Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1917-10-03
DIR. HILLS TELLS OF HUN HOR-
RORS IN NORTH FRANCE.
Minister i'm Sermon i'm New York
Describes Scenes Visited in the
War Zone.

|
gions in France evacuated by the
Germans, asserted in the first of a
series of six sermons on the war in
his church yesterday that there could
no longer be any doubt of the fact
that the German armies had been
guilty of the blacklist crimes charged
against them, says the Times.
DR.. Hills spent last July and Au-
gust visiting the areas in France
ruined by the German armies in their
retreat. He brought back with him
much evidence of German brutalities,
and he placed affidavits and copies of
official records on the pulpit from
which he preached.
For three years German-Ameri-
cans have protested that the stories
| of German atrocities were to be dis
believed as English inventions Bel
gan lies, and French hypocrisies. but
that day has gone forever" he said.
When the representatives Of the ma
tons assemble for the final settle
ment there will be laid before the
representatives of Germany affidavits,
photographs. and other legal proofs
that make German atrocities far bet
ter established than the scalpings of
the Sioux Indians on the western
frontiers, the murders of the Black
Hole of Calcutta, or the crimes of
the Spanish inquisition. On a battle
line 300 miles long, in every village
the retreating Germans passed. the
following morning accredited men
hurried to the scene to make the rec
ord against the day of judgment.
hnt
The photographs of the dead and
mutilated girls, children, AID old
men tell no lies. Two forms of testi-
mony are esteemed by jurists-the
testimony of mature men, who have
seen and heard. and the testimony of
children too innocent to invent their
statements but old enough to tell
what they saw. For the first time in
history the German has reduced
savagery to a science, therefore this
great war for peace must go on until
the German cancer is cut clean out of
the body"
DR.. Hills asserted that more than
10000 separate atrocities committed
by the German armies had been docu-
mented and were on file in the chan
celleries of the allied nations for use
when the terms of peace are to be
discussed.
when the German army in Lor
raine was defeated by one-half its
number" he went on, 1T fell north
ward passing thru French towns and
villages where there were 40 French
men, no guns, and where no shots
were fired During July and Au-
ell w
town to another, talking with the wo-
men and the children, comparing the
photographs and the full official rec
ords made at the time, it'll the state
ments of the poor, wretched surviv-
ors, who lived in cellars, where once,
there had been beautiful houses, or
, chards and vineyards.
Old Men Shot.
I'm Gerbevillier, standing beside
their graves, studied the photo
graph of the bodies of fifteen old men
whom the Germans had lined up and
shot because there were 40 young
soldiers to kill; heard the detailed
story of a woman whose boy of IA,
being nearest the age Of soldier, was
first hanged to a pear tree in the
garden, and when the officer and sol
der had left him were busy setting
fire to the next house she cut the
rope, revived the strangled boy, only
to find the soldiers had returned, and
while the officer held her hands be-
hind her back, his assistant poured
petrol on the boys head and clothes,
set fire to him, AID while he staggered
about. a flaming torch they shrieked
/ with laughter.
When they burned all the houses
and retreated the next morning, the
perfect of Lorraine photographed
the bodies of thirty aged men lying
as they fell, the bodies of women
stripped and at last slain. while in
the next village stood the ruined
square belfry into which the Ger
mans had lifted machine guns, then
forced every woman and child-275
in number-into the little church,
and notified the French soldier that
if they fired upon the machine guns
they would kill their own women
and children.
Prefer Death to IndignitieS.
After several days hunger AID
thirst, at midnight these brave wom-
en- slipped little boy thru the church
window and babe their husbands fire
upon the Germans in the belfry, say
they preferred death to the indigli-
! ties they were suffering. And so these
Frenchmen turned their guns, and in
| blowing those machine guns out of
the belfry killed twenty of their own
wives and children"
DR.. Hills asserted that further in
disputable proof of the heartlessness
of the Germans was found in the
letters and diaries taken from the
bodies of dead German soldiers. He
continued:
"Out of the large number note
these: Hundreds of photographs or
the dead bodies of aged priests, some
of whom had been staked down.
Here is the German efficiency for you
Here is the diary on Aug. % OF Pri-
vate Max Thomas: Our soldiers are
so excited we are like wild beasts.
Destroyed eight houses, with their IN
mates. Bayoneted two men with their
wives and a girl of IS. The little
one almost unnerved me, so innocent
was her expression
Young Girl Crucified.