The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-09-30
! |ElU sClfEN
ADVANCE Of INVADERS
-.
Germans Put Non-C Combat
ants Ahead Of Columns
in Belgium.
QUEEN TELLS STORY
Mary Roberts Rinehart Has
Bitter. Tales From
Ruler.
QUEEN TELLS STORY
CONTINUED from Page One.)

She could not understand American
skepticism on this point. She had
but Just returned. from England. where
IN one convent % Belgian nuns were
encaintc by German soldiers. She had
visited them.
That to her was the most terrible
thing Of the war. That these quiet
women. living their devout and simple
lives. should have suffered so grossly.
bewlldefed and dazed her. Was there
nothing then; sacred to these invaders.
not even the church?
ct am a Bavarian," she said. y
have always from my childhood heard
this talk that Germany must grow,
must get to the sea. I thought 1t was
lust talk-a pleasantly. And the lies
they have told about us! The en-
neror has always pretended to be SO
friendly. and all the time"
she held out her hands expressive
~.
..Anyonc. who knows the king knows
that he cannot do a wrong thing. It
H. not possible for him. He cannot
60 any way but straight"
Then she REQUIRED to the invasion
and tho. terrible cruelties of the Ger
man army.
"They were terrible she said.
especially what they have done to the
women and children. But more than
any men in the world the Germans are
cruel to-. women. 4. have seen them
myself when they did not know who
was-on trains sonetimes-not since
the war, Of course. But the very way
they stare at women is odious."
She thought that this attitude Of the
Germans explained many things. And
she told me in detail revolving stories
Of the proclamation Of churches under
the pretext. totally unfounded. that
the Belgian churches were storehouses
for arms. she told me, too. of the
especial cruelty they had shown to
PRIESTS and nuns: of locking the priests
In churches and, after insulting the
affairs. sof killing them.
said it was difficult to say what
any army would be in an occupied
country. But she protested.
sslu;ans Never Would Have Done II.
"Do you think the Belgians would
have done such things? Never. Never.
Isolated instances might be possible.
But the Germans have committed
thousands of crimes. / have sat IN
this vaty.t,gpAi while the datrles go, OF
German soldiers were read. Even II
we had had no other means of know
ing, those diaries would have told us
everything. They relate unspeakaole
crimes"
we cannot impeach that testimony.
But we can add to it. At British head
quarters later on an officer high on
the. staff Of Lord French told me of
following the German retreat at the
battle Of the Marine and verifying with
his own eyes, for his own satisfaction.
the prutalities of tho invaders In &C.
cupied towns.
at Is hard for us to understand he
said. II was increduious myself. But
| saw enough to convince me that the
worst had heard was true
The Cruelty to Prisoners.
but here another question arises
The Germans made much of their MILL
tary necessities in Belgium as an eS-
cuse tor their crnelties there. How
about later on. when no military eAi'
gency dictated brutality?
have before me the statement OF
british officeEwho was made a pris-
Oi1er during the first winter OF the war
Hc escaped through Holland. and or
the third day of his return he called Il
sec me at Claridge's hotel, in London
The story of Major (now Colonel
yandclcur. which | here reproduce ir
his own words, as I recorded 1t at tnt
time, needs no comment.
Although pressure from high places
was brought to bear on the British
tfsha rafnSad mt
nermisslon to publish it. for fear tina
its use in this then neutral countr,
would prejudice the lot of other un
hannv prisoners In Germany's hands
!: Belongs in Bill Against Huns.
]. But.it belongs properly in this cas-
OF Humanity VS. Germany. and CIV
1t here in Col vandeleur's own words
He recovered from his carly wound
returned to the front after his escape
md was again. wounded, this tim
very seriously, at the battle of Neuv
Chapelle. A brave man, this Britts
officer, and a very honorable gentle
man:
II was stationed near La Basse Of
October IS. l91A. with the Fifteent
Infantry brigade. The trenches
that point were more than mil
apart. It was raining.
AT 1880 in the morning was sen
forward with Is men and six officer
to O village between the lines. Th
Germans were there in greater fore
than we. had expected. and they at
tackled. with three or four machtn
guns. We retired into farmhous
and the Germans attacked us Their
setting fire to the house with han
grenades. fire confetti and petr'
squirts.
1.-The matched roof began to bur
and one whole half was burned befo'
we got It out. We got into the otht
end OF the building. shooting at clos
quarters. Our own artillery was fiji
ing over our heads at the German
hut no achievements came up. haN
learned since that they thought "
were all gone.
by midafternoon ! had a bull
wound In my leg: five of the six 9TH
Officers were wounded. and there we
only six men out of the 81 left WI
could fight. AS fast as the men We
wounded we carried them to the ce
lar.
Ao-,. ~-l ~