Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1917-05-10
German corpses Made into Fertilizer.


The New York "Suu" and the Lon
don Times" have published the follow
ing horrible story OF Germans desecratlng
their own dead soldiers. The London
Times" in a second publication, printed
Photographic facsimilies OF news article
in the Berlin Lokalanzeiger. OF April 10,
which referred 10 the corpse exploitation
establishment.
That the Germans are Systematically
collecting the corpses of their dead and
shipping them TO rendering plants where
they are subjected 10 process Tor re-
covering the oils ard fats for use as fer
tiIizers seems incontestablY borne out by
the latest information.
When such stories were first published
they were generally disoelieved. Amer
ican consuls formerly in Germany who
arrived here after their recall, said the
Germans were distilling nitroglycerine
from the corpses and so obtaining the cs-
sentials of explosives.
II now develops that the German CEN
sors are allowing the German papers TO
print accounts OF, and even 10 boast about,
the efficiency which allows nothing TO be
wasted. The Belgian newspaper LIN
dependence Beige, Of April 10, prints an
account of the industry, in which Il says:
1--WE have long known that the Ger
mans stripped their dead behind the firing
lines, fastened them into bundles OF three
or four bodies with iron wire and then
dispatched these bundles TO the rear.
Until recently trains laden with The dead
were sent 10 a town near Llege and a
point near Brussels. Much surprise was
caused by the fact that OF late this traffic
has proceeded in the direction OF Gerol-
stein, and that on each wagon was written
d. A. V.G.
German science is responsible .or the
idea OF the formation OF the Deulsehe Ab-
falls neutrality-suspicious., or German
Ofial Utilization Company, Limited. a
dividend earning company, with capital
OF $780, 900. The chiet factory has been
constructed 900 yards from the railway
connecting ST. With, near the Belgian
frontier, with Gerolstein, in the lonely
and little trequented Eifel district. south
west OF CoblenZ.
"The factory deals especially with the
dead from the western front. II the re-
suits are as good as the company hopes,
another will be established on the eastern
front. The factory is invisible from the
railway and is deep in the forest country.
Electrically charged wires surround II. A
special double track leads 10 it. The
works are about 700 feet long. ITO feet
broad and the railway runs completely
around them.
"The trains arrive lul OF bodies which
are unloaded by workers who live at the
works The men wear oilskin overalls
and masks with mica eyepieces and are
equipped with long hooked poles. They
push the bundles OF bodies 10 an endless
chain which picks them up by means OF
hooks at intervals oftwo feet The bodies
are transported on an endless chain into
a long, narrow compartment where they
pass through bath which disiniects them.
They 90 through drying chamber and
are automatically carried TO great caul-
dron into which they are dropped by an
apparatus which detaches them from the
chain.
"They remain six TO eight hours in the
cauldrou, where they are treated by steam,
which breaks them up while they are
slowly stirred by machinery. The fats
are broken into stearine, form Of tallow
and oils which require TO be redistilled
before they can be used. Distillaiion Is
carried out by boiling the oil with carbon
ate OF soda and some part oil the by
products resulting is used by the soap
makers. The refined oil is sent out In
small casks like those used for petroleum
and is yellowish brown.
1.-The fumes are exhausted from the
buildings by electric fans and are sucked
through great pipe to the northeastern
corner, where they are condensed and
the refuse resulting is discharged into a
sewer. There is no high chimney ,ias the
boiler furnaces are supplied with air by
electric fans.
There is laboratory, and in charge
OF The works is a chief chemist, with two
assistants and 78 men. All the employees
are soldiers attached TO the Eighth Army
Corps. There is sanaiorium near the
works, and under no pretext is any man
permitted TO leave. They are guarded as
prisoners al This appalling work.
"The fats here are turned into lubricat-
ing oils and everything else is ground
down in The mill, the bones into powder
which is used for mixing with pigs food
and as manure Nothing can be permit
ted to 90 TO waste"
The case seems completely established
by American. Belgian, Dutch and finally
by German testimony. The London and
Paris newspapers all acceptthe story after
careful investigation and print editorials