New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-07-30

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lomaed teacher, giving lessons IN iaunu, y
cooking and the other branches OF domes''S
sci.nce With the coming war, she hastened
- par;s % enroll as a nurse. Then she re-
turned to her village, where the school had
been made into a hospital, with thirty-four
wounded French soldiers in it, Word came
that the Germans were nearing the Vilisse'
and tho staff fed, leaving one doctor ana tnis
nurse The wounded had TO remain, sne saiu'
40 abe did not care TO go. That was August
Of There was fighting on all the roads ilo"'
Charleroi. and the French wounded III ne,
caro- numbered 1903 by the end Of the secono
day. a5
Tho Germans came. She was on the road
one hundred yards away, when she saw thiS'
~ saw an old French beggar, whom every
body knew, hobbling down the road ne
nassed through our village every week lie
WAS called "Pere Noel' Father christmas
because of his big beard. He was seVehty-hFe
wears old. IL was the 10Th OF August aDou.
8 o'clock in the morning. Oihcers oroeieu
twelve men to step out from the ranks lhey
tool tho old man and tied him to a tree
An officer ordered the men to shoot. ohe VI
two OF the sous-officers fired when the men
fred So they shot Pere Noel. Inc Villagers
found thirteen bullet holes in him.
"That day the soldiers burned the hrst
four houses of our village. They made big
blaze. and If the wind had turned the whoie
village would have burned.
"The commander came to our hospital. he
matted me on the cheek and said he mad
i bio daughter at home like me, and she was IN
Red Cross work like me-"
One Touch of Nature.
As the nurse told me this she blushed' She
had all the sensitiveness OF an unspolieo
child and the fine natural dignity wnich
bioh.snrited child carries. | think that Ger
man officer realized he was in the presence OF
something finer than himself and that ne
must behave.
ale said he was very thirsty. l gave him
three glasses of water. | had good wine In
the cellar, but not for him. He talked with
the doctor and me. He asked for the Burgo-
master. We said he had gone away. lie
asked for those next in authority to the
Bureomaster We said they had gone away
"'Why? Why asked the commander. The
Beeians have told you we are barbarians,
that is why We have done things littie
regrettabe, but we were forced TO 1t by the
Belgians. The colonel whose place took
was killed by little girl, fourteen years
the girl and burned the village.
Then the French doctor 18th me asked
the commander why his men had burned the
| four farmhouses. They were making bright
blaze with their barns of hay. We could
see il.
"Why, that-that's nothing said the COM
mander. zee nest rien. C'est tout petit peu.D
"The soldiers went through the village, pill
laying the safes and wine cellars. They
b .oke open fourteen strong boxes. Two were
too strong for them. They broke them in at
the rear. The door was too stout. sous
officer came in to our hospital. HI showed
us bottle of Bordeaux which he had taken
from the cellar of one of our houses. He
said:
az know it is good wine sold 1t myself
to the woman a couple of months ago. |
thought she wouldn't have had time to drink
it all up
Spying Out the Land.
"'You know France?' asked the doctor.
az know il better than many Frenchmen,'
replied the officer. For eight years | have
been wine agent in the Marine district
cat Rheims?
"'At Rheims
"'For the house Of Pommery"
"'No, no. Not that house,"
This officer was one more OF the German
commercial travellers, tourists, summer resi-
dents, clerks, who made study of the coun-
/ try which was TO be invaded. The German spy
system of the last few years has honey
combed Belgium and France. These business
men and visitors, Hospitality received for
! years, turned out TO be German officers, who
| led the troops down the shortest roads and
showed where the wealth of the city, town and
village was hidden. What was not required
for immediate use was loaded into motor cars
and shipped back TO Germany. An organized
system of pillage has been practised with the
same thoroughness as the methodical burning
and murder.
Marie Louise Vincent went on with her ac-
count.
After the fighting of August q and %,
some of the peasants began to come back to
their homes Near us at the little village OF
hin-le-Moutier a few returned. Nine old
men and boys came back on the morning OF
the goth. The Germans put them against
wall and shot them. | saw traces OF blood on
the wall and bullet marks. The youngest boy
was too frightened 10 stand quietly against
the wall He struggled. SO they tied him
| to a signpost. | saw traces of his blood on
/ the post The old sacristan of the village
church was forced to witness the shooting
! he DodleS were guarded py a sentlnel ior
three days. On the third day, August 81,
German officer ordered an old man and his
wife, of the place. to bring a cart. They car
ried the bodies TO the graveyard. The officer
had the two old people dig one deep hole
The old man asked permission to take out the
bodies, one by one. But the officer had the
cart upturned, and the bodies, all together,
dumped into the hole A few days later a
poor woman came along the road, asking
every one she met il anybody had seen her
boys. They were among the nine that had
been shot. Everybody was shocked and
| frightened and fattened out by these things
which the Germans did.
LAS the French wounded grew better they
we're taken to Germany as prisoners. Some
Of them were carried to another village where
there was tetanus Their places were taken
/ by German wounded At first these were all
offcers and sous off Rv 0ctoher * thera