The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1918-03-08

were instructed not to lead" tn,
/ witnesses. OF make any suggestions
to them. and also to impress upor
them the necessity for care and pre-
: cision in giving their evidence.
: They were also directed to treat
the evidence critically, and as tar as
possible satisfy themselves, by put
: ting questions which arose out Of the
evidence, that the witnesses were
: speaking the truth. They were, in
fact. to cross-examine them, SO far
: as the testimony given provided ma
terials for cross-examination.
We have seen and conversed with
many of these gentlemen, and have
been greatly impressed by their
ability and by what we have gather
ed as to the fairness of spirit which
they brought to their task. We feel
certain that the instructions given
have been scrupuously observed.
In many cases those who took the
evidence have added their comments
upon the intelligence and demeanor
of the witnesses, stating the impress
sion which each witness made, and
indicating any cases in which the
story told appeared to them open to
doubt or suspicion. In coming to a
conclusion upon the evidence the
committee have been greatly assisted
by these expressions of opinion, and
have uniformly rejected every depo-
sition on which an opinion adverse
to the witness has been recorded.
This seems to be a fitting place at
which to put on record the invalu-
able help which we have received
from our secretaries, Mr.. e. Grim
wood Mears and Mr.. w. ]. H. Brod-
rick, whose careful diligence and
minute knowledge of the evidence
have been of the utmost service.
Without their skill, judgment, and
untiring industry the labor examin-
ing and appraising each part of so
| large a mass of testimony would
have occupied us for six months in
stead of three.
The marginal references in this
report indicate the particular depo-
sition or dispositions on which the
statements made in the text are
based. marginal references are
omitted in this reproduction. 49,
Editor.
The dispositions printed in the ap-
pendix themselves show that the
stories were tested in detail, and in
none of these have we been able to
detect the trace of any desire to
make a case" against the German
Army. Care was taken to impress
upon the witness that the giving of
evidence was a grave and serious
matter, and every deposition sub
mitted to us was signed by the wit
ness in the presence of the ex-
aminer.
A noteworthy feature of many of
the dispositions is that. though taken
at different places and on different
dates, and by different lawyers from
different witnesses, they often cor
roborate each other in striking
manner.
The evidence is all couched in the
very words which the witnesses used, |
and where they spoke, as the Bel
gian witnesses did, in Flemish or
French, pains were taken to have |
competent translators, and to make |
certain that the translation was
exact.
Seldom did these Belgian witnesses
show desire to describe what they
had seen or suffered. The lawyers
who took the dispositions were sur
prised to find how little vindictive-
ness, or indeed passion, they showed,
and how generally free from emo
tional excitement their narratives
were. Many hesitated to speak lest
what they said, if it should ever be
published, might involve their
friends or relatives at home in dan
ger, and it was found necessary to
give an absolute promise that names
should not be disclosed.
For this reason names have been
omitted.
A large number of depositions,
and extracts from dispositions, will
be found in Appendix A, and to these
your attention is directed.
In all cases these are given as
nearly as possible (for abbreviation
was sometimes inevitably in the
exact words of the witness, and
wherever statement has been made
by witness tending to exculpate
the German troops, 1t has been Civ
en- in full. Excisions have been made
only where it has been felt necessary
to conceal the identity of the de-
ponent, or to omit what arc merely
hearsay statements, or are palpablyi
In every case the name
and description OF the witnesses are