Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-07-28
AUSTRIA GIVES FACTS
TO PROVE ATROCITIES
Washington Embassy Makes Public Documents Accusing
French, English, Belgians, Russians and Balkan Peo-
piles of Violating Laws of Warfare.

laws OF warfare.
both legs with a rifle and was injured.
We witnessed most pitiable Genes A
child. 9 years old. was SO frightened
that 1t refused to follow the others and
chung with both hands to the ratings
at the exit; q garde civique hit 1t with
his saber and cut its left hand off.
AN Austrian couple, who had owned
a at Antwerp for the last
Is years. was terribly i'll treated by the
MOI The poo woman had n of her
eyes pierced with n fork, while her hus-
pand had two fingers cut off. Another
Austrian woman was expelled from q
maternity home with her baby, which
was only 5 days old. She had neither
dress nor shirt on her body, which was
only covered with a dirty bed sheet.
1T was a heart rending scene, yet It
did not prevent a garde civique from
making fun OF her in a shameless man
ner: it was UGH a comedy very anus
ing. indeed"
With reference to the treatment of
Austro-Hungarian nationals in France,
the chief complaint was against the
h%ardships imposed upon innocent wom-
en- and children In h concentration
camps. A deposition of Miss NJ. Il.
Schreiner, a graduate nurse, pictures
conditions in a convent at GARRISON, to
| which A%ustrians, Hungarians and Ger
- SANSAGN A4SCA q III
~ kilometers. Here they were informed
that they were prisoners of war.
Some Shocking Incidents.
There were altogether about 1000
prisoners" declared Miss Schreiner,
half of whom were women and chill
dren. There was no furniture available
and straw was the sole bedding. Under
the pretext of safety the existing
latrines were boarded up and holes in
the ground were dug by the male pris-
oners in lieu Of other arrangements.
There were no provisions made for
washing. . /. Insufficiency of food
brought about serious illness. such as
~dysentery. and, in consequence OF the
inadequate latrines. epidemics broke
out. Two women were confined
! and had to put up with the most atrOci-
Gus treatment. Four people
! died"
Other cases cited included the ina
licious punishment, rough medical at
tendance by a veterinary surgeon" and
the shameless molestation Of In
termed girls by french soldiers al Sa-
bles d'Olonne.
The young girls according to one
of the dispositions, were exposed to
criminal assault by the soldiers. In the
beginning, they were herded together
with the young men and had to share
their rooms or stables with them. Mod
csty forbids specification of all the acts
of i%ndecency to which we had to sub
init; worst of all Offenders was the COM
missioner of police. Maternes, who UNI
mercifully maltreated all those who OPP
posed his immoral designs"
The royal Hungarian ministry of the
interior obtained. on January IL, 1915,
a report of the murder of interned
Hungarians al Argenton-sur-Cruse
Anglers. Bastide st. Pierre, Ia Cour-
tine. GARRISON and Orville."
In Great Britain, insufficient food
were accorded the interned nationals
at Davenport and Newbury.
In Russia. the intelligence depart
ment OF h Austro-Hungarian general
staff learned OF .barbarous treatment
inflicted on the informed at Arenburg.
their ranks by the hundreds" In Ser
bia. besides trough tratment, plumber
ing and insufficient food, compulsory
naturalization was enforced, prisoners
of war were robbed. badly fed. and
forced to work for military purposes"
T~wenty-seven cases of violations by
Russia of the laws of warfare and 10
instances in which Serbia and Monte
negro are accused of various atrocities
are given in detailed affidavits selected
ficers and civilian officials. These In
clude, In Russia. not only the use Of
dum-dum bullets. firing on the Red
Cross flag and ambulances, but organ
lied footing and killing of civilians and
numerous authenticated cases of rape"
Persecution Of Jews.
Cases are recorded Of looting and kill
ing directed especially against Jewish
civilians. who also ''were forced under
h lash to work in the trenches during
their holiday" Atrocities committed
by the COssacks. assassinations and
robberies and wanton destruction. all
supported by concrete instances were
verified. 1t is claimed, after the Austri-
ans reoccupied tho invaded territory
where the alleged violations had oc-
Cured.
In Serbia n Montenegro, the partic-
ipation Of the civilian population in
h fighting. the misuse of the white
flag. use OF cartridges filled with wire,
nails, n pieces of vitriol Of copper.
torture of prisoners, the poisoning of
wells with dead bodies and mud. the
firing upon the army service corps by
women and children. mutilation of bod
les and m~altreatment of prisoners of
war, with insufficient food and accom-
mediation, complete the list Of atroci-
ties complained of by the Austrian ar
my. Under the head Of "Violations OF
the Laws of Warfare" complaint Is
made that Russia refused to recognize
Austrians, described as the Polish and
Rumanian legions, as belligerents. The
wherever they catch Them"