Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-12-01

In the first place, in their |
= speeches, in their writings and |
by commemorative pictures |
and medals. THEY HAVE GLORIED
IN THEIR MISDEEDS, thus declaring
that kultur Is above morality Gas stated
by their writer. Thomas MANN, and
that the right of German might Is
above everything. Then. In, the second
place, when they discovered that in
the world outside them there was
something known as moral CON
science" not understood by them, but
still to be reckoned with, they cynic-
ally denied the charges. Finally, when
they were driven from this seed nd
trench. when simple negation became
impossible. they had perforce to OK
plain their crimes.
Their commonest explanation Is
this. civilians fired on u.s." Need 1t
be noted here that even II in any To-
cality an imprudent civilian had fired
a shot, 1t would still remain--in &C.
cordance with the Hague convention
international law. and plain morality
a weritable crime to massacre in q
heap, haphazard, and without enquiry
so many innocent souls? The French
commission of inquiry came to the
following conclusion on this point:
This allegation is false. and those
who put it forward have been power
less to give 1t the appearance of truth,
even though 1t has been their custom
to fire shots in the neighborhood OF
dwellings, in order to be able to affirm
that they have been attacked by limo
cent jnhaoitants, on whose ruin or
massacre they had resolved"
Inquiries conducted by high magis-
trates have established the fact that
German officials are very frequently
guilty Of premeditated lies. 1t is prob
able. all the same. that many German
soldiers, on entering Belgium pr
France. were obsessed by the idea of
civilians firing on them. The cry Of a
soldier trembling with fear. drunk, or
thirsting for pillage. Man hat GEES
chosen (they have fireO"--is enough
for q locality to be delivered up at
once to the widest fury. when an in
habitant has fired on regiment"
said soldier at Louvain. the place
belongs to the regiment" What a
temptation for Boche soldier to fire
a shot that will at once unloose pillage
and massacrel
Some mistakes have possibly been
made which could have been avoided
by the least inquiry. Read this admis-
sion recorded in his diary by a Saxon
officer: THE lovely village OF Cue
d'Hossus has been given over to the
flames, though innocent in my opin-
ion. hear that q cyclist fell off Of his
machine and that his fall caused his
rifle to go off OF itself. AS o conse-
Quence there was firing in his direc-
ton. Then the male inhabitants were
simply hurled straight away into the
flames. Such horrors will not be re-
peated, we must hope. - There
ought to be some compulsion to verify
suspicious of guilt in order to put a
check on this indiscriminate shooting
of people"
The only shots fired at them inside,
or In the neighborhood of. villages
have been those Of French or Belgian
soldiers covering their retreat. Some
times this has been discovered, but
too late, and they have continued their
crimes-in order to Justify them.
| Here 10 the statement Of a neutral:
Tn one village they found corpses Of
German soldiers with the fingers cut
off, and instantly the officer in com :
mand had the houses set on fire and
the Inhabitants shot. - In the same
district q German officer was billeted
with famous Flemish poet: the Of
ficer behaved courteously was treated
with consideration. and allowed him
self to talk freely; his complaint was
| luAA 80 - q.
Haelen, he told his host. he had to
have a soldier shot on finding in his
knapsack some fingers covered with
rings; the man on being questioned,
admitted that he had cut them off the
bodies of the German dead"
In exceptional cases an inquiry -
held; and In every such instance the
truth is discovered and massacre pre-
vented.
i Liebknecht. member Of the Reich
stag, set out in his car for Louvain. He
came to q village where there was
considerable excitement going on. The
Germans had just found three Of their
; men lying dead on the road, and ac-
cused the peasants Of being respon-
sible for the deed. Liebnecht examined
them. and was not long In obtaining
proof that the Germans had been killed
by Belgian riflemen. Lsbknecht waa
too honest and embarrassing q Wit
ness for Germany. He has been thrown
into prison. We salute him. At Huy
there were shots In the night; two sol
diers wounded the populace accused.
the mayor arrested and condemned to
death; but he knew that there were
no allied troops in the neighborhood
and also that his own people had not
fired q shot. shoot me. II you like,
he said calmly. but not before ex-
tracing the bullets from the wound
ed" The officer. less Of . brute thar
some, gave his consent to this. THE
BULLETS IN THE WOUNDS WERH
GERMAN BULLETS.
But the Germans do not even require
a pretext to take action. Thsir frs
crime. to our knowl edge. was on Aug.
-