The Washington herald., 1918-07-15
GERMAN IDEAL
AS EXEMPLIFIED
] IN WAR DEEDS
P rotesting g Priest Shot /;
( Newborn Babe Blinded
1 by Doctor.
BY C. C. LYON.
twasaInston Herald star Corre-
- spondent.)

BY c. G. LYON.
twa.aInston Herald star Corre-
- spondent.)
The American public can believe
anything and everything it reads or
hears concerning German atrocities.
During my year in France. while l
was with the American, French and
Belgian armies. number of instances
Of German mistreatment Of helpless
men. women and children came under
my notice.
For a few days. several months ago.
while an American infantry regiment
70 which I was attached was an re-
serve in a little French village few
miles behind the firing line. l was
buleted in a house formerly occupied
! by Catholic priest.
ON the mantle in the bedroom where
i slept was a photo of fine-fookins
man of about 10. and leaning against
the photo was a shattered crucifix.
An old woman who owned the house
told me this story:
That Is the picture of my brother.
For some years he was priest of this
Parish. The German army came
through here in 1914 in their advance
on Paris. and they began Smelling our
Village when they came within few
miles Of IT.
Priest Makes Protest.
In his priestly robes. my brother
went out to protest to the German
general against 1t.
my brother was ordered shot on
the spot by the German general They
stood him up along the roadside and
there he faced 8. German firing squad.
He held his crucifix up before him
and the bullet that ended his life
struck it. glancing OF and entering
his heart. He was left lying beside
the roadside by his murderers, the
crucifx on the mantle is the one he
held in his hand when he died"
In another French community Is a
little blind boy Of between and l..
who would grope his way about.
pathetically trying to play with the
other children. Here Is his story.
During the German advance in 1914
a young wife was about to be deliv-
cred of a child, but there were no
native physician left in the village.
So request was made that a German
surgeon attend the mother. He did so
and a baby boy was born.
Grateful Too Soon.
The grateful young mother and
her relatives thanked the German
surgeon profusely.
But some time later, when the
German regiment had moved on, the
mother received a letter from the
- l. ha dafd.
You thanked me too soon for at
tending you during the birth of your
baby SON I am a German and Ger
many Is at war with your country.
so took good care that your son
should never become a soldier. He
will never see."
The unspeakable cur had blinded
that baby boy by putting something
in its eyes!
Another day I visited a town In
the area that was evacuated by Hin
denburg a year ago last spring
when he was forced to shorten his
western line. It was a beautiful
town of 10000 people. The Germans
the day they left II. systematically
dynamited every building in the
little city. except those in three
blocks at one edge. This story was
told me by an old man found
wandering about:
A German Promise.
Before they began their dyna-
fniting." he said, they picked out of
the CIVILIAN population all the able
bodied women and girls and sent
them to Germany, leaving only old
people and little children. Then they
put US in three blocks and told us
they were going to blow up the town.
but the three blocks we were in
would be spared
From our places in the spared
area We saw them destroy all the
rest Of the town. Then they retired.
But when they had gone two or three
miles outside the town. they turned
their cannon on the three blocks
where the old folks and children were
sheltered, and more than a hundred
OF them were killed