Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1917-08-23

The Saturday News reproduces the following which we
take from the columns Of the Henry Independent, which, IN
turn, quotes from the Parker South Dakota) Press and Lead
er:
Here is a bit of news which should be digested by every Amer
lean ma and woman who still cHngs to the idea that the stories of
German cruelty are untrue. or who believes that the United States
should have kept out of the war: Mrs. E. J Bussey formerly a
teacher in the Parker high school, who was a guest at the G, w
and Mr. Bussev were lvtns his " Winter a. :, rom Of Reluian women
and children we're detrained enroute tt the west where women had
promise of work. The people at ottumwa we're appalled, at the
sight of the little boys of the group, each of whom. was minus his
right hand. One of the mothers told the following heartrendng
story: When the little Belgian town in which she lived "a cap
tured, all the old men and the women and children were herded
into the center of the town, where they weres surrounded by German
soldiers Mothers with boys were ordered to bring them out one
at time, and lead them to a stump where the right arm was X
tended and chopped off al. the wrist. The child mangled and bleed
ing was then turned over the heartbroken mother to be cared for
as best she could. The Prussian soldier who va assigned to this par
tcuar job, at first rebeled, but at the point of the guns Of the
company, his nerve failed and the little, innocent hands were severed
at the wrist. Why? Because those hands might otherwise PM day
be raised in defense of Bdgiumas freedom against Prussansm. What
man or woman with a spark of humanity in their being AN say
that, even though American rights had not been trampled r, this
governments action against barbariy was not justified? There
can be n o neutrality. as long as this kind of" kultur" is being prac-
tced my the warnad huns-Parker Press and Leader
We are constrained to print the foregoing because of its
seeming authenticity and because, if the story be true, all talk
Of peace on the part of a loyal American citizen before Ger
many as a nation is wiped off the face of the earth is a crime
against humanity.
Before the outbreak of the war we had been led to believe
that III intelligence and culture the Germans as a people stood
among the foremost OF the earth. 1t does not seem humanity
possible that there can be foundation for such kind of stories.
We recall that not long ago the Aberdeen News 1--WE think
Was) ran down Q similar yarn, only to ind 1T to be with
out basis In fact. Even the children, reported to be at a GER
tain farmers home near Aberdeen, had never been heard of
by the farmer in question.
a short time ago a certain %wellknown WATERFOWL travel
ing man (whose name will be disclosed to any inquiring read
err encountered some such story, and he became so intensely
as to cause him to make a personal journey to the
home wherein two Belgian children, minus right hands, we're
5siald to be stopping. The children were there, it is true, but
We're whole and healthy; not only had their right hands
not been cut off, but they had not been otherwise mutilated, as
some reports have claimed.
We are wondering just how much this Mrs. Bussey, whom
our Parker contemporary indirectly quotes, knows about the
case at OttumWa, Iowa, and whether, as a matter Of fact, she
ever saw the children Of whom she speaks or whether she
merely accepted gossip for the story.
1t she saw the children, will she put us in touch with others
who saw themg Better still, will she tell us where the chill
dren may now be found?
The Saturday News will be glad to help bear the expense
Of an investigation. Either these and similar stories are true
@, they are false. There can be no halfway proposition in
hands were either cut off or they were not.
As we have already intimated, it is high time that the
American people know the facts, fol, if the reports be true, it
would be a crime against civilization to stop this war before
entity as q nation is wholly eliminated.
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