New-York tribune., 1915-01-24
,trocity Charges Con.
armed by Diaries Found
on Prisoners.
PHOTOGRAPHS OF 40
of THESE PUBLISHED
,.d;ca,e WantOn Disregard of
lives of Women and Children,
as Well as Men.
p, &. INNAN BARNARD.


"nrr.. On. ANc AFIl4.t.I
p.-is Jan. 23.- Since the outbreak Of
-. war an the notebooks. journals,
..-es and memoranda found on Ger
prisorers have been collected and
-, 70 the Ministry of War in Paris.
- have been partly sorted and classi-
f.tbv committee, of which Ernest
,,yi.se. historian and member Of the
academy. i. chairman.
Article 15 OF the regulations for Ger
80, troops in the field recommends
at each soldier keep a diary Of events.
ro,secueutly several thousand Of these
.,.sbooks have been seized by the
r-s,,b. as authorized by Article 4 of
80 Hague Convention Of 1907 Joseph
g,5ier. professor of the College Of
r-.rec. member Of the commission.
he selected upward Of forty Of these
,,.sbooks. written by German officers
,,s soldiers. and publishes photographs
- The originals. with a translation i'm
g-ench. in a pamphlet entitled Ger
AZ Crimes. as Proved by German Evi-
i,rce." forming part Of the large work
,risrtsken by Ernest Lavisse, called
Investigations and Documents Con-
,,rinE the War"
Professor Bedier thus proves by ex-
,'g,;yely German evidence. and quite
-iependently Of Official reports al
,,siy made by the French and Belgian
governments. that the German troops
ssye been guilty Of innumerable acts
o. robbery. arson. assassination. pillage
and rare committed upon the innocent
,-3 peaceful inhabitants Of French and
Belgian towns and villages. done in
most cases in AT organized, systematic
nsnner, by virtue Of superior orders
sr5 in wauton violation of the laws Of
nations. as prescribed by the Hage
Convention 20 which the United States
is 8 party
Women and Children Shot.
a few extracts from these notebooks
and the photographs, which l have be
fore ny eyes, taken at random, are as
follows:
~Gefreite Paul Spielmann. lst Com
-sny. Erssz Battalion. First Garde In
.srtrv Brigade. describes the night at
l.. ..- -
Bllnort Next day.' he says, a tele
phone wire was found in a house.
Sixty inhabitants were executed. Among
them were old women. a pregnant
wonsn. old men and three children, all
fu6dled together. the children clinging
70 one another. The walls were spat-
tered with blood 1t was a horrible
sight After that the village was given
ever 20 US for pillage. I noticed
mother with hey two little children,
one Of whom had q deep cash on the
skull and one eye gouged out
The note book Of Hassemer, 8th
tuny Corps. SAYS:
August @. az Sommepy-on-the-
Narne. in o horrible carnage. The vii
ace Vas burned 10 the ground.
Irenchmen. soldiers and civilians were
thrown into the burning houses and all
burned up together
The note book of a soldier. Philip
hsmenz. lst Company. 1st Battalion,
18th Regiment: August %. at 10
O'clock iu the evening. the battalion
marched into the village north OF
D.rant and burned il because shots
bad been fred upon our troops at the
entrance 90 the village. Fifty inhabl-
tants were shot. and during the night
many more were shot. We countec
over two hundred bodies executed,
while women and children were com
psled 20 hold a lantern or electro
lamp in their hands and forced to look
az he horrible light. We then ate our