The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1915-05-12
ASTOUNDING sToRl or BELGIAN ATROCITIES
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE !

ty ly set on fire by hand grenades.
i'd We have no reason to believe thi
es the civilian population of Dinant gay
I'd any provocation, or that any otht
Id defense can be put forward to justil
the treatment inflicted upon its ci
Y izensp
It. The committee states that it ha
d received a great mass of evidenc
d. on scenes of chronic outrage" il
e the territory bounded by the town
s of Aeroshot. Malines, vilyorde ant
d Louyain It states that the tota
e number of outrages is so great tha
e the coumittee cannot refer to then
: all. The report states that the bat
: tie OF Malines was the occasion lat
{ er of numerous murders committed
by the German army in retreating
through the villages; and in the sec.
: ond place it led to the massacre,
plunderings and burnings at Lou
vain"
The report adds:
"The committee is especially i'm
pressed by the character of the out
lrages committed in the smaller vii
llages Many of these are exception
ally shocking and can not be regard
led as contemplated or described by
1.-THE responsible commanders of the
troops by whom they were commit
ted. The inference, however, which
we drew from these occurrences. is
that when once their troops have
been encouraged in a career Of ter
rorism, the more savage and brutal
natures, of whom there are some in /
every large army, are liable to run
to wild success, more particularly in
those regions where they are least
subjected to observation and con
troll"
Evidence goes to show that deaths
in these villages were due not to ac-
cidents, but to deliberate purpose.
The wounds were generally stabs or
cuts, and for the most part appear
to have been inflicted with bay
onet K
In Malines many bodies were seen
One witness saw a German soldier {
cut womans breast after he had '
murdered her, and saw many other 7
lead bodies Of women in the street. I
IN Hofstadt. two witnesses speak OF
having seen the body Of a young man q
pierced by bayonet thrusts with the I
wrists cut also. On a side road the i
corpse of a civilian was seen on his
loorstep with a bayonet wound in t
lis stomach and by his side the dead c
'ody of a boy of five or six with r
lis hand nearly severed. {
Two young women were lying in +"
he back yard of house. One had t
Ter breasts cut Off the other had /
'een stabbed. II
"A young man had been hacked by n
bayonet until his entrails protrud- h
d. He also had his hands Joined in
he attitude Of prayer. .
In Sempst the corpse of man j,
With his legs cut off, who was part
Y bound, was seen by witness, who !,
lso saw girl of seventeen, dressed
a a chemise and in great distress.
he also alleged that she, herself,
nd other girls had been dragged in ="
. field, stripped naked and vio- q
ited, and that some of them had u
cen killed with a bayonet "
AT Elewyt, mans naked body II
as tied up to ring in the wall in u
ne back yard of house. He was III
cad and his corpse was mutilated in y
manner too horrible to record. A e;
oman's naked body was also founi II
/ stable abutting on the same la
ack yard.
at Haescht. child of three, with W
5 stomach cut open by a bayonet, hi
as lying near a house At Werch- m
r the corpses of a man and a wo- di
an and four younger sons were al
und il one house Il is said that in
ey had been murdered because one W,
the latter, a girl, would not per 70
it the Germans to outrage her" M,
Taking up conditions at Aershot .v
ID the surrounding district during Ia,
,ptember. the report says:
AT Haescht several children had :.
en murdered One child two or
rec years old was found nailed to
e door Of farm house by its hands
d feet, a crime which seems almost
'redible. but the evidence for a''
Itch we feel bound to accept In
: garden of this house was the ue'
dy Of girl, who had been shot in sig
! forehead. ool
AT Eppeghem the dead body of GU
Id OF two was seen pinned to the
'und with a German lance. The the
ne witness saw a mutilated wom- cor
alive near Weerde, on the same lin
=" sor