New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-29

how they placed the eighteen bullets
that defled it in pattern. The honest
methodical brain is behind each atroc-
ity, and the mind Of the race leaves its
mark even on ruins.
Finally. when they shot the fifteen
white-haired old men the murders
were done in series in sets Of five, with
a regular rhythm. | can produce photo
graphs Of the dead bodies Of these hf-
teen old men as they lay grouped on
the meadow. We stood under the oak
tree where the officer sat as he drank
his toasts to death. We looked oyertothe
little spot where the old men were
herded together and murdered. Leon
Mirman, Project Of Meurthe-et-Moselle,
said to US az we stood there:
81. myself, came here at the begin
ming of September 1914 Fifteen old
men were here, lying one upon the
other, in groups Of FIVE. saw them,
their clothes dropping. One was able 10
see also by their attitude that Two or
three had been smoking their pipes JUST
before dying. Others held their packets
Of tobacco in their hands. / saw these
fifteen hostages. fifteen old men. some
ten days after they had been killed;
the youngest must have been Sky
years Of age.
1--WE shall set up here a commence
ratiye monument which will tell 70
future generations the thing that has
taken place here"
The Sacrament of Murder
For centuries the race has lived on a
few episodes, short as the turn OF
sunset. The glancing helmet Of H';tor
that frightened one tiny child, the
toothless hound Of Ulysses that kne"
the beggar man always 10 Is the lls"e
lonely things that shake us. tsH
masses of men and acres OF guns bllr
into unreality. The battle hides itseh
in thick clouds swaying in the nigh''
But the cry that rang through OeIue-
yiller does not die away In our ears s's.
ter Julie has given episodes Of oiutl
brevity which the imagination Of ms
race will not shake of. Il is impos''O''
to look out on the world with the sane
eyes after those flashes Of a n's
bravery, a new horror. | find this sue
Cen revelation In the lifting Of the Guy
with the toast that signed the deatA '.
the old men. The officer was drinknsN
sacrament Of death by murder II Is .,
if there in that act under the lonsy
q
tree in the pleasant feds Of Geroe''.e,
the new religion Of the Germans hS'
perfected its rite. 5000.
That rite Of the social cup. held "'0''
IN the eyes Of comrades, has oeeh
symbol for good will IN all the age.
Brotherhood was being proclaimed y
the host of the feast looked OUT OF
table Of comrades Al last, IN me lN,
ness OF time. the rite. always honotso'
was lifted into the unassailaoie ieS'.
of poetry. when one greater man CAM
who went TO his death oIitheiy IL ~.
the cup that he drank with his i'',"u
There il has remained homely ana 80
cred in the thought OF the race. u,
Suddenly under the oak tree
Gerbeviller the rite has received -, -,
meaning. The cup has been torn -" n,s
the hands of the Nazarene. pS sse
gesture the German officer reversed -"
course OF history. lie sat there 20
lonely. and he drank alone ns
that he tasted was the death 81 me-
II is no longer the lifting OF az ~
common fellowship. IL no i0"sI
means II who stand here am pfepo,,.
to die for you; pledge OF va" Ia.
stronger even than death. II rs ~
denly made che symbol OF g',St
gospel 81 drink to your death ] a'''N