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

Cornnued from Ftrst Page.
s.sa army on pain Of an instant dec
i.,tton Of war Startled as they were
nv the audiences with which this ter
,iac war cloud had risen on the Eastern
borl,on. the leaders of the nation raj
ilsd round the King In his resolution to
,st,se the demand and to prepare for
resistance They were aware OF the
hneer which would confront the civilian
population Of the country II 1t were
tempted TO take part in the work OF ma /.
,,onai defence Orders were accordingly
issued by the civil governors OF prov
ices and by the burgonasters OF towns.
that the civilian inhabitants were to
lake no part in hostilties and to OFFER
M provocation to the invaders That
no excuse might be furnished for Sc
verities. the popula, ton OF many i'm
por,an; towns were instructed to sur
lender all firearms into the hands OF
the local officials.
This happened on August Q On the
evening OF August 3 the German troops
crossed the frontier. The storm burst
20 suddenly that neither party had time
10 adjust its mind to the situation. The
Germans seem to have expected an easy
passage. The Belgian population. never
and stupefed.
villages PiilnRed and Burued.
On August I the roads converrinr
upon Lege from northeast. east and
south we're covered with German Deaths
Head Hussars and Uhlans pressing for.
ward to seize the passage over the
Mouse. From the very beginning Of the
operations the civilian population Of the
villages i,tns upon the line OF the Ger
man advance were made to experience
the extreme horrors OF war. "Or tho
9TH Of August" says one witness, at
Herve" "a village not far from the
frontier), II saw at about 2 o'clock in
the afternoon, near the station Ave
Uhlans: these were the frst German
troops I had seen They were followed
by German officer and some soldiers
in . motor car. The men in the car
called out TO a couple OF young fellows
who were standing about thirty yards
away. The young men. being afraid.
ran OF and then the Germans fred and
killed ono Of them named D." The
murder OF this innocent fugitive civilian
was q prelude to the burning and pillage
Of Herve and OF other villages In the
ne!ghOorhood 20 the indiscriminate
shooting OF civilians Of both sexes and
10 the organized military execution OF
patches OF selected males Thus at
Herve some fifty men escaping from the
burning houses were seized. taken out
side the town and shot. At Mclen. a
hamlet west OF Herve, forty men were
shot. In one household alone the father
and mother tnames givenl were shot.
the daughter died after being repeatedly
outraged and the son vas wounded
NAr .ntt -
gust T." SAYS one witness. near Vottem.
We were pursuing some Uhlans I saw
man, a woman and n girl about ., who
Rad been killed. They we're on the
threshold of house, one on the top OF
the other. as II they had been shot down.
one after the other. as they tried TO
escape"
Civilians Slaughtered.
The burning OF the villages in hi.
neghhorhood and the wholesale slaugh.
ter of civilians. such as occurred al
Herve. Micheroux and Soumagne. ap.
rear 10 be connected with the cXaspera
lion caused by the resistance of For
Fleron. whose guns barred the MAR
road from AK Ia Chapelle to Liege
EnrageI by the losses which they haC
sustained. suspicious OF the temper o'
the civilian population and probah!
thinking that by exceptional seventies
at the outset they could COW the spirit
OF the Relgian nation. the German Of
fcers and men speedily accustomed
themselves to the slaughter OF civilians
How rapidly the process was effected Is
illustrated by an entry In the diary OF
Kurt Hoffman. one years man in the
First Jagers. who on August : was ir
front of Fort F'leron. He illustrates
his story by sketch map. The posi-
ton" he says. was dangerous IA
suspicious civilians were hanging abou
houses I. .. 3. 4, were cleared. thu
owners arrested land shot the follow!nl
'ay). Suddenly village y was fred at
out Of II bursts our baggage train. anC
the fourth company OF the Twenty
seventh RI giment, who had lost thei'
way and been shelled by our own ar
tillery. From the point DIP. tshown II
Diary ! shoot civilian with rife a
400 meters slap through the head. as VI
afterwards ascertained" Within a few
hours, Hoffman, while in house g. wal
himself under FIRE from his own com
rades and narrowly escaped being killed
\ German, ignorant that house 3 has
been occupied. reported. as was the fact
hat he had been fired upon from tina
house. He had been challenged by thu
field patrol and failed to give th'
u.
minutes later. people approach who arr
talking xoitedly-apparently Germans
call out Halt. who's there" Suddenl!
rapid IRE 10 opened upon us, which
can only escape by quickly jumping Il
one s!de-with bullets and fragments o
vail and pieces of glass flying aroun4
me. I call out Halt. here Field Patrol
Then II stops. and there appears Lieut.
Romer with three platoons. A maj
has reported that ne had been shot
out OF our house: no wonder, II he doe
NOT give the countersign." The entry
though dated August the 9th. was evi
IDENTIFY written on the 9Th or later
because the writer refers TO the sus
picious civilians as having been sho
on that day. Hoffman does not indicat
Of what offence these civilians wer
guilty, and there is no positive evidenc
10 connect their slaughter with the re
port made by the German who had bee
hred on by his comrades. They wer
suspicious" and that was enough.
Systematic Executions.
Tn. systematic execution OF civilians
which In some cases, as the diary JUS
cited shows, was founded on genun
mistake, was given wide extensio
through the province OF Liege. i
Soumagne and Micheroux very man,
civilians were summarily shot. In
neld belonging to a man named E
IS or 81 were put to death. Germa
officer said you have shot at US On
OF the villagers asked to be allowed t
speak, and said III you think thes
people fred, kill me. but let them go.
The answer was three volleys. The sur
Nvors were bayonetted. Their corpse
we're seen In the field that night by al
other witness. One at least had bee
mutiated. These were not the oni
victims In Soumagne. The eve WitneA