New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-09-03
THE GOOD CUR +
By Arthur Gleason

IT Gleason
firing I thought it was only one more OF
their performances.
"But NJ the sound Of these shots the Ger
mans ran out from the houses and the
streets. rifle and revolver in hand, shouting
h. me:
"Your people have fred on u.s.!
"I protested with all my power, saying
that ALI our arms had been put in the Mayors
crce and that no one of US had done the
firing Blu, they only shouted the louder;
"Your people have fred on usV
PLANES broke out in the homes OF Mr..
Fdouard Gand and Mr.. Gabriel Geminel.
We saw the Boches set them on IRE with
lircendary fuses. Later on we found the
remnants Of those fuses
"Women began running TO me- weeping
and saying:
"'Curt save my father! Ny child is in
the namesr They are killing my children
"Thc shooting went on. The fire spread
ard made hot cauldron Of two streets.
Cattle and crops and houses burned.
"Thcn a strange thing happened. Som.
Germans aided in saving clothing and fur
Rut most Of them watched the destruction,
, standing silent and showing neither pleas
IRE nor regret | could tell it was no new
sight for them. In two hours there was
nothing left of the thirty-fve houses on two
streets.
Hunters Game.
"Our people ran out, chased By angry Ger
mans. who fred on them as if they were hum
ter's game. Jules Gand, ffty-eight years DID,
was shot down at the threshold Of his door.
4 seventeen -year-old boy named Georges Le-
courtier. taking refuge with me, was shot.
Alfred Lallemand hid himself in a kitchen.
His body was riddled with bullets. We found
it burned and lying in the rubbish eight
DAYS later. lie was ffty-four years old
Men, women and children fed into the gar
dens and the fields. They forded the rivers
y ithout using the bridge, which was right
there They ran as far as Brizeaux and
Senard My cook ran. She had a packet of
my bonds, which had given her for safe
keeping and she had a basket Of her own
yaluables. In her fear she threw away her
basket and kept my bonds.
"The daughter Of one of our women, shot
in this panic, came to me and said:
"Nfy mother had $4,000 francs somewhere
about her.
"The body had been buried in haste, with
none of the usual rites paid the dead Of
washing and undressing So no examination
had been made. We dug the body up and
found bag MJH
"Ts that the bag? | asked the daughter.
act looks like it, she replied. It was
empty.
"a day later we found another bag in the
dead woman's room, and in it were the bonds
for 10000 francs. That shows the haste
and panic in which our people fed, picking
up the wrong thing, leaving the thing of
most value"
1t was in the garden Of the Process family
that the worst was done. 1t was Helene
Process you remember, who was insulted by
the German soldier The grandmother sew
enty-eight years old; Miss Laure Mennehand,
the aunt who is eighty-one years old; the
mother, forty years old, and Helene, who
was eighteen. ran down the garden. They
placed little ladder against the low wire
fence which separated their backyard from
their neighbors. Helene was the first one
over. and turned to help the older women.
The Germans had followed them and riddled
the three women with bullets. They fell one
on the other. Helene hid herself in the
cabbages. The cure spoke on quietly
4 The Women Who Died.
THAT same evening some Of the villagers
went with me to the garden. The women
looked as II they were sleeping They had
no trace Of suffering in their faces Miss
Mennehand had her little toilet bag, con-
tanning 1000 francs, fastened to her left
wrist, and was still holding her umbrella
in her right hand. Her brains had fallen
out / collected them on a salad leaf and
buried them in the garden.
I'VE carried the three bodies to their beds
in their home. In one bed, as I opened il.
/ saw a gold watch lying From Monday
evening till Wednesday morning the bodies
lay there, with no wax taper burning and
no one to watch and pray. By night the
Germans played the piano close by.
"'Your people fired on our soldiers said
captain to me the next day. III show you
the window
ale led ME down the street and pointed
at is unfortunate you have chosen that
window | replied TO HIM. AT the time you
started burning our village the only person
in the house was a paralytic man, who was
burned in his bed
at was the house of Jean Lecourtier, sew
enty years old
an front Of the Poincaire house | met
general, who, they said, was the Duke of
Wurttemberg He said to me;
n, ri al "a SEQ you cure | cOngratu-
late you. You are the first chaplain ! have
seem Generally when We get to village
the Mayor and the cure have run away.
We officers are angry at what has taken
place Here You have treated us we'll
"Perhaps you will be able to stop the
horror | said 20 him.