Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1914-11-26

Ger told ne that he believed that sucl
an order had been given in only one
corps Of soldiers facing the English.
Certainly il vas not with his corps,
as I myself talked to two English
wounded prisoners in one of the little
field hospitals q few miles behind the
trenches.
why did you fire on the Red
Crosse" l asked them.
THE Germans are doing it, too"
they said.
The handsome old chateau, where
was a guest Of the commanding gen
eral for two days, had been previous
ly occupied by the English, and the
general himself took me about the
place and showed me where the Eng
lish had smashed open the magnifi-
cent pieces of antique furniture in
their search for loot. they had bro
ken the glass case containing a rare
old coin collection, and had left
few pieces of a jewel collection.
German Looter PunIsneo.
Later 1 learned that the onl. Ger
man caught at souvenir hunting in
the castle had been given a sentence
of six months at hard labor.
The quiet and picturesque old vii
Iage which this castle watched over
had been plundered by the English,
as villagers themselves told me, add
ing that many Of their girls had been
cruelty treated by the allied soldiers.
They said they were glad to have the
Germans there, for the Germans paid
for everything, and German army doc
tors even took care of their sick in
the village. 1 could not, however, get
any accurate information as to the
extent of English offenses.
I have by no means retold al the
stories l heard about the English, con-
filming myself to those which have the
best authority.
I heard several stories from Ger
mans about their own misdeeds.
When one is with privates he soon
finds that war is a great instigator
of latent talents of story telling, and
l was so ready a listener that some
thing extraordinary had to be pre-
pared for me Most of these stories
had as hero the story teller himself,
and while occasionally one dealt with
more serious crime, the majority were
rather fascinating accounts of the
stealing of chickens, eggs, occasional
ly an OK. One story l heard repeated
several times, so that there may be
some foundation for it. But when COM
pairing the two most extreme versions
one has a clear glimpse of the unre-
liability of many Of the stories told
about the war.
"sIaughter" of English Prisoners.
The worst version of the story is
that 20 English prisoners were being
conducted by some Bavarians to Liege
on their way to Germany. When the
car arrived only six Englishmen were
left. The Bavarians were questioned
as to the whereabouts of the "a.
1.-THE poor fellows died on the way"
the Bavarians replied. And If Liege
had only been a little farther away
the other six would have died a D."
I was horriied by this story until
l heard the milder version, which had
all the same details with the some
what important difference that six
were killed and sixty-four remained
Later heard a story that a Bavarian
conducting English prisoners, had
been insulted by a strapping six-foot
English private and had broken his
neck by one twist of his powerful
hands This may be the whole truth
1t may be another incident or it may
be that both stories are without
foundation.
1t is my deep conviction that one
of the gravest and most terrible fea-
lures of the war is the unjustified and
seemingly unlimited publicity which
has been and will be given to alleged
atrocities committed in the war. !
do not mean to show the slightest
coldness to the horrors of the I'M
questionably large number of crimes
which have been committed, but l am
convinced that the publicity has been
unmeasured, and given without much
success in bringing cool judgment to
bear on toe accuracy and significance
of the evidence published.
I am grateful that can conclude
this statement by telling a few in
stances of gallantry and decency. II
is a pleasure to find such a story as
Mr.. Mead brought back from Wehlau
where a crude Russian soldier, enter
ing a small cafe, struck the aged WON
an, who was waiting on him, and de
manded "schnapps" An officer wha
witnessed the brutality waited until
the soldier came out and remounted
his horse The officer dragged him
from his horse and thrashed him with
his riding whip in the presence of his
comrades.
IERY I'M ACTION