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

! sorced. The war IL safe in their hands
For these peasants much excellent WORK Is
b.ino done. such as the work for refugees
conducted at the seminary Of Saint Sulplce'
Paris. bv Paul Peltier, Commissioner OF fo'
liee Another worthy charity is that deaiihs
With the very district described IN TINS ar"-
Gle, the "Unon Lorraine This union or'nss
the refugees together and aids them by gus
e money, food, clothes and Shoes ana oy
nrocuring work for them. The months OIL
bombardment at Verdun have depopulated the
villages in that sector so the union IS stag
esring under immense numbers OF needy
peasants The National City Bank, at %
| Wall Street. New York, is receiving money
fer this "Union Lorraine"
What want to make clear is the deadly,
cold purpose with which Germany worked
this policy OF frightfulness on combat
ants. II was no chance affair Of anger and
wine and lawless soldiers. II was a method
rrepared in advance ordered by officers, car
led out carefully. The heaviest of all the
charges that rest against Germany is that
r. their complete preparedness in equipment
/ fer incendary destruction. They mad not
oily prepared an army for fighting the enemy
troops with rifle, machine gun and howltzer
= hey had supplied that army with full set
~ incendiary material for making war on
non com batants.
Special Incendiary Bombs.
Immediately on crossing the frontier they
laid waste peaceful villages by fire. And that
wholesale burning was not accomplished by
.xtemporized means. 1t was done by instru-
ments made in Germany before the war,
instruments of no value for battle, but only
for property destruction, house by house.
Their manufacture and distribution to that
/ first German army Of invasion show the pre-
meditation Of the destruction visited on the
invaded country. On his arm the soldier
carried rife, in his sack the stuff for fires.
He marched against troops and against non
combatants. His war was war Of extermi-
haton. The army carried chemical MKT
re which caught fire on exposure to the air,
by being broken open; another chemical
which fired up from charge of powder; in
cendary bombs which spread flames when ex-
ploded; pellets like lozenges which were
charged with powders, and which slipped
easily and safely into the bag. These were
thrown by the handful into the house, after
being started by match or the gun. Torches
were often used. In certain villages straw
was collected and the house lamps spilled on
the straw.
| have in my possession a collection Of the
lncendiary pellets, taken from the sack Of a
German soldier They are square, the size
/, of finger nail. They burn with intensity,
like a Fourth Of July torch. A dozen Of
them would put room in blaze. The sack
which saw contained 500 or 900. When the
Germans came to a village where they wished
TO spread terror they burned it house by
house. | have seen their chalk-writing on
the doors of unburned houses. One of their
phrases which they scrubbed on those
friendly doors was "Nicht anzunden" Now
"nicht anzunden" does not mean simply "Do
rot burn" It means, do not burn with
incendiary methods"
The Only Exemptions.
Wherever a spy lived, or peasant inn
keeper friendly with drinks, or wherever
there was house which an officer chose for
his nights rest, there the Germans wrote the
phrase that saved the house. The other
houses to right and left were burned with
incendiary methods" That phrase is as re-
yealing as if in a village where there were
dead bodies Of children with bayonet wounds
upon them you discovered one child walking
around with tag hung round her neck read
ing, "Do not murder this little girl by bayo-
net"
The exception which the Germans describe
in their own handwriting proves the rule
which they followed with their torches, their
liquids and their pastilles.
! have talked with many of the French.
Who have been eye-witnesses of German
methods. With some of them took down
-
cthers | used a stenographer, who made YER
batim reports. OF the numerous statements
which | am holding will close this article
by giving two. The first is that Of quiet
elderly woman from Lorraine village
Madame Dillon, of Cutry (Meurthe ct Mo-
celle), said 20 me:
"On August II a patrol arrived in our viii
lage, and on the 22d the Germans made their
entrance. That night the French troops ad-
vancng from Meun met the Germans and
killed one. The inhabitants of our village
took fright and hid themselves. took
refuge with neighbors. The next morning, at
3 o'clock, | was awakened and asked to get
food for the French. | went back to my own
home with my husband and daughter. Some
Of our village people asked my husband to go
further into the village. The others did not
find any Germans. But my husband did not
return.
Some hours later ! found out that he had
Leen captured in a cellar along with the
village teacher and wounded French sol
der. The Germans accused him of having
hidden the French soldier, and they shot all
three of them at the end of the garden Of
CUR home, in the afternoon of the same day.
My daughter and were then taken prisoner
and held for five days"
Bleak Recital
She told it bleakly, just as have given il.
Unconsciously she surrounded her recital
with loneliness. This gray haired woman Of