The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1918-07-17
Murder, Pil|age and Arson Part
OF Deliberate Scheme of
Warfare.
HIGH OFFICERS GO ON RECORD
NO Possible Evasion Of Responsibility
TOR sestial Acts Which for Centu.
ries Have Had No Parallel
Officially Endorsed.

corning the conduct Of the war by
Germany. Proof is offered that Ger
man officials deliberately lied in
the'r statements concerning atroct-
ties committed by the Belgians and
allies. That their own soldiers aere
d'sgusted By the cruelties practiced
at the order of high officers of the
&atser Is shown. Extracts taken
from pamphlets issued follow:
The Vorwaerts Of Berlin, October o.
1914, said:
we have already been able to es-
tablish the falseness Of n great number
of assertions which have been made
with great precision and published
everywhere in the press, concerning al
a eged crueltics committed, by the popu-
~ntions OF the countries with which
Heffnany is at war, upon German SOL
'dlers and civilians. We are now in po-
sition to silence two others Of these
fantastic stories
THE war correspondent of the Ber-
liner Tageblatt spoke few weeks
ago OF cigars anu cigarettes filled with
powder alleged to have been given out
or sold to our soldiers with diabolical
intent. He even pretended that he had
'seen with his own eyes hundreds of
this kind Of cigarettes. We learn from
an authentic source that this story OF
cigars and cigarettes is nothing but
;brnzen invention. Stories of soldiers
whose eyes arc alleged to have been
torn out by francs-tireurs are clrculat-
ed throughout Germany. Not a single
case Of this kind has been officially es-
tahlishcd
ut matters little TINT reports of this
mature bear an appearance Of positive
gertrude, or are even vOuched for by
,eye-wtnesses. The desire for notoriety
1.-THE absence Of criticism and personal
error play an unfortunate part in the
days In which we are living. Every
nose shot off or simply bound up,
Aevery eye removed, is Immediately
transformed into a nose or eye torn
away by the francs.tireurs. Already the
!VolksZeltung of Cologne has been able
contrary to the very categorical asser-
!flons from Aix-la -Chapelle, to prove
q that there was no soldier wifi his eyes
Y torn out in the field ambulance OF this
lSwn. 1t was said, also, that people
wounded in this wny were under treat
fnent IN the neighborhood Of Berlin,
but whenever inquiries have been made
In regard to these reports, their abso.
lutte falsity has been demonstrated. At
length these reports We're concentrated
at Gross Lichterfelde. A newspaper
published mt noon and widely circu-
lated In Berlin printed few days ago
Ia large type the news that at the
Ihzafetto Of Lichterfclde alone there
sl We're ten German soldiers. only slight
q tslyywounded, whose eyes hnd been wick
edly torn out But to request for
information by Comrade Liebknecht
the following written reply was sent
by the chief medical officer Of the
aforementioned field hospital dated
ithe eighteenth Of the month:
"'Sir: Happily there is no truth
whatever In these stories.
Yours obediently,
PROFESSOR RAUTENBERG,'
German Soldiers Protested.
Thus the teachings Of the German
War Book and Of the German apostles
OF frIghtfulness, suspicion and hatred,
had now begun to bear their natural
not entirely silent. A considerable
number Of letters by German soldiers
who were shocked by the German
atrocities were sent to Ambassador
Gerard, because he was the representa-
tive OF the United States. the leading
neutral nation. The three letters
which follow, In translation, were re-
ceived by the American ambassador
from German soldiers.
Here is the protest OF German SOL
'dier. nc eyewitness Of the slaughter OF
!RusrI9n soldiers in the Masurian lakes
.I1Asn Swnmps:
&V"Tt was frightful. henrt-rending, as
these masaeas of a human beings were
driven to destruction. Above the ter
ir1ble thunder of the cannon could be
heard the heart-rending cries of the
Russians: o Prussinns! O Prussiansn =
but there was no mercy. Our captain
had ordered: The whole lot must die;
so rapid fire. As have heard FIVE
men and one officer on our side went
mad from these heart-rendlng cries.
But most Of my comrades and the off,
GERS joked as the unnrmed and helpless
Russians shrieked for mercy while
they were being suffOcated in the
swamps and shot down. The order
was: Close up and at 1t harderr For
days afterwards those heart-rendlng
yells followed me and dare not think
of them or shall go mad. There is no
God there Is no morality and no ethics