The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-13

voiver In hand. The house Of q witness.
which contained valuables Of this kind,
was protected for time by A notice
posted on the door Ivy officers This
notice mas been produced to the COM
mlitce. After the removal Of the val
uabies this house also was burned.
Priest and Bursom ast~r shot.
German soldiers had arrived on the
Ioih az Blegny Trembleur and seized a
quantity or wine. On the 18th prisoners
were taken tour, including the priest
and the burgon,aster. were shot on the
same DAY 200 tso-calied) hostages were
seized at Flemalle and marched Off.
There they were told that unless Fort
flenalle surrendered by noon they
would be shot II did surrender and
they were released.
Entries In German diary show that
on the 18th the German soldiers gave
themselves up to debauchery in tbs
streets OF Liege. and on the night OF the
2oth tThursday) n massacre took place
III the streets. beginning near the Cafe
carpenter. at which there Ia said 10
Fave been n dinner attended by Russian
ana other students. A proclamation is-
sued by General kolewe on the following
DAY gave the German version Of the az
tair, which was that his troops had been
states that in the night the inha bitants
of Liege became mutinous and that fftv
persons were shot. The Belgian Wit
nesses vehementy deny that there had
been any proNocation given. some stat
ing That many German soldiers were
drunk, others giving evidence which In
dicates that the AFFAIR was planned be-
forehdnd. 1t is stated that at s o'clock
In the evening. long before the shooting.
a citizen vas warned by a friendly Ger
man soldier not to 40 out that night
Though the cause Of tho massacre 10
In dispute. the results are known with
certainty The Hue des Pitteurs and
houses in the Place de rUniversite and
the Quai des pecheufs were systemati-
cally fired with benzine. and many in
habitants were burned alive In their
houses. their efforts to escape being pre-
vented by rife Are Twenty people were
shot while trying to escape before the
eyes OF one OF the witnesses The
Liege Fire Brigade turned out but was
not allowed to extingulsh the Are. Its
carts, however. were usefully employed
in removing heaps OF civilian corpses to
the Town Hail The fire burned on
through the night and the murders con-
tinued on the following day. the 2ist.
Thirty-two civilians were killed on that
day in the Place de rUniversite alone.
and a witness states that this was fol-
lowed by the rape In open day OF hf-
teen or twenty women on tables in the
square itself
Outrag-s Thr"uxhout District.
No dispositions are before us which
deal with events In the city OF Liege
after this date, Outrages. however. con-
tlnued In various places in the province
.l...a. -.
August. at Pepinster. two witnesses were
seized as hostages and were threatened.
together with FIVE others, that unless
they could discover a civilian who was
alleged to have shot a soldier In the leg,
they would be shot themselves They
| escaped their fate because one OF the
/ hostages convinced the officer that the
alleged shooting. II II took place Mt all.
| took place IN the Commune OF Cornesse
| and not that OF Pepinster. whereupon the
| Burgomaster OF Cornesse. who was old
| and very deaf. was shot forthwith.
The outrages on the civilian popula-
! ton were not confined TO the villages
mentioned above. but appear to have
| been general throughout this district
| from the very outbreak OF tho war.
An entry in one of the diaries says:
We crossed the Belgian frontier on 18th
| August. 1914. at u so in the forenoon.
/ ana tnsn We went SteauHy dlO1lS tHt
| main road till we got into Belgium.
Hardly were we there when We had
horrible sight Houses were burned
down. the inhabitants chased away and
some OF them shot. No, one OF the hun
! dreds OF houses were spared Every
| thing was plundered and burned Hardly
had we passed through this la rye village
| before the next village was burned. and
so II went on continuously. On the 10Th
/ ~ August 1914. the large village or
/ Barchon was burned down. On the
/ same day we crossed the bridge over the
! Neuse at II so In the morning. We then
| arrived at the town OF Wandre. Here
/ the houses were spared. hut everything
was examined Al last we were out or
! the town and everything went in ruins
! In one house a whole collection OF weap-
/ ons was found The inhabitants with
] out exception were brought out and shot
! This shooting was heart breaking as
! they all knelt down and prayed. but that
was no ground for mercy few shots
rang out and they fell back into the
green grass and slept forever" t"Die
Elnwohner wurden SAINT und sonders
| herausgeholt und erschossen: aoer
dieses Erschiessen war direkt hcrzzer-
reisend VIE sic allie knieben und beteten.
aber dies half klein Erbarmen. Elm paar
Schusse krackten und die helen ruck-
lings in das grnne Gras und versehl'efen
for immer.1