Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-01-31
BRING FIRST HAND
EVIDENCE OF GERMAN ATRoc-
' tiles IN BELGIUM
GIBSON IN BRUSSELS
WHEN TEUTONs CAME
Secretary Of Ambassador Whitloek Wis
its Iowa On Speaking Tour-crueIty
Methods Already Decided Upon
When Invaders Reached Belgian
CapitaI-UnciviIized' Warfare Resort
ed to.

Des Moines, Jan. S1.-Hugh Gibson,
secretary to Ambassador Brand Whit
lock in Belgium, and Joseph C. Grew,
counsellor Of the American embassy in
Berlin for almost nine years, were in
Des Moines yesterday and at Ames last
night In speeches and interviews given
here they declare that the horrors
which the German army has committed
in Belgium and France are indescrib-
able.
Gibson, who has been in the United
States diplomatic service for years, was
the man who made every possible eff
fort to save the life of Edith Cavell,
the English nurse whom the Germans
executed on charge of treason. But
his efforts proved futile.
Il was in Brussels when the Ger
mans came" said Gibson in telling Of
some of his experiences. There was
no time for flight preparation. The
news of the impending invasion
reached us one evening. The next af-
ternoon the German army marched
into Brussels in triumph with flags
flying, bands playing, troops singing
and with the muzzles Of their cannon
wreathed in flowers.
"Then things began to happen.
Methods to be used in Belgium had
already been carefully considered. Now
they we're deliberately executed. Tele
phone and telegraph wires were cut,
railroad traffic was stopped. newspaper
offices were closed. a hundred CALLING
restrictions were put upon the people.
Scientific Atrocities.
Huge red posters announced that
anybody found with arms would be
shot; that resistance would be pun
ished with extreme measures; that
houses where ammunition was found
would be burned and the owners shot:
that all villages where hostile acts
were committed would be burned to
the ground: that hostages would be
taken in every city and town and would
be put to death in case Of disorder
There was no end to the number Of
offenses named by the Huns.
I'VE were not allowed to doubt that
the German authorities meant what
they said for almost Immediately we
began to hear stories of the thousands
Of refugees who poured in from Wise
and Louvain and other towns and vii
lagos where the carefully prepared and
scientific system Of atrocities had been
put into effect.
"At first we found it utterly impos-
sible to believe these stories and put
them down to the hysteria of badly
frightened and perhaps roughly used
people. We could not bring ourselves
to believe that civilized power would
countenance such deeds as were de-
scribed to us But little by little proofs
were forced upon lbs that we could not
ignore or disbelieve and the enormity
of the whole system dawned upon us.
an the beginning our miaginations
staggered under the shock but before
we got thru we could listen with a
shocking degree Of calm to the stories
that would make your blood run cold.
There was nothing the Germans could
do to surprise or startle u.s."
He said that the bare facts of what
was done in Belgium and northern
France are enough to eternally damn
Germany.