The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1918-01-18

destruction had been permitted to Oc-
cur, in which the ripe pears hung I'M
touched upon the garden walls; and I
saw other wide areas where scarcely
one stone had been left to stand upon
another; where the fields were raw
aged; where the male villagers had
been shot in squads; where the miser-
able survivors had been left to den in
holes, like wild beasts"
Even Soldiers Mortified.
Some German soldiers, we are glad
to see showed their horror at the foul
deeds committed in Belgium.
'"The inhabitants have fled in the vii
lage 1t was horrible. There was clOt-
ted blood on all the boards, and what
faces one saw, terrible to behold The
dead, 60 in all, were at once buried.
Among them were many old women,
some old men, and half-dellvered
woman, awful to see; three children
had ciasped each other, and died thus.
The altar and the vaults of the church
are shattered. They had telephone
there to communicate with the enemy.
This morning, September 2, all the sur
vivors were expelled, and I saw four
little boys carrying a cradle, with
baby five or six months old in it, on
two sticks. All this was terrible to
see Shot after shot! Thunderbolt
after thunderbolt! Everything is given
over to pillage; fowls and the rest all
killed. I saw a mother, too, with her
! two children; one had great wound
| on the head and had lost an eye"
| (Fron the diary Of Lance Corporal
Paul Spielman Of the Ersatz, first bri
gade of Infantry of the Guard.)
" In the night the inhabitants
of Liege became mutinous. Forty per
sons were shot and Is houses demol-
ished, 10 soldiers shot. The sights here
make you cry.
ION the 23rd of August everything
quiet. The inhabitants have so far
given in. Seventy students were shot,
200 kept prisoners. Inhabitants re-
turning to Liege.
august "a. At noon with SO men on
sentry duty. Sentry duty is A 1, no post
allocated to me. Our occupation, apart
| from bathing, is eating and drinking.
We live like God in Belgium" (From
| the diary of job. van der School, re-
| servist Of the Tenth company, Thirty
ninth reserve infantry regiment, Sew
| enth reserve army corps.)
j "Behaved Like VandaIs"
august II. In the afternoon had
| q look at the little chateau belonging
to one of the kings secretaries (not at
home). Our men had behaved like
regular vandals. They had looted the
cellar first, and then they had turned
their attention to the bedrooms and
thrown things about all over the place.
They had even made fruitless efforts
| to smash the safe open. Everything
| was tODsy-turvy-m furni-
| ture, silk, and even china. That's what
happens when the men are allowed to
requisitiOn for themselves. I am sure
they must have taken away heap Of
useless stuff simply for the pleasure Of
looting'
august 9th crossed frontier. Inhab-
| itants on border very good to us and
! give US many things. There is no diff
/ ference noticeable.
August 23rd, Sunday (between Bir-
! nal and Dinant, village of Disonge).
/ At IL o'clock the order comes to ad-
| vance after the artillery has thorough
up prepared the ground ahead. The
Pioneers and Infantry regiment 17S
were marching in front of us. Near
a small village the latter were fred on
by the inhabitants. About 22O inhab-
itants were shot and the village was
artillery is continuously shoot
| tho
Just now, six O'Clock in the afternoon,
the crossing of the Mas begins near
Dinant All villages, chateaux,
and houses are burnt down during this
night. 1t was a beautiful sight to see
the fires all round us in the distance.
august 24.-In every village one
finds only heaps of ruins and many
dead From the diary of Matbern,
Fourth company, Eleventh jaeger bat
TALON, N1arburg.)
All Male Inhabitants Shot.
"A shell burst near the Eleventh
company, and wounded seven men,
three very severely. At five o'clock we
were ordered by the officer in com
mand of the regiment to shoot all the
male inhabitants Of Nomeny, because
the population was foolishly attempt
ing to stay the advance of the German
troops by force of arms. We broke into
the houses, and seized all who resisted
in order to execute them according to
martial law. The houses which had
not been already destroyed by the
french artillery and our own were set
on ire by us, SO that nearly the whole
town was reduced to ashes. It is ter.
rible sight when helpless women and
children, utterly destitute, are herded
together and driven into France
(F'rom the diary of Private Fischer
Eighth Bavarian regiment of infantry
Th1rty-third reserve diviSfOn\