Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-05-12

in this massacre, some on the banks
OF the Meuse, where they were shot
according to orders given and some in
the cellars of the houses where they
had taken refuge. Eight men belong
ing to n family were murdered. An
other man was placed lose to a ma
chine gun which was fired through
him. His wife brought his body home
on a wheel-barrow. The Germans
broke into her house and ransacked it,
and piled up all the eatables in a heap
on the floor and relieved themselves
upon it.
"A hairdresser was murdered in his
kitchen where he was sitting with a
child or each knee. A p%aralytic was
murdered in his garden. After this
came the general sack of the town.
Many of the inhabitants who escaped
the massacre were kept as prisoners
and compelled to clear the houses OF
corpses and bury them in trenches.
These prisoners were subsequently
used as a shelter and protection for a
pontoon bridge which the Germans
had built across the river and were
so used to prevent the Belgian forts
from firing upon it.
"A few days later the Germans cele-
brated a Fete Nocturne in the
square. Hot wine, looted in the town,
was drunk, and the women were COM
pCllGu W slNS lnI6t CIlGeFS LOT tne
Kaiser and to sing Deutschland Uber
Allies"
Similar details are recited at much
length in reference to the districts of
Namur, Charleroi and the town of
Dinant. At the latter point, the re-
port says, "unarmed civilians were
killed in masses. About 80 bodies
were seen lying on top of one another
in a grass square opposite the convent.
fThnV included many rn1atiync Of n
witness whose dispositions is given.
TX X X 1t is stated that besides the
80 corpses referred to, so corpses of
civilians were recovered from a hole
in the brewery yard and that 48 bodies
of women and children were found in
a garden. The town was systemati-
cally set on fire by hand grenades.
W have no reason to believe that
the civilian population of Dinant gave
any provocation, or that any other
defense can be put forward to justify
the treatment inflicted upon it's citi-
zens."
"Scenes of Chronic Outrage
The Committee states that 1t has
received a great mass of evidence on
scenes of chronic outrage in the
territory bounded by the town Aer-
shot, Vilvorde and Louvain. 1t states
that the total number of outrages is so
klCdl THAT lllG tOIlllllillt6 CdIllOL re-
fer to them all. The report states
that the battle of Malines was the oc-
casion later of numerous murders
committed by the German army in re-
treating through the villages; and in
the second place it led to the massa-
ores, plunderings and burnings at Lou
vain" The report adds:
The committee is specially inn
pressed by the character of the out
RACES committed in the smaller viii
lagos. Many of these are exceptional
.ly shocking III cannot be regarded
as contemplated or described by the
responsible commanders of the troops
by whom they were committed. The
inference, however, which we draw
from these occurrences is that when
once troops nave been encouraged in
a career of terrorism, the more saw
age and brutal natures of whom there
are some in every large army, are liza
BILE to run to wild excess, more par
ticularly in those regions where they
are least subject to observation and
control" X X Y
Evidence goes to show that deaths
in these villages were due not to ac-
cident but to deliberate purpose. The
wounds were generally stabs or cuts.
and for the most part appear to have
been inflicted with a ~bayonet.
I'm Malines many bodies were seen.
One witness saw a German soldier cut
a woman's breast after he had MUIR
dered her, and saw many other dead
bodies of women in the street. X X X
In Hofstadt two witnesses speak of
having seen the body of a young man
pierced by bayonet thrusts with the
wrists cut also.
ION q side road the corpse Of a