The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1918-01-31

story of cigars and cigarettes is moth
, ing but brazen invention Stories of
soldiers whose eyes are alleged to have
been torn out by francs-tireurs are
circulated throughout Germany. Not a
single case of this kind has been off
cially established In every instance
where it has been possible to test the
story its inaccuracy has been demon
strated.
at matters little that reports of
this nature bear an appearance of
positive gertrude, or are even vouch-
ed for by witnesses. The desire
notoriety, the absence of criticism and
personal error play an unfortunate
part in the days in which we are .iv-
ing. Every nose shot off or simply
bound up, every eye removed, is i'm
mediately transformed into nose or
eye torn away by the francs -tireurs.
Already the Volkszeitnng Of Cologne
has been able, contrary to the very
categorical assertions from Aix-!a-
Chappelle, to prove that ,rere vas no
soldier with his eyes torn out in the
field ambulance of this town. 1t was
said, also, that people wounded in
this way were under treatment in the
neighborhood of Berlin, but whenever
enquiries have been in regard to these
reports, their absolute falsity has been
demonstrated At length these re-
ports were concentrated at Gross
Lichterfelde. A newspaper pu! lished
at noon and widely circulated in Ber-
lin printed few days ago in large
type the news that at I.azaretto of
Lichterfelde alone there were ten Ger
man soldiers, only slightly wounded,
whose eyes had been wickedly torn
out But to request for information
by comrade Liebknecht the following
written reply was sent by the chief
medical officer of the above mention
ed field hospital, dated the 18th of
the month:
Sir: Happily, there is no truth
whatever in these stories. Yours
obediently, Prof Rautenberg.'
German Soldiers Protest Against
Atrocities
Thus the teachings of the German
War Book and of the German apos-
ties of frightfulness, suspicion, and
hatred. had now begun to bear their
natural fruit. But the voice of pro-
test was not entirely silent. A con-
siderable number of letters by Ger.
man soldiers who were shocked by the
German atrocities were sent to EN-
bassadjr Gerard, because he was the
representative of the United States,
the leading neutral nation. The three
letters which follow, in translation,
were received by the American en-
bassador from German soldiers. They
were obtained for this pamphlet from
Secretary Grew; they illustrate both
the system and the horror of it, which
the writers felt.
Here is the protest of a German
soldier, an eyewitness of the slaugh-
ter of Russian soldiers in the Masur--
in lakes and swamps:
1T was frightful, heart-rending as
these masses of human beings were
driven to destruction. Above the ter
rible thunder Of the cannon could be
heard the heart-rending cries of the
Russians: % Prussians. o Prus
sians.-but there was no mercy. Our
captain had ordered: "The whole lot
must die; so rapid fire. AS I have
heard five men and one officer on
our side went mad from those heart
rending cries. But most of my COM
rades and the officers joked as the
unarmcd and helpless Russians Shrek
ed for mercy while they were being
suffocated in the swamps and shot
down. The order was: Close up and
at it harder!' For days afterwards
those heart-rending yells followed me
and dare not think of them or I shall
20 mad. There is no ethics any more.
There are TO human beings any more