The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-04-25
RMAN WAR PRACTICES.
CONTINUED from page2, column 4.)

in this respect and the NUMBER OF
persons who have fed is unknown.
Among the persons who were shot
are: Mr.. Defoin, mayor of Dlnant;
Sasserath, first alderman; Nlmmer,
aged 70; counsel for the Argentine
Republic, Victor Poncelet, who was
executed in the presence of his Wl1e
and seven children: Wasselge ana
his two sons; Messrs. Gustave and
Leon Nicaise, two very old men,
Jules Monin and others were shot IN
the cellar of their brewery Mr..
Camille Pistte and son, aged II;
Phillippart, Piedfort, his wife and
daughter; Miss Marsigny. During
the execution of about forty inhabl-
tants of Dinant, the Germans placed
before the condemned their wives
and children. 1t is thus that Mad
anne Albin who had just given birth
to a child, three days previously,
was brought on mattress by Ger
man soldiers to witness the execu-
ton of her husband; her cries and
supplicatiors were so pressing that
her husbands life was spared
"On the 26th of August German
soldiers entered various streets (of
Louvain) and ordered the inhabl-
tants of the houses to proceed to the
Place de Ia Station, where the Dooles
of nearly a dozen assasslnated per-
SONS were lying. Women and children
we're separated from the men and
forced to remain on the Place de la
Station during the whole day. They
had to witness the execution or many
of their fellow citizens, who were for
the most part shot at the side of the
square, near the house of Mr.. He
Made. The women and children,
after having remained on the square
for more than Is hours, were al
lowed to depart. The Bardes C1vl-
cues of Louvain were also taken
prisoners and sent to Germany, to
the camp of Munster, where they
were held for several weeks.
ION Thursday, August 9th, or
der. was given to the inhabitants to
leave Louvain because the city was
to be bombarded. Old men, women,
children, the sick, priests, nuns,
were driven on the roads like cattle.
More than 10000 of the inhabitants
were driven as far as Tirelmont, IL
kilometers from Louvain."
Zone of the most sorely tried COM
munities was that of the little village
of Tamines, down in what is known
as the Borinage, the coal fields near
Charleroi. Tamines is mining vii
lage in the Sambre; it is a collection
of small cottages sheltering about
5000 inhabitants, mostly all poor
laborers.
MaSSacreS in TamineS.
''The little graveyard in which the
church stands bears it's mute test1-
mony to the horror Of the event.
There are hundreds of new made
graves, each with it's small wooden
cross and it's bit of flowers; the cross
es are so closely huddled that there is
scarcely room to walk between them.
The crosses are alike and all bear
the same date, the sinister date of
August 22d, 1914
"But whether their hands were cut
of or not, whether they were I'M
paled on bayonets or not, children
were shot down, by military order,
in cold blood. In the awful crime
of the Rock of Bayard, there over
looking the Meuse below Dinant, in
fants in their mothers arms were
shot down without mercy. The deed,
never surpassed in cruelty by any
band of savages, is described by the
Bishop of Namur himself:
Slaughter of the Innocents at ROcher
Bayard.
Zone scene surpasseS in horror all
others; it is the fusillade of the Ro-
cher Bayard near Dinant. 1t appears
to have been ordered by Colonel
Meister. This fusillade made many
victims among the nearby parishes,
especially those Of des Rivages and
Neffe. 1t caused the death of near
ly 80 persons, without distinction of
age or sex. Among the victims were
babies in arms, boys and girls, faith
ers and mothers of families, even
old men.
"It was there that IL children
under the age of perished from the
fire of the executioners, 6 of them
as they lay in their mothres' arms:
1.-The child Fievet, weeks old.
Maurice Betemps, II months old.
''Nelly Pollet, II months old.
"Gilda Genon, Is months old.
Zelda Marchot, years old.
"Clara Struvay, 2 years and 6
months.
'The pile of bodies comprised also
many children from to IA years.
Eight large families have entirely
disappeared. Four have but one sur.
vivor. Those men that escaped
death-and many of whom were rid
died with bullets-were obliged to
bury in summary and hasty fash
ion their fathers, mothers, brothers,
or sisters; then after having been re-
lieved Of their money and being
placed In chains they were sent to
Cassel (Prussia)."
Mr.. Hugh Gibson, the secretary of
our legation in Belgium, visited Lou
vain during it's systematic destruction
by the Germans. In A Journal from
our Legation in Belgium, New York,
1917, pages 164-165, he relates what
the German officers told him:
1T was story of cleaning out
civilians from a large part of the