The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1918-10-10

square, after which the men we're shot.
A paralytic was shot as he sat in his
armchair. and n boy Of fourteen was
taken by the legs and pulled apart.
At one place, a man was tied by the
arms to the ceiling Of his room and set
afre. His trunk was completely car
bombed, but his head and arms were
unburned. At the same place, the
body Of a ffteen-year.old boy was
found, pierced by more than twenty
bayonet thrusts. Other dead were
found with their hands stlll In the air,
leaning up against walls.
At another place the Germans
shelled the town for day, and then
entered and sacked Il. The women
and children were turned loose, with
out being allowed to take anything
with them, and forced TO leave the
town. Nearly FIVE hundred men were
deported to Germany. Three, who
we're almost exhausted by hunger, tried
to escape. They were bayoneted and
dubbed TO death. Twelve men, who
had taken refuge in a farm, were tied
together and shot in mass. Another
group Of six were tied together and
shot, after the Germans had put out
their eyes and tortured them with
bayonets. Three others were brought
before their wives and children and
sabered.
The Belgian told me he was at Ma
muir when the Germans began Smelling
l 40 Tho ton,ko rdr,ont loet "a tba ,yhoIa
OF August n and %, 1914. They CEN
tered their fire on the prison, the hos
pital, and the railway station. They
entered the town at four o'clock In the
afternoon of August %. During the
first twenty-four hours they behaved
themselves but on the oath they began
firing at anyone they pleased, and set
fire 10 different houses on five of the
principal squares.
Then they ordered every one to leave
his house, and those who did not were
shot. The others, about four hundred
In all, were drawn up In front of the
church, close to the river bank. The
Belgian said he could never forget how
they all looked.
81 can remember Just how II was"
he said. There were eight men, whom
I knew very well, standing In a row
with several priests. Next came two
good friends Of mine named Balbau
and Guillaume, with Balbau's seven
teen-year-old son; then two men who
had taken refuge In a barn and had
been discovered and blinded then two
other men whom / had never seen be-
fore.
at was awful to see the way the
women were crying-'Shoot me too.
shoot me with my husband"
1.-THE men were lined up on the edge
Of the hollow, which runs from the
high road to the bottom of the village.
One Of them was leaning on the Shout
ders Of an old priest, and he was cry
ing. I am too young-I can't face
death bravely.'
81 couldn't bear the sight any longer.
I turned my back to the road and COW
cred my eyes. / heard the volley and
the bodies falling. Then some one
cried, Look. they're all down But a
few escaped"
This Belgian had escaped by hiding
he could not remember how many
days-in an old cart filled with manure
and rubbish. He had chewed old hides
for food, had swan across the river,
and hid In q mud bank for almost q
week longer, and finally got to France.
He took II very hard when We talked
about Dixmude. and I told him that
the old church was Just shot to pieces.
He asked about a painting called the
Alteration Of the Mag," and one Of
the other prisoners told us II had been
saved and transported to Germany. II
that is true, and they do not destroy
II meanwhile, we will get II back, don't
worry
My wound was just a clean gunshot
wound and not very serious. so, al
though IL was not completely healed,
they let me go after three weeks. But
before l went, / saw something that
no man Of US will ever forget. Some
of them took VOWS just like the men
Of the legion have told about.
One of the patients was German
doctor. who had been picked up In No
Mans Land, very seriously wounded.
He was given the same treatment as
any of us, that is, the very best, but
finally. the doctors gave him up. They
thought he would die slowly. and that
II might take several weeks.
But there was a nurse there, who
took special interest In his case, and
she stayed up day and night for some
time and finally brought him through.
The case was very well known, and
everybody said she had performed a
miracle. He got better slowly.
Then a few weeks later. when he
was out Of danger and was able TO
walk. and II was only a~question Of
time before he would be released from
the hospital. this nurse was trans
ferred TO another hospital. Everybody
knew her and liked her. and when she
went around 10 say good-by, all the
men were sorry and gave her little
presents, and wanted her TO write to
them. She was going TO get a nurse
she knew In the other hospital TO turn
her letters into English, so that she
could write 10 me. l gave her a ring
had made from piece Of shell case,