Connecticut western news., 1918-08-29

DtIOIG l+A1AA NAtNS NsAANs N-IIINIeu anu
sabered.
The Belgian told me he was at Ma
muir when the Germans began Smelling
1t. The bombardment lasted the whole
Of August 81 and %, 1914. They CEN
tered their fire on the prison, the hos
pital, and the railway station. They
entered the town at four o'clock in the
afternoon of August %. During the
first twenty-four hours, they behaved
themselves, but on the Oath they began
firing at anyone they pleased, and set
fire to different houses on five of the
principal squares.
Then they ordered every one to leave
his house, and those who did not were
shot. The others, about four hundred
In all. were drawn up in front of the
church, close to the river bank. The
Belgian said he could never forget how
they all looked.
81 can remember just how it was"
he said. 'There were eight men, whom
knew very well, standing in row
with several priests. Next came two
good friends Of mine named Balbau
and Guillaume, with Balbau's seven
teen-year-old son; then two men who
had taken refuge in a barn and had
been discovered and blinded; then two
other men whom had never seen be-
fore.
"It was awful to see the way the
women were crying-'Shoot me too,
shoot me with my husband"
ha oIw
of the hollow, which runs from the
high road to the bottom Of the village.
One of them was leaning on the Shout
ders of an old priest, and he was cry
ing, L am too young-I can't face
death bravely.'
~"I couldn't bear the sight any longer.
I turned my back to the road and COW
cred my eyes. I heard the volley and
the bodies falling. Then some one
cried, Look, they're all down. But
few escaped"
This Belgian had escaped by hiding
he could not remember how many
days-in an old cart filled with manure
and rubbish. He had chewed old hides
for food, had swan across the river,
and hid In mud bank for almost a
week longer, and finally got to France.
He took it very hard when we talked
about Dixmude, and / told him that
the old church was just shot to pieces.
He asked about a painting called the
ADAPTATION of the Magi," and one Of
the other prisoners told us it had been
saved and transported to Germany. If
that is true, and they do not destroy
it meanwhile, we will get it back, don't
worry!
My wound was just clean gunshot
wound and not very serious, so, al
though it was not completely healed,
they let me go after three weeks. But
before I went, I saw something that
no man of us will ever forget. Some
of them took vows just like the men
; of the legion have told about.
One Of the patients was a German
doctor, who had been picked up in No
Mans Land, very seriously wounded.
He was given the same treatment as
/; any of us, that is, the very best, but
finally, the doctors gave him up. They
thought he would die slowly, and that
it might take several weeks.
But there, was a nurse there, who
took special interest in his case, and
she stayed up day and night for some
time and finally brought him through.
The case was very well known, and
everybody said she had performed a
miracle. He got better slowly.
Then a few weeks later, when he
was out of danger and was able to
walk, and it was only a question of
! time before he would be released from
the hospital, this nurse was trans
ferred to another hospital. Everybody
knew her and liked her, and when she
went around to say good-by, all the
men were sorry and gave her little
presents, and wanted her to write to
them. She was going to get nurse
she knew in the other hospital to turn
her letters into English, so that she
could write to me. gave her a ring
I had made from piece of shell case
but I guess she had hundreds of them
at that.
But this German doctor would not
say good-by to her. That would not
have made me sore, but 1t made this
French girl feel very bad, and she be-
gan to cry. One of the French officers
saw her and found out about the doc
tor, and the officer went up and spoke
to the German. Then the French Of
ficer left, and the German called to
the nurse and she went over to him
and stopped crying.
They talked for little while, and
then she put out her hands as If she
was going to leave. He put out his
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