The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-03-09
Man Who Investigated Stories
of Atrocities Describes Some.
Refined French Women Man.
acIed to African Blacks.
SAW GROUP OF INSANE
Children's Hands Shattered by
'- German Pencil Bombs.
s"In War To Save America Such
Fate From HunS.o

Kansas City, March 9.-Women
wept and shuddered with horror in
the audience. at the Grand Avenue
M. E. church yesterday while Edward
f. Trefz, recently returned from the
war zone, gave a narrowing descrip-
ton of the atrocities practiced by the
Germans, and urged that the women
of america open their eyes to the
situation and give their utmost sup
port to the war.
1.-The day for soft pedal, slap on
the wrist stuff is past" Mr.. Trefz
declal ed. I'VE are in this war not
from altruistic motives, not to make
Germany a democracy, but to save
ourselves from the same fate Ger
many has melted out to her weaker
foes.
Mr. Trefz, who was a member of
a commission of six sent to the front
to investigate conditions, told Incl
den. after incident of appalling bar
barity of which he had seen the
proof. He said:
Carried Away All Young Women.
There is a space of land 125 miles
by sixtyfive in northern France in
which the Germans wrecked every
building and destroyed every fruit
tree, They carried away every wom-
an between 15 and IS years old. They
stripped the houses of every article
of value. One of the most horrible
things they did was to leave little
objects that looked like pencils
around these wrecked house. When
the little children would crawl back
after all the desolation they would
pick these up and try to write with
them and they would explode and
shatter their arms. The allies have
dozens of these instruments in their
possession.
Every German lieutenant carries
two revolvers. The one on the right
side " used only for his own men, for
it is loaded with ordinary bullets. The
other one, tho one that is used on the
enemy, is loaded with the horrible
exploding bullet that rips and tears.
1 fought thru the Spanish war, and
when we found a few luckless Span
iards using the dum-dum bullet we
gave no quarter. but 1 want to tell
you that the dum-dum bullet was Il
message of mercy and Red Cross
act compared to the bullet used by
the Huns.
Soldier Keeps Diary of Atrocities.
Every German carries little diary,
in which he makes notat1ons or the
country thru which he goes, ana
printed in the front of these books is
a rule that ought to arouse the VEN
geance of the whole world-a rule
that says ruthless intimidation in time
t of war is not only necessary but right;
that it is to be exercised toward COM
batantS ana nOn-cOnl DdLdAIS, anu IRE
spective of sex.
THE Germans carried 500 women
out of one village in Northern France.
Most of them were refined. cultured
women of the upper class They made
these women work in the fields, in
the factories, and finally on the rail-
/! roads with a gang of blacks from
Africa-barbarians whom even the
Germans themselves would not work
with These women would commit
| oil IN "a
alone, and each woman, when she
lay down at night, was manacled by
the wrist to one of these blacks.
Il saw group of these women, who
had been sent back, their minds gone,
their bodies wrecked-'/
Moral Crusade-Not War.
7 Mr.. Trefz related how he had found
among them a woman whom he had
met previously in this country, beau
! tiful cultured, vivacious woman of 40.
He had not seen her for six years, and
! he did-not recognize her in the bat
| tered, emaciated, white haired husk
, that lay on the hospital bed, until she
! remembered him and told him her
name.
rs it any wonder that we cry for
vengeance" exclaimed Mr.. Trefz.
| This war is not a war, it is a moral
crusade You sheltered, comforta BILE
women cannot begin to realize the
horrible things that are happening
| over there. LII the HdIIl0 VI Tie safety
/ of the world, of your own safety, open
your eyes to what exists and make up
/ your minds that you will sacrifice
everything SO that this war may be
won.
| The absolute necessity of conserving
I food for the allies was forcibly
brought out in an address by Mrs.
Forbes-Robertson Hale.
THE Belgian child's supper consists
of a bowl of soup with a very little
meat stock in it, she said. The wo-
men of Europe run their dishwater
thru a sieve and the grease saved in
that way is used to make glycerine.
| In the face of such a situation, how
can American women complain of the
trivial sacrifices that are asked of
them?
Our Debt to Our Allies.
IF you ask why we should sacri-
flee for the allies, I tell you it is be-
| cause we owe an immeasurable debt
to the allies. But for them the wo-
men from this country would be suf-
fering from the same atrocities the
women of northern France. Belgium
| :