New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1917-10-17
TheLulnq Evidence

S>AtoOA oiAe"S
sheet by travelling man named T. W.
Carter Of Chicago, in which Carter
claimed that there were five Belgian
children at Grinnell, Iowa, in ages from
four to nine years. These children .
Garter is alleged to have told the Plain
dealer editor, chad been sent to family
in Grinnell to adopt. When they ar
rived it was found that the right hand
of each had been cut off, and the family
refused to adopt them because Of their
manned condition. The city charities
took up the matter and decided to make
a home for the children and give them
an education Carter said he talked
with the oldest boy, who could speak a
little English. He asked him how he
got his hand cut off, and the boy said a
German soldier put his hand on block
and with an axe cut his hand off at the
wrist The other children had their
hands cut off in the same manner. A
German physician then bound up the
arms. This boy said something derog-
atory to the Germans when they cut
his hand eff and they gouged out one of
his eyes. After that he kept still. There
were four boys and one girl in the num-
Der that Mr. Garter says he saw at
Grinnell. =, .1 za :.
That is the story Carter told the
Plaindealer. Following is Joe Reynolds
comment on it in the Mankato Free
Press of October 4, captioned The
Living Evidence. ~ -"
''Mr. Carter saw and talked with the
living evidence Of the cruel barbarities
committed by German soldiers in Bel
GUM. Isn't it enough to make the blood
OF white man boil to read of such
dastardly and unwarranted cruelties as
is related above? Isn't it enough to
make red-blooded men want to fight
and put an end to such outrages? And
IN spite Of the living evidence which is
presented there are those in this country
who have the effrontery to say: 1T is
not true Those people who chatter
about these horrible tales not being
true are the supporters and lovers of the
despotic and domineering kaiser.''
With the intention of investigating the
truth or falsity of the sotry told by Mr..
Carter, and which the Plaindealer
printed, and swallowed whole by the
Mankato paper, the editor of the Review
wrote to the Grinnell Herald, one OF the
old and reliable newspapers of, Iowa,
asking if the story were true.
1t was explained to the Herald editor
that New Ulm is German community;
that 95 per cent were Germans or CT
German extraction; that it is hard fer
the people here to believe such. stories,
but that if they were true every person
in this city and vicinity wanted to know
it. ...~~4-.
In reply a letter was received from R.
G. Ray, editor of the Herald, emphatical-
ly denying the truth of every statement
made by Carter. The following is Mr..
Rays letter, and no one can accuse him
of being pro-German or s.kaiser-lover."
He says: ,-~> o.-..,.s LIZ
"Yours Of the 7th inst is at hand.
There is no truth in the story as far as
it refers to Grinnell or this vicinity.
There are. no Belgian children here of
any kind, and T. w. Carter never saw
them here. We hear the story, but it
has invariably located the children in
St. Louis, and Il knew a man. who saw
them, ETC., etc.
Now am American born, with an
enlisted son in the army, and several
enlisted cousins. I am an American to
the core, and believe the Germans have
commit d unheard of atrocities, in
defiance of humanity or civilized senti-
nent, but we have no evidence Of it in
GrinneH. T. w. Carter must have
hallucinations, or must have blind eye
which he used when he talked to those
children, Who is he? Where does he
live and what does he travel for?
II have not before heard any story
locating these people in Iowa. It is
always St. Louis.
IF any such children reached this
town the paving stones in the street
would cry out at the horror of it, and the
Herald in every issue would call the ar
tention of our readers to the atrocity.
1t is a horror which would strike terror
q ticker than Banquos' ghost. and it
would not down.
Il am ser;y there are fools enough
to start such stories. I am not surprised
that people believe them. We have
come to feel that the military spirit Of
Prussia is a brute force, with no ideals
and no humanity. There is some reason
for our feeling, but not here in Grinnell."
The caption for the Free Press editorial
instead of The Living Evidence
should Iaya been tsThe Living Evidence -