The Democratic advocate., 1917-04-27
GERMANS
BARBAROUS.

LAInHCI UIL FhUM DUUlEO VI ULHU
TROOPS BODIES by THE TRAIN
LOADS FACTORY DEALS ONLY WITH
THE DEAD.
London, April 20.-The New York
SUN says. That the Germans are
Systematically collecting the corpses
of their dead and shipping them to
rendering plants where they are sub
jected to a process for recovering the
oil and fats for use as fertilizers
seems incontestably borne out by the
latest information.
When such stories were first pub
lished they were generally disbe-
lieyed. American consuIs formerly in
Germany who arrived here after their
recall said the Germans were distil-
ling nitroglycerine from the corpses
and 80 obtaining the essentials of ex-
plosives.
It now develops that the German
|censors are allowing the German
papers to print accounts or and even
to boast about the efficiency which
allows nothing 40 be wasted The
Belgian newspapers Independence
Beige of April 10 prints an account
#Of the industry, in which lit says.
We have long known that the Ger
mans stripped their dead behind the
firing line, fastened them into bundles
OF three and four bodies with iron
wire and then dispatched these bun
dies tO the rear. Until recently trains
laden with the dead were sent to y
town near Liege and to 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 ID. a. ". G..
German science is responsible for
the idea Of the formation OF the
Deutsche Abfalls Verwertungsgesell
schaft, or German Offal Utilization
Company, Limited, ID dividend earn
ing company with capital Of $24O,-
900. The chief factory has been con-
structed 100 yards from the railway
connecting st. With, near the Belgian
frontier, with Gerolstein, in the lonely
and little freQuented Eifel district
southwest of Coblentz.
The factory deals especially with
the dead from the western front. If
the results are as good as the com
pany hopes, another will b. estab-
lished On the eastern front. The fac
tory is invisible from the railway and
.is deep in the forest country. Elec-
tr1cally charged wires surround II. IA
special double track leads to it. The
works are about 70D feet long, lilo
feet broad and the railway runs com
pIetely around them
The trains arrive full 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 tO 49, endless chain which
picks them up by means OF hooks at
intervals Of two feet. The bodies are
transported on IN endless chain into
a long, narrow compartment where
they pass through bath which dis
infects them. They 10 through
drying chamber and are automati-
cally carried to great cauldron into
winch they are dropped by an appa-
ratus which detaches them from the
chain
They remain six To eight hours in
the cauIdron, where they are treated
Dy steam, which breaks them up
while they are slowly stirred by ma
ch1nery. The fats are broken into
stearine, form OF talloW and oils
which require to be re-distiIIea before
they can be used. Distillatfon is car
ried out by boiling the oil with car
Donate or soda and some part w the
byproducts resulting is used by the
soap-makers. The refined oil IL sent
out in small casks like those used
TOT petroleum and is yellowish brown
Inc 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 il NO
high chimney, a. the boiler furnaces
are supplied with air by electric
fans.
There IL a laboratory, and in
charge of the works is chief chem
lst, with two assistants and 78 men
All the employees are soldiers at-
tached to the Eighth Army Corps.
There iS sanatOrium near the works
and under no pretext II any man
permitted to leave. They are guard
ed a. prisoners att this appalling
work"
The London Times reproduced the
foregoing account Monday, but III was
50 horrible that it seemed unbeliev-t
able The Times today presents evil
dcnce to prove its truth, printing
photographs facsimiles Of a news |
article in the Berlin Lokalanzeiger of
April 1O which referred To the CORPSE \
exploitation establishment (kadayer-
VerwertungsanstalD. tt says:
The fats here are turned into
lubricating oils and everything else
Is ground down i'm the mill, the bones \
INTO powder which IL used for mixing
with pigs food and as manure. Moth +
To- can be permitted to 20 to waste"
The case seems completely estab-I
Iished by American, Belgian, Dutch
and finally by German testimony. The Il
london and Paris newspapers aIl ac-l
cept the story after careful investiga-l
tion and print editorials OH fit.
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