The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-05-18

witness, possible deluSion in another.
inaccuracies in a third. When, how
ever, we found that things which at
first seemed improbable were testified
to by many witnesses coming from Diff
ferent places, the points in which they
all agreed became more and more evil
IDENTIFY true. When this concurrence
of testimony showed itself IN nun
dreds of dispositions, the truth OF the
broad facts stood out beyond ques-
ton. The force Of the evidence IS
cumulative"
Taking I'D the conditions at Liege,
Belgium, at the outset of h war, the
report gives narrowing recital OF oc-
currences at various points in the de-
vastated territory. At Havre on Aug
uSt 4, the report says. t murder OF
an innocent fugitive civilian was u
prelude to the burning and pillage of
the town and of other villages in the
neighborhood: to the indiscriminate
shooting of civilians of both sexes and
to the organized military execution of
patches of selected males. Thus some
fifty men escaping from burning
houses were seized, taken outside the
town and shot. At Melen, a hamlet
| west of Havre, forty men were shot.
In one household alone the father and
mother (names given) were shot, the
daughter died after being repeatedly
outraged. and the son was wounded.
COrpses OF Citizens Seen.
"In Soumagne and Micheroux very
many civilians were summarily shot.
In a field belonging to a man named
E.. Sc or 81 were put to death. A
German officer said: You have shot
at u.s. One of the villagers asked to
be allowed to speak, and said: IL
but let them 60 The answer was
three volleys. The survivors were
b~ayonetted. Their corpses were seen
in the field that night by another wit
ness. One at least had been mutt
lated. These wore not the only vic
TINS in Soumagne. The eyewitness
of the massacre saw, or his way home,
twenty bodies, one that of a young
girl of 13. Another witness saw 19
cOrpses in a meadow.
"At Heure lie Roman all the male
inhabitants, including some bedridder
old men were imprisoned in the
church. The burgomaster's brother
and the priest were bayonetted. The
village of Wise was completely de.
stroyed. Officers directed the incen.
diaries, who worked methodically WITH
benzine. Antiques and china we're re.
moved from the houses, before theil
destruction, by officers, who guarded
the plumber, revolver in hand.
Debauchery and Massacre.
III III d SGIIldu uldIy SnOV
that on August 18th the German sol
dlers gave themselves up to debauch
cry in the streets Of Liege, and on tn,
night of the Goth a massacre tool
place in the streets. Though tn
} cause OF the massacre is in dispute, tn
results are known with certainty. TIL
Rue des Pitteurs and houses in tn,
Place de TUniversite and the Quai de
Pecheurs were Systematically fire,
with benzine; and many ilhabitant
were burned alive in their houses
e their efforts to escape being pre-
3 vented by rifle fire. Twenty peop1
were shot, while trying to escape, BE-
Y Lore the eyes of one of h witnesse.
: The Liege Fire Brigade turned Out
: but was not allowed to extinguish tn
y hire. It's carts. however, were use
g fully employed in removing heaps O
civilian corpses to the town hall"
e Taking up the Valleys of the Meus
and Sambre, the report gives length
: details Of terrible conditions desert,
ed by witnesses at Andenne, and says
If Outrages Unspcakab1e.
# About 400 people lost their live
It in this massacre, some on the bank
of the Meuse, where they were she
according to orders given and som
in the cellars of the houses where the
1T had k refuge. Eight men be1ons
lr ing to n family were murders
Another man was placed close to
machine gun which was fired throug
,r him. His wife brought his body hon
on a wheel-barrow. The German
is broke into her house and ransacke
ef it, and piled up all the eatables in
lie heap on the floor and relieved then
n selves upon it.
n "A hair-dresser was murdered
I'd his kitchen where he was sitting vii
ty a child on each knee. A paralytic W;
l. murdered in his garden. After tn
lie came the general sack of the tow
re Many of the inhabitants who escap,
r the massacre were kept as prisone
X and compelled to clear the houses
IN corpses and bury them in trenche
r These prisoners were subsequent
used as a shelter and protection f
a pOntoOn bridge which the Germa
had built across the river, and we
its so used to prevent the Belgian fol
b. from firing upon it.
he "a few days later the Germa
u celebrated a Fete Nocturne in Il
re square. Hot wine, looted in the tow
re was drunk. and the women woro ~.