Gilpin observer., 1917-12-13
GERMAN ATROCITIES
PART OF Deliberate
SCHEME OF WARFARE
Murder, Fi|Iage, and Arson Result
OF Orders Given by Officers
in High Command.
FACTS TOLD BY COMMITTEE ON
PUBLIC INFORMATION.

Responsibility for eestiaI Acts Which
Have Had No Parallel In Warfare
for Centuries Cannot Be Evaded-
Official ProcIamations That Speak
Volumes.
The Committee on Public lnfor-
nation, a body appointed by the pres
ldent to make known to the people Of
the United States the truth concern
Ing the conduct OF the war by Ger
many, has published some astonishing
revelations. Among others, proof is
offered that German officials deiiber-
ateIy lied In their statements con-
eernins atrocities committed by the
Belgians and allies. That their own
soldiers were disgusted by the cruel
ties practiced at the order Of high Of
hcers Of the kaiser 10 also shown. Ex-
tracts taken from a pamphlet issued
follow:
The vorwaerts of B.rlin, October %,
1914, said:
1--WE have already been able to es-
tablish the falseness of great number
of assertions which have been made
with great precision and published
everywhere in the press, concerning al
legged cruelties committed, by the popu-
latiOns of the countries with which
Germany is at war. upon German SOL
diers and civilians. We are now in po-
sition to silence two others of these
fantastic stories.
''The war correspondent Of the Ber-
liner Tageblatt spoke few weeks
ago Of cigars and cigarettes filed with
powder alleged to have been given out
or sold to our soldiers with diabolicsl
intent. He even pretended that he had
seen with his own eyes hundreds of
this kind of cigarettes. We learn from
an authentic source that this story of
cigars and cigarettes Is nothing but a
brazen invention. Stories Of soldiers
whose eyes are alleged to have been
torn out by francs-tireurs are circulat-
ed throughout Germany. Not single
case of this kind has been officially es-
tablished.
IL llttIc lIiul IeDoIlS VI lulS
nature bear an appearance Of positive
certitude, or are even vOuched for by
eye-witnesses. The desire for notoriety,
the absence of criticism, and personal
error play an unfortunate part in the
days in which we are living. Every
nose shot Off or simply bound up,
every eye removed. is Immediately
transformed into nose or eye torn
away by the francs-tireurs. Already the
Volkszeitung of Cologne has been able,
contrary to the very categorical asser-
tions from Aix-la-Chapelle, to prove
that there was no soldier with his eyes
torn out In the field ambulance of this
town. 1t was said, also, that people
wounded In this way were under treat
ment In the neighborhood of Berlin.
but whenever inquiries have been made
in regard to these reports, their abso-
lutte falsity has been demonstrated. AT
length these reports were concentrated
at Gross Lichterfelde. A newspaper
published at noon and widely circu-
lated in Berlin printed few days ago
in large type the news that at the
Lazaretto of Lichterfede alone there
were ten German soldiers. only slight
ly wounded. whose eyes had been wick
edly torn out But to n request for
information by Comrade Liebknecht
by the chief medical officer Of the
aforementioned field hospital, dated
the eighteenth of the month:
"'Sir: Happily there is no truth
whatever in these stories.
Yours obediently.
PROFESSOR RAUTENBERG,'"
German Soldiers Protested.
Here Is the protest Of German SOL
dler, an eyewitness of the slaughter of
Russian soldiers In the Masurian lakes
and swamps:
at was frightful, henrt-rending, as
these masses of human beings were
driven to destruction. Above the ter
r1ble thunder of the cannon could be
heard the heart-rending cries of the
Russians: % Prussiansl O Prussians =
but there was no mercy. Our captain
had ordered: The whole lot must die
so rapid fire. As I have heard, five
men and one officer on our side went
mad from these heart-rending cries.
But most of my comrades and the Off
GERS joked MS the unarmed and helpless
Russians shrieked for mercy while
they were being suffocated In the
swamps and shot down. The order
was: Close up and Mt II hnrderv For
days afterwards those heart-rending
yells followed me and dare not think
Of them or shall go mad. There Is no
God, there Is no morality and no ethics
any more. There are no human beings
any more, but only beasts. Down with
"If you are truth-loving man,