New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-01-24

mountaineering, in an attempt 10 fol me
German fire But this WAS Of no avail, fof
when our train Of trucks moved each nign'
along the road to the trenches bright h'Si
Of light would 20 up somewhere within our
lines, which would signify TO the enemy tha'
IL was time 10 fire upon the convoy.
Such evidences Of German gold at work on
the very country we were occupying kep'
renching us. Sometimes the money itself.
Nv wife. when stationed by the Belgian
trenches at Peryysc, asked the orderly u
purchase potatoes, giving him hVe-lfanc
piece. He brought back the potatoes ana
handful OF change that included french
franc a French copper, a Dutch small CON- d
Belgian ten-centime bit, and a German two
mark piece with It's imperial eagle. NAV
meant some one IN the ranks or among he
refugees was pcddlng information 20 inc
enemy.
In early October my wife and ! were capt
ured by the Uhans at zele. Our Flemish
driver, a Client man, began expressing MS
friendliness for them in fluent German. After
weeks Of that sort OF thing we became suspi-
cious OF almost every one, so thorough and
widespread had been the honeycomblng Of
certain Of the poorer element. The Germans
had sowed their seed for years against the
day when they would release their troops
and have need of traitors scattered through
the invaded country.
The thoroughness OF this bribery differed
at different villages. Ia one burned town OF
1900 houses | found approximately 100
house, standing Intact, with German script
in chalk on their doors; the order OF the OH
Ger not TO burn. This meant the dwellers
had been friendly 10 the enemy IN certain
instances. and In other instances that they
were spies for the Germans. We have the
photographs Of those chalked houses in safe
keeping against such time as there IS a d.
rect challenge on the facts of German meth
ods But there has come no challenge OF
fact.-we that have seen have given names
dates and places only blanket denial and
counter charges OF franc-tireur warfare, a.
carried on by babies in arms, white-haired
grandmothers and sick women.
In October. 1914, two miles outside Ostend
I was arrested a. spy by the Belsians and
marched through the streets In front OF
gun in the hands Of very young and very
nervous soldier. The Fiat Major told me
that German officers had been using Amer
ican passports % enter the Allied lines and
learn the numbers and disposition Of troops
They had 10 arrest Americans on sight and
find out if they we're masqueraders. A niue
later one Of our American ambassadors yer
fled this by saying 70 me that American pass
ports had been fagrantly abused for German
purposes. One Of our American consuls IN
the war zone told me that he had steadily
supplied our government az Washington with
information on the German violation OF the
laws Of war 50 our failure to take action
was not due 70 lack Of data.
Room for Another Bryce Report.
All this devious inside work abusing the
hospitality of friendly, trustful nations, this
buying up Of weak individuals, this laying
the traps on neutral ground-all this treach-
cry in peace times-deserves second Bryce
report The atrocities are the product Of the
treachery. This patient, insidous spy sys-
TEN, eating away at the vitality Of the Allied
powers, results in such horrors as we have
witnessed. Let me close with an instance.
A friend OF mine has been lieutenant in a
battery Of 75's stationed at Pervyse. His
summer home is little distance out from
Liege. His wife. sister-in-law and his three
children were in the house when the Germans
came Peasants, driven from their village
hid in the cellar. His sister took one child
and hid in a closet. His wife took the two
year-old baby and the older child and hid III
another closet. The troops entered the house
looted it and set it on fire. As they left they
fired into the cellar The mother rushed from
her hiding place, went 70 her desk and found
that her money and the family Jewels. one a
gift from the husbands family and handed
down generation by generation. had been
stolen. With the sister, the baby in arms
the two other children and the peasants, she
ran out Of the garden. They were fired on
They hid In a wood. Then, for two days, they
walked. The raw potatoes which they gath
cred By the way were unfit for the little one
without money. and III and weakened, they
reached Holland. This lady is in safe place
now, and her testimony in person Is avail
able.
Our own position in this war, where the
future Of the human race is being contendec
for, IS described in the song OF Deborah
and Barak, as recorded FOR our bordering in
the Book OF Judges, which is q section OF an
ancient sntl-pacihst document called the Old
Testamenti
"Why sbodest thou among the sheepfods
20 hear the bleating of the focks? Zebulun
and Naphtali were people that jeoparded
their lives unto tho death In the high places
Of the field" ARTHUR GLEASON.
A..