Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-05-10
The Truth About Belgium
y
BY BRAND WHITLOCK

Meanwhile, soldiers were coming out
of our house, their arms laden with
bottles of wine; they were opening
the windows of our rooms and TAX
ing everything they could find there.
l turned away from this scene of
pillage. By the light of the fires,
my eyes encountered my husband,
my son and my brother-in-law, &C
cOmpanied by other gentlemen, who
were being led to execution. l shall
never forget that scene, nor the gaze
of my husband looking for a last
time at his house and asking him
self where were his wife and daugh-
ter; and l, so that he should not
lose courage, could not call to him:
Here l ami
About 2 p. m. they said to as:
The women can go home AS my
house was still filled with soldiers,
| accepted a neighbours hospitality.
We had barely reached her home,
when Germans came to inform US
that we must leave the city immed-
lately; it was about to be lombard
ed. We were forced to fee in the
direction of Rillaer. With some so
women and children, we were oblig-
ed to walk along a road strewn with
the bodies of poor Belgian soldiers,
civilians, horses, in the midst of
burned houses; on the way, we pass
ed hundred of automobiles filed with
German officers, whose bravery con-
sisted in leveling their revolvers at
women who lacked even enough
money to buy a loaf of bread Final
ly, after an hours walk, we we're
able to find a farmhouse still stand
ing. We had scarcely reached it.,
when we were forbidden to enter by
a German patrol that forced us to
remain huddled together in a near
by field. 1t was not until late at
night that we were allowed to enter
the house, but only to be unable to
leave it. We were obliged to stay
there until S o'clock. During this
time, the Germans were rounding up
the men, witnessing farewells be-
tween husbands and wives, then
forcing their victims to advance;
three hundred meters further on,
they we're all released. Before leav-
ing us, the soldiers inquired wheth-
er the wife of the mayor of Aerschot
was in the crowd. They we're told
No. while friends destroyed my
pass. After their departure, l gain
ed the next village, where, at the
peril of their lives, friends hid me,
and later were able to help me into
Holland.
Il learned that the Germans had
been searching for me for weeks
and that they had even offered a
reward of $4,000 to the person who
would disclose my whereabouts. 1
never knew why the Germans wish
ed to capture me.
when my husband and his COM
panions left the city hall, it was 1 /
D. m. They were taken outside the
city. A political adversary of my
husband, Mr.. Claes Van Nuffel,
spoke up and begged the officer in
command of the firing squad to
spare the life of the mayor, saying
that he did not belong to the same
political party as my husband, but
that Aerschot needed him and that
he offered his life in exchange of
my husbands. The German officer
was immoyable. My husband thank
ed Mr.. Claes, saying that he would
die in peace, that his life had been
spent in trying to accomplish as
much good as possible, that he did
not ask for his own life, but for
that of his son. a child of fifteen,
who would console his mother. They
did not answer him. My brother
in-law beseeched them to spare the
lives of his brother and nephew.
They would not listen to him. To-
ward 5 o'clock, on the goth OF Au-
gust. they forced the victims to
kneel, and an instant later the best
that life held for me had ceased to
exist