The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1918-04-12

, there, but this day they bombed it for
about three hours from their zeppelins.
| They knew it was hospitsi. there was
no doubt about that That is an atrocity.
/ We nexer did that and we never would
do that. They said, hear that the rea-
son it was shelled was because they
thought we used it as an observation
, tower but that was not 50. We would
not dare do that. We had too much To
lose doing that. That was too much
risk Rheims cathedral is a beautiful
thing and the French We're Very proud OF
/ It, and would not do anything that would
| bring harm TO it. and then there were
! the men, wounded i'm there, they wouldn't
! risk that. We couldn't get the wounded
men away. there was no means to do
! that; no motors and no trains and there
was no way of moving them. They killed
about three hundred of them in that
way.
Bomb Filled With Nails.
That was where | received my wound.
The bomb burst and seemed to tear the
! flesh to pieces. The bomb seemed to be
with like pieces of old nails and iron,
and then substance like powdered
glass, it was ground so fine. | had i've
operations on my neck. but it Wouldn
seem to heal up, and J feel positive that
the subsistence IT, the bomb was infected.
g. You mentioned that you We're Il
member of a hospital unit and We're
obliged to go out in No Mans land ard
set wounded men; now during your ex-
perience as a nurse in the war zone did
you see any of the peasant people?
them had gone far back before we got
out there. If any stayed there they
would be taken prisoner by the Germans
and would be behind the German lines.
Saw Woman Cruc!fiea.
q. If l remember right. | believe that
you told me something about an Alsatian
being crucified by the Germans, you saw
that?
A. Yes. 1 saw that
@. Can you give me the name of
A. No. l cannot give you the name,
/ rever heard her name. Il ha"nened -
a little village, the name of which l can
. not recollect. but | remember that it was
in Alsace near Belfort and also near to
| Muhlhausen. 1t was French territory
bat had been occupied by the Gerr1f' rs
and che Germans had been driven back.
OF course the village was badly damaged
by shell fire and very few people re-
NAMED there. remember it distinctly
and it a CHASTITY sight. All the Ger
mans Were out Of the village. but there
was q German, well l believe Won wouId
call him here a recruiting officer with
his two orderlies. | believe YOU would
call them talking to an Alsatian and his
wife We We're in what the ~a-
mains of little store, and were looking
at the whole thing. The man did not
say much, but the wife did not want him
to go. and was talking with the German
officer. ] could see that the German. of
ficer was getting mad and when they seiZ-
ed the man, she resisted and swore at the
officer. The German officer then ordered
her seized. and had hie men brine in
some timbers from a little shed nearby,
and they made crude cross and while
the orderliess We're holding her husband
the other soldiers stripped the woman
and nailed her hands and feet to the
crude cross they made.
Cross STOOD UPSIDE Down.
Then they stood it UDSide down and
GT nf h oil,
Her cries We're pitiful and her husband
was held between the two men all OF
the lime She was turned SO that her
head was down They nut the cross nm
against an old shed so that is would
stand up. ] viii always remember this
as it was the "ro~t h"rritrlo "*~~c;f,- 80,
l saw, and when 1 was operated on, and
came out of the anaesthet}c was uo!d
by the opera tirg doctors and nurses and
L always mentioned that Incident, it was
. SO burned into my memory. She was a
woman that had lovely fair hair. and
she was just like n Madonna, with her
hair streaming over her face. | could
hear and see it all. | was about half
block away and / could hear the Ger
mans speaking, and her screams She
was dead from the shock ! would saw
/ before they cut off her breasts, but it
| goes 70 show what they would do. ]
was mortified, and there was her hus-
band had to stand between the two SOL
diers and see it ALL They nailed her
on the cross upside down L saw that
atrocity with my own eyes, ard it was
the first atrocity that I saw It YVES .
long time before 1 was able 20 get that
out of my mind for an instant Yes she
| was very likely dead before they cut
| Off her breasts, from the shock. And
the husband was taken prisoner along
! with che Germans as they left in,ne-
diately after that They rode away as
/ fast as they could.
Atten,p& to Throw Fear.
y. That was done. as you underst nd
to throw fear of the Germans into the
hearts of the populace?
A 1 really believe that is why one
PERSONAL believe that they wish to
| frlghten the other small nuetraIs also
Pollard, for instance. and Switzer1and
That IS the sentiment expressed by many
that l have talkd to that have Witnessed
some of the victims of the Germans.
relieve also that much Of this qtrccity
work is done by drunken Germans.
Alsace is noted tor it's wine. and the
Germans go first for the liquor that they
can get hold of and gorge themselves
until they must be crazy drunk.
e. And do you know of instances
mat came to your notice of women in
,he German occupied territory who had
j Deen mlStreated by the German soldiers
A: Yes. that is So They have bean
badly treated, and it was a common
Slght When we went by in the ambu-
lanceS to see women who we could not
pick up. They would be in terrible con
dition, but we could not stop and picl,
tnem up. as we We're not able to, do
Inem any good, they were too neqr
death, and we needed the room that we
nad for the men who had chance of
living. Ihere We're many instances of
mlstreatent of the Nuns l was in the
retreat from Mons. and on the roadside
/ there were women who had pitiful stor-
les 10 tell, Of what the Germans had
done to them. There were MANY Girls
also, and they had been practically
ripped up. You can't ima cine what siIt
ferlng the women were subjected to. Not
being satisfied. with satisfying their lust
on the girls and women, they practi-
any ripped the women up. There were
many, many instances where girls had
De2n taken by an officer and when he
mad tired of her, he would turn her over
10 the whole regiment and she was
really dead by the time night came: she
z would be practically ripped up They
! We're In such condition lnat they wound
Lfther be dead In fact they were sim
ply oead from cruel and inhuman treat
ment. I believe in hell and that is what
those women and girls were subjected to-
Ihey went for the young girls, between
sixteen and twenty years of age. they
were the ones to suffer. Let me tell
: you If the Germans ever win this war
the girls. the young girls of this coun-
try will suffer, the same way That is
what it will mean to the young girls OF
this country. if the Germans win this
war
@. Did you find in your experience as
nurse at the front that many young boys
had been unseXed by the Germans?
a. Yes: There were many, many in
stances of that. There were some that
came to my notice. and it was talked OF
and was Well-known to the doctors and
others AT the front that This was true