Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1918-01-14
Germans Excuse
Atr0Ci0uS Acts

The people of the United States
are beginning to learn the truth con-
cermng the conduct of the war By
Germany. Proof is offered that Ger
man officials deliberately lied in
their statements concerning Gtroci-
ties committed By the BelgianS and
allies. That their own soldiers we're
disgusted by the cruelties prGcticed
at the order Of high officers of the
kaiser is shown. Extracts taken
from pamphlets issued fOllOw:
The Vorwaerts of Berlin, October %,
1914, said:
"We have already been able to es-
tablish the falseness of a great number
of assertions which have been made
with great precision and published
everywhere in the press, concerning al
legged cruelties committed, by the popu-
lations of the countries with which
Germany is at war, upon German SOL
diers 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 and 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 a
brazen invention. Stories of soldiers
whose eyes are alleged to have been
torn out by francs-tireurs are circulat-
ed throughout Germany. Not single
case of this kind has been officially es-
tablished.
ut matters little that reports of this
nature bear an appearance of positive
certitude, or are even vouched for by
eye-wltnesses. The desire fg notoriety,
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,
every eye removed, is Immediately
transformed into nose or eye torn
away by the francs.tlreurs. Already the
Volkszeitung of Cologne has been able,
contrary to the very categorical asser-
tiOns from Aix-la-C -Chapelle, to prove
that there was 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 treat
ment in the neighbOrhOOd of Berlin
but whenever inquiries have been made
| In regard TO these reports, their abs0'
lutte falsity has been demonstrated. AT
length these reports were concentrated
at Gross Lichterfelde. A newspaper
published at noon and widely circu'
lated in Berlin printed few days age
in large type the news that at the
Lazaretto Of Lichterfelde alone there
were ten German soldiers, only slight
ly wounded, whose eyes had been wick
edly torn out But to request fol
information by Comrade Llebknecht
the following written reply was sent
by the chief medical officer of the
aforementioned field hospital, dated
the 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
fruit. But the voice of protest was
not entirely silent. A considerable
number of letters by German soldiers
who were shocked by the German
| atfOcltlpS were Selll 10 AlllDuSSuuOl
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
der, nm eyewitness of the slaughter O.
Russian soldiers in the Masuran lake.
and swamps:
ut was frightful, heart-rending al
these masses of human beings wer,
driven TO destruction. Above the ter
rible thunder of the cannon could b,
heard the heart-rending cries of tn,
Russians: % Prussians o Prussians
but there was no mercy. Our captain
had ordered: The whole lot must die
so rapid fire. As | have heard, fv,
men and one officer on our side wen
mad from these heart-rending cries
But most of my comrades and the Off
GERS joked as the unarmed and helpless