during the first German entry
into LOuvain august 49, was that OF
German soldier who leaned from his
horse and kissed pretty Flemish
girl
Only One Murder.
'I marched for days with the Ger
man columns. often only one day be
mind the fighting, with the houses
that had been burned still smolder-
ing. the ground freshly broken by shell
and trampled by horses and men. and
the memory Of the German advance
vivid in the minds Of the inhabitants
I interviewed an average of 20 persons
IN each OF a dozen towns and found
only one instance Of a noncombatant
who had been killed without a iustifi-
able prOvocation- In this case the evil
dence did not clearly prove that the
man had been wantonly murdered He
lived in one of the typical small Bel
gian countryside houses which combine
the comforts with the lure Of a small
public bar This house was at the
north end Of Merbes lie Chateau. a
town through which a large part Of
the German army passed on the road
10 MaubeuEe. A son Of the murdered /
man, whose name was Arthur Nicodem.
showed me blood Clots on the floor
marking the place where Nicodem fell. /
his throat cut by a saw edged German
saber-
Germans Infamed to Reprisals.
1T was said by some Inhabitants
that the murdered man showed a pair
OF binoculars; but more probable eN-
plantation was that English outpoSts
had concealed themselves in the house,
from which they played a rain of fire
upon the first German invaders The
inference that the shooting was done
by Belgian civilians may have in
famed the Germans TO reprisalS In
the neighborhOod four houses had been
burned and one was still ablaze as I
passed on Wednesday, August 26-"