Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1918-12-20

aHEN" @A-aNA % US
glaSs-dome s5ylight This house was
now a very pretty ruin. and 1t was Just
as well that we left when We did. You
could not yer find a splinter Of the
big round table. The next time l sit
under a glass skylight ia Dixmude, I
want a lad with a live eye for Zeppe
Inns on guard outside.
Something about the branch head
quarters ruins made Us think of break.
fast, which we had forgotten, so back
TO the hotel. Thea we started back to
our lines. We were ordered to keep
to the main road all the way back, or
we would be shot on sight, and to re-
port TO headquarters Immediately on
our return. l thought If the sight Of
me was 80 distasteful to anybody, l
would not take the chance of Offend
ing. being anxious to be polite in such
cases. So we stuck to the main road.
Fritz did not give us any trouble and
we were back by five, with all hands
out to greet us when we hove in sight.
and a regular prodigal son welcome on
tap, for We were later than they had
expected us, and they had made up
their minds that some accident had
happened.
While I was around DlXnude, I saw
many living men and women and chill.
dren who had been mutilated by the
Germans, but most Of them were wom-
en- and children. Almost every one
Of the mutilated men was too old for
military service. The others had been
killed. l guess.
But the Belgians were not the only
ones who had suffered from German
kultur. Many French wounded were
tortured by the Huns, and we were
constantly finding the mutilated bodies
of u troops. 1t IA thought that the
Germans often mutilated n dead body
as an example to the living.
The Germans had absolutely no re-
spect whatever for the Red Cross. For
instance, they captured a wagon load
ed with forty French wounded, and
shot every n Of them. / saw the
dead bodies.
When the Germans came to Dix
nude they got all the men and women
and children and made them march
before them with their hands In the
air. Those who did not were knocked
down. After a while some Of them saw
what they were going to get, and being
as game sports as l ever heard of, tried
to fight. They were finished Off ut
once, of course.
The former burgomaster had been
shot and finished off with an ok,
though he had not resisted, because he
wanted to save the lives of his citi-
zens. They told me of n case, in Dix
nude, where q mar came out of his
house, trying to carry his father, a
man Of eighty, to the square, where
they were ordered to report. The old
man could not raise his hands, so they
dragged his son away from him,
knocked the old man in the head with
an ak, and left him there to die. Those
who were sparedswere made to dig tho
graves for the others.
There was a doctor there in Dix,
nude, who certainly deserves q mill
tary cross If any man e did. HI.
was called from his house by the Ger
mans at $50 n morning. He left his
wife, who had had a baby two days
before, In the house. He was taken to
the square, lined up against a wall
with three other big men of the town.
Then he saw his wife and baby being
carried to the square on a mattress by
four Germans. He begged to be al
lowed to kiss his wife good-by, and
they granted him permission. AS hi
stepped away, there was q rattle and
the other men went West. They shot
him, too, but though he was riddled
with bullets he lived, somehow, and
begged the German officer to let him
accompany his wife to the prison
where they were taking her. This was
granted too, but on the way, they
heard the sound of firing. The soldiers
yelled, "Die F%ranzosen |" and dropped
the mattress and al But 1t was only
some of their own butchers at work.
Doctor Laurent carried his wife and
baby to an old aqueduct that was being
rebuilt by the creek. There they lived
for three days and three nights, on the
few herbs and the water that Doctor
Laurent sneaked out and got ut night
Doctor Laurent says that when the
Germans killed and crucifed the civil
ians at Dixmude, they first robbed
them Of their watches, pocketbooks
rings and other things. There was q
Madame Tilmans there, who had had
three thousand francs stolen from her
and was misused besides.
These were just a very few of the
things that happened at just one place
where the Germans got to work with
their "kultur." So you can picture the
Belgians agreeing on a German pence
while there is a Belgian alive to argue
about 1t. They will remember the Ger
mans a long time, l think. But they
need not worry: there are. a lot Of III
who will not forget, either.