The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13

struction by officers. who guarded the plunder revolver in hand.
 Entries in a German diary show that on August 1s the German soldiers gave themselves up 10 debauchery in the streets of Liege, and on the night of the 20th a massacre took place in the streets
 Though the cause of the massacre is in dispute. the results are known with cer- tainty. The Rue des Ptteurs and houses in thefPlace de fEniversite and the Quai aes ieeheurs were ystematically fired with benzne. and many inhabitants were huIyed alive in their houses, their efforts to escape being prevented by rifle fire 1NYsnty people were shot. while trying tafescape. before the eyes of one of the Witnesses The Liege Fire brigade turned Tout, but was not allowed to extingush
 the fire. Its carts, however, were usefully employed m removing heaps of civilian corpses to the Town hall.
 Taking np the Valleys of the Mouse , and sambre the report gives lengthy de- tails of terrible conditions described by witnesses at Andenne and says:
 About 400 people lost their lives in /this massacre, some on the banks of the Mouse where they were shot, according to orders given and some in the cellara of the houses, where they had taken refuge. Eight men belonging to one fam fly were murdered. Another man was placed close to a machine gun which was fired through him. His wife brought his body home on wheelbarrow The Ger mans broke into her house and ransacked it. and piled up all the eatables in heap on the floor and relieved themselves Ihpon 1t.
 "A hair dresser was murdered in his Kitchen where he was sitting with a child on each knee. A paralytic was murdered in his garden. After this came the gen eral sack of the town. Many of the in- ha bitants who escaped the massacre were kept as prisoners and compelled to clear the houses of corpses and bury them in trenches These prisoners were subse- |.uuently used as a shelter and protection Vfor pontoon bridge which the Germans had built across the river and were so used to prevent the Belgian forts from firing upon it
 l. "A few days later the Germans cele- ibrateo Fete Nocturne in the square bHot wine, footed in the town, was drunk, Band the women were compelled to give three cheers for the Kaiser and to sing Deutschland JIber Alles
 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 report says, un- harmed civilians were killed in masses. About 90 bodies were seen lying on top Of one another in a grass square opposite ! the convent They included many rels- | tives of a witness whose deposition IS given. It is stated that besides | the 90 corpses referred to, 60 corpses or | civilians were recovered from hole Tn | the brewery yard, and that AS bodies of women and children were found in a gar den The town was systematically set on | fire by hand grenades.
 | We have no req son to believe that the l civilian population of Dinant gave any provocaton. or that any other defense
 can be put forward to justify the treat ment inflicted upon it's citizens" The committee states that it has received ! a great mass of evidence on scenes of chronic outrage" in the territory bounded | by the towns of Aershot. Malines, Vil- vordc and Louvain. It states that the total number of outrages is so great that the | committee cannot refer to them all. The
 report states that the battle of Malines
 was the occasion later of numerous mur- ders committed by the Germany army in retrea ting through the villages; and in the second place it led to the massacres, plum
 derings and burnings at Louvain." The
 report adds:
 "fhe committee is specially impressed by the character of the outrages com |, mitted in the smaller villages Many of
 these are exceptionally shocking and can not be regarded as contemplated or de- |, scribed by the responsible commanders of the troops by whom they were commit
 ted. The inference, however, which we
 draw from these occurrences is that wher
 once troops have been encouraged in a career of terrorism, the more savage and l brutal natures. of whom there are some in every large army, are liable to run to } wild excess more particularly in those ; regions where they are least subject te
 observation and control : Evidence goes to show that deaths in , these villages were due not to accident but to deliberate purpose. The wounds l ppp sta ls ..t1f nd for he
 most part appear to have been inflicted with bayonet."
 Cut W0man's Breast
 In Malines many bodies were seen
 One witness saw German soldier cut woman's breast after he had murdered
 her, and saw many other dead bodies oi
 women In the street In Hofstad
 two witnesses speak of having seen the
 body of a young man pierced by bayone
 thrusts with the wrists cut also
 "On a side road the corpse of a civilian
 was seen on his doorstep with a bayone
 wound in his stomach and by his sid,
 the dead body of boy of or with his
 hand nearly severed
 Two young women were lying in the
 backyard of house. One had her breast. cut off, the other had been stabbed. "A young man had been hacked witf bayonet until his entrais protruded 7 He also had his hands joined in the atti.
 tude of prayer.
 Tn Sempst the corpse of man witt Z his legs cut off, who was partly bound was seen by witness. who also saw g girl of F dressed only in chinese and 1T T great distress She alleged that she her. ! self and other girls had been dragged into field. stripped naked and violated
 and that some of them had been killed ' with a bayonet
 ' At Elewyt a mans naked body was !, tied up to ring in the wall in the back r yard of house. He was dead and his corpse was mutilated in manner tod ; horrible to record A woman's naked !, body was also found In a stable abuttine on the same backyard
 "At Haescht a child of with it, stomach cut open by bayonet was lyins . near 8 house. At Werchter the corpse, of man and woman and four younsel persons were found in one house It |. : said that they had been murdered becaus, of the latter, a girl, would not permit the Germans to outrage her"
 Taking up conditions al Aershot anc
 district during September the report says Children Murdered , At Haescht several children had beer , murdered. one of or 3 years old wa.
 found nailed to the door of farmhous, !: by it's hand and feet a crime whicl seems almost incredible. but the evidenc, ] for which we feel bound to accept II | the garden of this house was the body O girl who had been shot in the fore head
 At Eppeghem the dead body of a chilt of was seen pinned to the ground witt
 German lance. The same witness saw II m;tiIated WOrna n alive near Waardo ov