New Britain herald., 1917-08-02
BELGIANS TORTURED
 BY THE GERMANS
Ingenuity Of Captors Taxed to
 Find Odd Punishment
Correspondence of the Asso. Press !

Correspondence of the Asso. Press.) Havre, France, July 15.-"Torture Of the post,' punishment in the tank,'' pretended execution by a firing squad or exposure to storms ,without being properly clothed, are some of the methods systematically used by the Germans to compel deported Bel glan civilians to labor for the Ger man army, according to evidence which has been received by the Bel glan government. Another method is to apply corporal punishment often With the butt of rifle or to force the Belglans who refuse to work for Germany to run for two hours or less without stopping, menaced all the time with bayonet
 According to the government an- nouncement this evidence accords in all details, and shows that deported Belgian civilians are systema tically subjected to mistreatment in order to compel them to work Under this treatment many of the deportees suc- cumb, while larger proportion are so weakened that they become in- capable of physical effort.
 The torture of the post" is de- scr1bed as one of the principal meas ures resorted to by the Germans. Stoutly fettered to posts, the men are exposed to heat Or cold, according to the season, for days together, during which the food rations are reduced until they reach the proportions of half ration only for two days sub- sistence.
 The punishment in the tank" is a severe application of the Turkish bath. Several witnesses have confirmed this fact, among them the son of a man. ufacturer of the region of Antwerp, who with several of his comrades was shut in a small room heated to a very high temperature. There was only room in the place for them to stand erect close together and scarcely able to turn. They were left there twenty four hours.
 Then they were led to a factory in the neighborhood, where they were asked if they would go to work. Upon their refusal they were taken to a field under military escort, divested by force of their overcoats shoes, scarfs and hats or caps ,and exposed in a snowstorm an entire day and an entire night, with nothing to eat or drink and under the absolute pro- hibition to make the slightest move
 
 ness, after few hours of this ex- posture, and all of them were taken to the hospital the following day.
 Evidence Is Confirmed.
 The son of the Antwerp manufac- turer stout, robust man at the time of the deportation, was sent home a complete physical wreck a short time aftcrWard and since has died from the mistreatment. He told his suffer- ings to the physician who treated him, and the Belgian government is in the doctor.
 Some of the deported are sent to a agricultura1 centers, whence, accord ing to the evidence of a man from Verviers who escaped from Germany most of the victims return so en- feebled that it is impossible for them to keep on their feet.
 Corporal punishment is frequently employed, such as blows with the butt Of a rifle or forced running for per- iods up to two hours without stop-"| ping under menace of the bayonet. ! The evidence shows that the mortality men subjected to these differ | ent forms of mistreatment is alarm ing Evidence regarding the camp of 1 deported Belgians of Soltau shows 1 that the men are badly lodged, un- ] derfed, lilly clothed, brutalized, se- questered, deprived of all diversion of spiritual consolation