Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-05-13
ALBuouEaouE MORNING JOURNAL fHuasDAY, MAY 10, 1915

mon uttcHSltH " Hlt. n otnci cases
women and children were marched
for long distances, the laggards be.
ing pricked By the attending Uhlans
a lady complains OF having been
brutaliy kicked BY a private. Others
were struck with the butts OF rifles
AZ Liege women aud children were
chased about the streets BY soldiers.
| A witness gives "a story, very cir'
cumstantial in lis details. OF how
women were publicly raped In the
market place OF the city, 1--WE youne
German officers assisting Another
Witness tells of Il carousal OF Officers
at which the woman OF the house
compelled 10 dig a grave in the g9t
den and there bury his wife. Tho re-
port goes on f
nm the evidence before us there
are eases tending to show that aggra-
yuted crimes agalnst women were
sometimes severely punished. one
witness reports that young girl who
was being pursued by a drunken sol
der at Louvain. appealed 20 Ger
man officer and that the offender
was then and there shot; another de-
scribed how an officer OF the Thirty
4
to execution for the violation of two
young girls, but reprieved at the re-
quest or with the consent OF the girls
mother. These instances are sufficient
10 show that the maltreatment of
women was no part OF the military
scheme of the Invaders however
much II may appear to have been the
inevitable result of the system OF ter
ror deliberately adopted in certain
regions.
I'm this tale OF horrors hldeous
forms of mutilation occur with some
frequency in the dispositions, two of
which may be connected in some tn
stances with perverted form Of sex
ual instinct.
we find many we'll established
cases of the slaughter (often accom-
panied by mutilation) OF whole FAM
lies. including not infrequently that
Of quite small children. In two cases
II SEEING to be clear that preparations
were made to burn q family alive.
These crimes were committed over a
period of many weeks and simultan-
cously in many places and the au-
thorities must have known or ought
to have known that cruelties of this
character we're being perpetrated. nor
can any one doubt that they could
have been stopped by swift and de-
cisive action on the part of the heads
OF the German army.
1T is clearly shown that many Of
lenses were committed against In
fants and quite young children. On
one occasion children we're even roped
together and used as military screen
against the enemy; on another, three
went into action carrying
children to protect themselves from
flank fire. A shocking case OF the
murder OF d baby by drunken sol
dier at Mallnes is reported by one eye
witness and confirmed by an
other.
we cannot tell whether these acts
of cruelty TO children were part OF A.
scheme for inducing submission by in
spring terror. In Louvain. where the
system of terrorizng was carried to
the furthest limit, outrages on chill
dren were uncommon. The same. how
ever cannot be said of some OF the
smaller villages, which we're subjected
TO the system. In Hefstadt and
Sefnpst. in Haecht. Rotselaer and
Wespelaer, many children were MUIR
dered. And II can be said of the viii
lage of Tamines, where three small
children (whose names are given by
an eyewitness of the crime) were
on the green for no APP
parent motive. II Is difficult to inn
agine the motives which may have
prompted such acts. Whether or not
Belgian civilians fired on German sol
diers, young children at any rate did
not fire"
Many Instances are given of the
use of civilians as screens during the
operation. Another branch
Of the report deals with looting. burn
ing and destruction OF property. THE
general conclusion" the report says. !
is that the burning and destruction
pr property which took place was only /
In very small minority cases JUS
titled by military necessity" Cases /
VI firing on hospitals, Red Cross am
balances and streteher bearers are re- |
ferred too, but the report adds: con |
he whole we do not find proof Of a I
general or systematic firing on hospi- /
ais or ambulances; but II Is not pos
iible to believe that much care was
aiken to avoio them.
Cases of the Red Cross being mis-
Ised for offensive military purposes.
Ind Of abuse Of the white flag are
llso given. As to the latter the report
avs fftr
There Is In our opinion sufficient
violence that these offenses have been
requent, deliberate and in many
asses committed by whole units under
riders. All the facts mentioned are
n eontraventlon Of The Hague con-
'ention. signed by the great powers.
including France, Germany, Great
3ritain and the United States, In
907"