The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1918-03-29

balcony and told him to come In
doors. Just then l looked toward
the Grand Palace, where more than
2,000 German were encamped, and
distinctly saw two columns of smoke
followed by a fusilade. The Ger
mans were firing on the houses and
forcing their way into them. My
husband, children, servant, and my
self had just time to dash into the
staircase leading to the cellar. The
Germans were even firing into the
passages of the houses. After a few
minutes of indescribable horror, one
of the Generals aides de camp came
down and said: THE General is
dead. Where is the Burgomaster?
My husband said to me, This will
be serious for me-" AS he went for
ward l said to the aide de camp:
"You can see for yourself, Sir, that
my husband did not fire." THAT
makes no difference" he said. He
is responsible. My husband was
taken off. My son, who was at my
side, took us into another cellar. The
same aide de camp came and drag
ged him out and made him walk in
front of him, kicking him as he
went. The poor boy could hardly
walk. That morning when they
came to the town the Germans had
fired thru the windows of the houses,
and a bullet had come into the room
where my son was, and he had been
wounded in the calf by the ricochet.
After my husband and son had gone
I was dragged all thru the house by
Germans, with their revolvers level
ed at my head. was compelled to
see their dead General. Then my
daughter and were thrown into the
street without cloaks or anything.
We were massed in the Grand Place,
surrounded by a Gordon of soldiers,
and compelled to witness the de-
struction of our beloved town. And
then, by the hideous light of the fire,
/ saw them for the last time, about
in the morning, my husband and
my boy tied together. My brother
in-law was behind them. They were
being led out to execution).
The houses were set on fire with
special apparatus, while the people
were dragged from their houses, al
ready burning, and some were shot
in the streets.
Many civilians were marched to
a field on the road to Louvain and
kept there all night. Meanwhile
many of the inhabitants were col
lected in the square. By this time
very many of the troops were drunk.
On the following day a number of
the civilians were shot under the or
ders Of an officer, together with the
Burgomaster, his brother, and his
son. OF this incident, which is spok-
en- to by many witnesses, clear ac-
count is given:
German soldiers came and took
hold of me and every other man they
could see, and eventually there were
about sixty of us, including some of
80, q. e., years of age,) and they
made us accompany them
all the prisoners had to walk with
their hands above their heads. We
were then stopped and made to stand
in a line, and an officer, big fat
man who had a blush uniform
came along the line and
picked out the Burgomaster, his
brother, and his son, and some men
who had been employed under the
Red Cross. In all, ten men were
picked out the remain
der were made to turn their backs
upon the ten. then heard some
shots fired, and and the other men
turned around and we saw all the
ten men, including the Burgomaster,
were lying on the ground"
This incident is spoken to by other |
witnesses also. Some of their depo- |
sitions appear in the appendix.
GELRODE.
On the same day at Gelrode, a |
small village close to Aerschot, twen-
ty-five civilians were imprisoned in
the church. Seven were taken out
by fifteen German soldiers in charge |
of an officer Just outside. One of the
seven tried to run away, whereupon
all the six who remained behind
alive were shot. This was on the
night of Aug. 10. No provocation
whatever had been given. The men
in question had been searched. and
no arms had been found upon them.
Here, as at Aerschot, precautions had
been taken previously to secure the
delivery up of all arms in the hands
of civilians.
Some of the survivors were COM
PEELED to dig graves for the seven.
At a later date the corpses were dis
and reburied in consecrated