The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-05-12


this house was the body CT girl, who
had been shot in the for chead.
AT Eppeghem the dead body of g.
child of two was seen pinned to the
ground with German lance. The
same witness saw mutilated woman
alive near Weerde on the same day."
The Louvain Massacre.
A chapter is given to the terrible
conditions at Louvain, where the re-
port states, massacre, fire and de-
struction went on. Citizens
and compelled to go with the troops
Soldiers went through the streets say
ing. Man hat geschossen.'
The report says:
'It is to be noticed that cases oc-
cur in the dispositions in which hu-
name acts by individual officers and
soldiers are mentioned, or in which Of
ficers are said to have expressed re-
greet at being obliged to carry out or
derS for cruel action against the CIV
ilians. Similarly, we find entries in
diaries which reveal a genuine pity for
the population and disgust at the con-
duct of the army. 1t appears that a
German -non-commissioned officer
stated definitely that he was acting
under orders and executing them with
great unwillingneSs.'
I'VE are driven to the conclusion
that the marrying of the villages in
the district, the burning of a large
part of Louvain, the maSsacreS there,
the marching out of the prisoners, and
the transport to Cologne Gall done
without inquiry as to whether the par
ticu1ar persons seized or killed had
committed any wrongful act) were
due to a calculated policy carried out
scientifically and deliberately, not
merely with the sanction, but under
the direction of higher military au-
thorities, and were not due to any pro-
vocation or resistance by the civilian
population
apparently felt the greatest animosity
Charges Deliberate Terrorizing.
The committee seeks to draw a dis
RACES. 1t says:
individual acts of brutality-iI-
treatment of civilians, rape, plumber,
and the like-were very widely COM
mltted. These are more numerous
and more shocking than would be ex-
pected in warfare between civilized
powers, but they differ rather in ex-
tent than in kind from what had hap
pened in previous though not recent
wars.
lin all wars occur many shocking
and outrageous acts of men of criminal
instincts whose worst passions were
unloosel by the immunity which the
conditions of warfare afford.
Gravest Charge Against Germany.
I'm the present war, hOweVer-and |
this is the gravest charge against the
German army-the evidence shows
that the killing of nOncOmbatantS was |
carried out to an extent for which no
previous war between nations claiming |
to be civilized (for such cases as the |
atrocities perpetrated by the Turks on
the Bulgarian Christians in 1876, and
on the Armenian Christians in 1895
and 1896, do not belong to that cate
gory) furnishes any precedent. That
this killing was done as part of de-
liberate plan is clear from the facts
hereinbefore set forth regarding Lou
vain, Aerschot, Dinant and other towns
The same remarks apply to the de-
struction of property. House burning
was part of the program; and villages,
even large parts of a city, were given
to the flames as part of the terrorizing
policy I
Crimes Against Women.
A special chapter is given to the
treatment of women and children.
The latter, it is said, frequently re-
ceiVed milder treatment than the men.
But many instances are given OF cal
culated cruelty, often going the length
Of murder, towards the women and
Children At Aerschot, it says, wom-
IN and children were herded into the
church which had recently been used
is a stable, detained for IS hours with
40 food other than coarse bread, and
ienied the common decencies of life.
In other cases women and children
we're marched for long distances, the
aggardS being pricked by the attend
ng Uhlans. A lady complains of hav- ,
ng been brutally kicked by private.
others were struck with the butt end
If rifles. At Liege women and chill
lren were chased about the streets by
oldiers. A witness gives a story, very
in its details, of how
women were publicly raped in the
market place of the city, five young
German officers assisting" Another
witness tells of a carOusal of officers,
It which the woman of the house was |
hot dead, and her husband then COM {
,elled to dig a grave in the garden t
nd there bury his wife. The report
,oes on: l
In the evidence before us there 6
re cases tending, to show that ag- '
ravated crimes against women were
severely punished. One Y
witness reports that a young girl who 7
vas being pursued by a drunken SOL
Ter at Louvain appealed to Ger Y
nan officer, and that the offender q
vas then and there shot Another t
escribed how an officer of the
Regiment of the Line 4.
vas led out to execution for the vio- q
alton of two young girls, but re- r
rieved at the request with the .
onsent of the girls mother. These
Instances are sufficient to show that
he maltreatment of women was no
art of the military scheme of the
INVADERS, however much it may ap-
ear to have been the inevitable re-
ult of the system of terror DELHI
rately adopted in certain regions.
I'm this tale of horrors hideous
orms of mutilation occur with some
frequency in the dispositions, two of
which may be Connected in some in
tances with a perverted form of sex
al instinct.
Says Authorities Knew.
I'VE find many well-eSta bliShed |
asses of the slaughter Gotten accom-
anied by mutilation) of whole fam
lies, including not infrequently that
f quite small children. In two cases
seems to be clear that preparations
we're made to burn family alive.