The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1918-03-15

evidence to connect their slaughter |
with the report made by the German
who had been fred on by his COM
rades. They were suspicious" and
that was enough.
The systematic execution of civ
ilians, which in some cases, as the
diary just cited shows, was founded
on a genuine mistake, was given
wide extension thru the Province OF
Liege. In Soumagne and Micheroux
very many civilians were summarily
shot. In a field belonging to man
named E. fifty-six or fifty-seven were
put to death. A German officer said:
"You have shot at u.s." One of the
villagers asked to be allowed to-
speak, and said: "If you think these
people fired kill me, but let them
CO." The answer was three volleys.
The survivors were bayonetcd. Their
corpses werc seen in the field that
night by another witness. One at
least had been mutilated. These
were not the only victims in Sou
magne. The eyewitness Of the massa-
ere saw, on his way home, twenty
bodies, one that Of q young girl OF
thirteen. Another witness saw nine
teen corpses in meadow.
At Blegny Tremblour. on the eth,
some civilians were captured by Ger
man soldiers, who took steps to put
them to death forthwith, but were
restrained by the arrival of an Of
ficer. The prisoners subsequently
were taken off to Battice and five
were shot in a field. No reason was
assigned for their murder.
In the meantime house burners
were ut work. On the 9Th, Battice
was destroyed in part. From the
sth to the 10th over 800 houses were
burned at Hervc, while mounted
men shot into doorp and windows to
prevent the eccape of the inhab-
itants.
At Heure lie Romain on or about
the 18th of August all the male in
habitants, including some bcdridden
old men, were imprisoned. in the
church. The Burgomaster's brother
and the priest wero bayoneted,
| On or about the 14th and 18th the
village of Wise was completely de-
stroyed. Officers directed the in
cendiaries, who worked methodically
with benzinc. Antiques and china
were removed from the houses, be-
fore their destruction, by officers,
who guarded the plunder, revolver
in hand. The house Of a witness,
which contained valuables Of this
kind, was protected for time by a
notice posted on the door by officers.
This notice has been produced to the
committee. After the removal OF
the valuables this house also was
burned.
German soldiers had arrived on
1.-THE 18th at Blcgny Trcmbleur and
seized a quantity of wine. On the
18th prisoners were taken; four, in
Guiding the priest and the Burgo-
master, we're shot. On the same
day 200 (so-called) hostages were
sized at Flemalle and marched off
There they were told that unless
Fort Female surrendered by noon
they would be shot. 1t did surrender
and they were released.
Entries in q German diary show
that on the 18th the German soldiers
gave themselves up to dcbauchery II
the streets of Licge. and on the might
of the goth Thursday massacre
took place in the streets, beginning
near the Cafe Carpenticr. at which
there is said to have been a dinner
attended by Russian and othel
students. A proclamation issued b,
General Kolewe on tho following da!
gave the German version of the af
fair, which WIS that his troops hat
been fired on by Russian students
The diary states that in the nigh
the inhabitants of Liegc becam,
mutinous and that fifty persons wer,
shot. The Belgian witnesses We
, hementiy deny that there had beer
any proyocation given, some stating
that many German soldiers wer,
drunk. others giving evidence which
indicates that the AFFAIR was planned
beforehand. 1t 10 stated that at
O'Clock in the evening, long befort
the shooting. a citizen was warnet
BY friendly German soldier not Il
go out that night.
, Tho the cause Of the massacre Il
|, in dispute. the results are known
with certainty. The Rue des Pitteur
and houses In the Place de rUni
versite and the Quai des Pecheur
were Systematically fired with ben
zine. and many inhabitants wer'
burned aliye IN their houses, theii
efforts to escape being prevented b.