The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-01-09


the presence of his wife and seven
children; Wasseige and his two sons;
MeSSrs. Gustave and Leon Nicaise,
two very old men; Jules MOnn and
others all shot in- the cellar of their
brewery; Mr.. Camille pistte and son,
aSedS seventeen; Phillippart Piedfort,
his wife and daughter; Miss Marsig-
ny. During the execution of about
forty inhabitants of Dinant the Ger
mans placed before the condemned
their wives and children. 1t is thus
that Madam Albin who had just given
birth to child, three days previously,
was brought on mattress by German
soldiers TO witness the execution of
her husband; her cries and supplica-
tons were so pressing that her hus-
bands life was spared"
"On the Goth of August German sol
diers entered various streets (of Lou
vain) and ordered the inhabitants of
the houses to proceed to the Place de
la Station, where the bodies of nearly
dozen assassinated persons were ~
| ing. Women and children were SeDa-
rated from the men and forced to re-
main on the Place de Ia Station dur
| ing the whole day. They had to Wit
| ness the execution of many of their
| fellow citizens, who were for the most
| part shot at the side of the square,
| near the house of Mr. Hemaide. The
women and children, after having re-
| manned on the square for more than
| Is hours. were allowed to depart The
| Gardes Civiques of Louvain were also
| taken prisoners and sent to Germany,
to the camp of Munster, where they
! were held for several weeks.
"On Thursday, August 81, order was
/ given to the inhabitants to leave Lou
vain because the city was to be bonn
barded, Old men, women, children,
the sick, priests, nuns, were driven on
| the roads like cattle. More than TO-
| 600 of the inhabitants were driven as
far as Tirlemont, nearly 10 miles from
Louvain
| Infants Shot In Mothers Arms.
'one of the most sorely tried COM
munitics was that of the little village
of TamineS. down in what is known
as the Borinage. the coal fields near
! CharlcroL Tamines is a mining viii
| lage in the Sambre; II is collection
| of small cottages sheltcrng about T.
600 inhabitants, mostly all poor labor
erS.
The little graveyard in which the
church stands bears its mute teSti-
! mony to the horror of the event. There
are hundreds of new-made graves, each
with its small wooden cross and its
bit Of flowers the crosses are so close,
ly huddled that there is scarcely room
to walk between them. The crosses
arc alike and all bear the same date,
the sinister date of August -, 1914"
But whether their hands were cut
off or not, whether they were impaled
I on bayGnetSor not, ,vhildrpnf Sero -ah0t
down, by military order, in cold blood
In the awful crime of the Rock of Bay
ard, there overlooking the Mouse be-
| low Diuant, infants in their mothers
arms We're shot down without mercy.
The deed, never surpassed in cruelty
by any band Of SayageS is described
by the bishop of Namur himself:
lone scene SurpasseS in horror all
others; it is the fusiIlade of the
Rocher Bayard near Dinant. 1t ap-
pears to have been ordered by Colonel
Meister. This fusillade made many
victims among the nearby parishes
especially those of DIES Rivages and
Netfe. 1t caused the death of nearly
so persons, without distinction of age
or sex. Among the victims were ha.
bies in arms boys and girls. fathers
and mothers of families, even old
men.
Dead Children in Pile of Bodies.
1t was there that II children under
the age of six persisted from the fire
OF the eXecutionerS, six of them as
they lay in their mothers arms:
The child Fieyet, three weeks old
Maurice Betems. eleven months
old.
"'Nclly POllet, eleven months old.
'Giida Genon, eighteen months old
Zelda Marchot, two years old.
clara Struvay, two years and sly
months.
THE pile of bodies comprised alsC
many children from six to fourteen
years. Eight large families have en-
trely disappeared, Four have but one
survivor. Those men that eScapa
death-and many of whom were rid
died with hulletS-Wcre obliged I,
bury iii summary and hasty fashion
their fathers. mothers brotherS.or sis
ters; then after having been relieved
of their money and being placed il
chains they We're sent to Cassel prus
Sia).'"
Mr., Hugh Gibson, the secretary o
our legation in Belgium, visited Lou
vain during its systematic destruction
by the Germans. In ~ Journal From
our Legation in Belgium, New York
1917, pages 16l 100, he relates wha
the German officers told him.
1T was story of clearing out civil
tans fsoIn a large part of the town,
systematic routing out of men from
cellars and garrets, wholesale shoot
| lngS. 1.-The generous use of machin,