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

together a. II In the attitude Of supplIca-
ton.
Two young women were lying In the
back yard OF the house. One had her
breasts cut OH. the other had been
stabbed.
A yourg man had been hacked with
0s payonet until his cntrails protruded.
"a also had his hands Joined In the atti-
tude OF prayer
In the garden Of a house In the main
street bodies OF two women were OBJ
served, and in another house the body
of a boy Of Is with two bayonet wounds
In the chest.
Houses burned In sempst.
In Sernpst a similar condition OF AZ.
fairs existed. Houses were burning. and
in some OF them were the charred re-
mains OF civilians.
In a bicycle shop a witness saw the
burned corpse OF man. Other wit
nesses speak to this incident
Another civilian. unarmed, was shot
as he was running away. As will he
remembered all the arms had been
given UP some time before by order OF
the burgoma ster.
The corpse Of q man with his legs
cut of. who was partly bound. was seen
by another witness, who also saw girl
OF seventeen dressed only In chem'se
and In great distress. She alleged that
she herself and other girls had been
dragged into a field. stripped naked and
violated and that some OF them had
been killed with the bayonet.
weerde-At weerde four corpses OF
civilians were lying In the road. II was
said that these men had fired upon the
German soldiers; but this is denied. The
arms had been given up long before.
Two children were killed In a village.
appa rently weerde. quite wantonly as
they we're standing in the road with
their mother. They were three or four
years old and were killed with the
bayonet.
A small farm burning close by formed
convenient means of getting rid OF
the bodies They we're thrown into the
flames from the bayone:s. II Is right
to add that no commissioned ofYicer was
present at this time.
Eppeshem-At Eppeghem, on the
twenty-fifth OF August a pregnant wom-
an who had been wounded with a bay
onet was discovered in the convent. She
was dying. on the road six dead bodies
OF laborers were seen.
Elewyt--At Elewyt q mans naked
body was tied up to a ring in the wall
In the back yard of a house. He was
dead. and his corpse was mutilated In
manner too horrible to record. 4
woman's naked body was also found In
stable abutting on the same back yard.
Vilvorde-At Nivorde corpses of civil
ians were also found These villages
are all on the line from Malines TO
Brussels.
Boort Meerheek-At Roort Meerbeek
a German soldier was seen to fire three
times at a little girl Ave years old
Having failed TO hit her. he subsequent
ly bayonetted her. He was killed with
the butt end OF a rife by a Belgian SOL
dler who had seen him commit this
murder from a distance
Woman and Child Mutilated.
Herent-At Herent the charred body
OF a civilian was found In a butchers
shop. and in a hand cart twenty yards
away was the dead body OF a laborer.
Two eyewitnesses relate that a Ger
man soldier shot a civilian and stabbed
him with a bayonct AZ he lay. He then
made one OF these witnesses. a civilian
prisoner. smell the blood on the bayonet.
Haecht-At Haecht the bodies OF ten
civilians were seen lying In a row by a
brewery wall.
In a laborer's house. which had been
broken up, the mutilated corpse OF a
woman OF 80 to 35 was discovered
A child Of three with it's stomach cut
open by bayonet was lying near a
house.
Werchter-At werchter the corpses
OF a man and woman and four younger
persons were found In one house. II is
stated that they had been murdered be-
cause one OF the latter, a girl, would not
allow the Germans to outrage her.
This catalogue OF crimes does not by
any means represent the sum total OF the
dispositions relating TO this district laid
before the committee. The above are
- - ,.ul.t al,
the evidence shows to have taken place
IN numbers that might have seemed
scarcely credible.
In the rest OF the district. that IL Ia
say, Aerschot and the other villages
from which the Germans had not been
driven. the effect OF the battle was to
cause a recrudescence OF murder arson
pllage and cruelty. which had 90 some
extent died down after the goth or 2ls'
OF August.
In Aerschot itself fresh prisoners seen
TO have been taken and added 90 those
who were already In the church, since
II would appear that prisoners were kept
20 some extent In the church during I'M
whole OF the German occupation OF Aer
schot, The second occasion on whicf
large numbers OF prisoners were pu
there was shortly after the battle o.
Maljnes, and II was then that the prizes
of Gelrode was brought to Aerscho
church. treated abominably and ANAL,
murdered.
Priest's Execution Described.
One witness describes the seem
graphically. ''The whole OF the prts
oners-men, women and children-wer'
placed In the church. Nobody was al
lowed to 90 outside OF the church 4
obey the calls OF nature. The church
had to be used for that purpose W.
were afterward allowed to so outsld
the church for this purpose. and thei
] saw the clergyman of Gelrode stand
ing by the wall OF the church with hi
hands above his head, being guarded b!
soldiers" The actual details OF the muir
der of the priest are as follows: Th
priest was struck several times b!
the soldiers on the head. He wa
pushed up against the wall or I'M
church He asked in Flemish to be al
lowed to stand with his face to the wall
and tried to turn around The German
stopped him. and then turned him VIII
his face to the wall with his hands abov
his head. An hour later the same wit
ness saw the priest still standing there
lie was then led away by the German
. distance OF about fifty yards. There
With his face against the wall or
house, he was shot by five soldiers.
Other murders OF which we have evi
dence appear In the Appendix.
Some of the prisoners in the church
Aerschot were actually kept there unit
me arrival Of the Belgian army, on SEP
-@mber H. when they were released
lnshar. uara arrhed IN I.Duvaln an