Evening journal., 1918-02-20

into the Offices OF the Dender Central
Bank, private company, aud searched
them from end TO end. Soon after, a
special squad entered the bank ana
blew open the safe in the managers
room. from which 2,iO0 francs were
taken. They then forced the wrought
iron door OF the bank cellar, which
contained the boxes deposited by pri-
vaie customers. But there was sec
ond door TO the cellar which resisted
their burgiarious efforts. 10 was only
the great solidty Of this structure
which preserved the private safes be-
low.
Meanwhile General Won Boehn was
posing for his photograph on the stairs
Of the Town Hall
"At about 3 p. m. some pioneers lof
the 9th Battali0n) set fire to the Duild-
ing-yards of Tcrmonde, and 10 four
sroups Of nve dwelling houses In the
centre OF the town. After this The Ger
man officers began 10 direct those in
habitants who still remained in the
place TO take their departure, as the
town was TO be completely destroyed.
About 3 p. m. the German commander
ordered all the criminals in the gaol, to
the number OF over 1875, TO be set at
liberty. They spread over the neighbor-
hood.
Next day Sept. 81 began the COM
plete destruction Of the town by ire,
under the direction Of a Major Won
Somnerfeld The hospital was not
spared: il was drenched with petro-
leum and set alight. The sick, wounded
and old people were carried out, but
one cpileptc man perished in the blaze.
The chapel of the Alms-house lBeguin-
age), building OF the late XVlth CEN
tury, was set on fire the same day
Meanwhile the German soldiery were
engaged all day in completing the work
OF pillage begun on the previous even
ing. The jewelers. shop belonging to
NJ. Van den Durnel-Goedetler and many
private mansions were thoroughly
sacked.
ION Sunday. Sept. G, the commandant'
Major Won Sommerfeld, ordered that the
destruction should proceed. AS at Lou
vain and Andenne, all the better quar-
! ters OF the town, where the soldiers
would fnd the most plunder, were set
on fire.
ut was only on Sept. 7 that the con-
fagration ceased, the pioneers-so a
German said-having to go off to des-
troy railways. Most Of the surviving
houses were found to bear the in
scription Ncht anzunden Not to be
burnD. This day a German sentry was
killed, in front OF Nertongen's factory,
by a Belgian soldier firing from the
dyke on the further side Of the Scheldt.
Major Won Forstner observed TO a nota
BILE Of Termonde: There are still the
factories round the town; II your sol
diers hit another OF our men, they
shalt be destroyed. as the town has
been
ION Sept. 4 the Germans had also
shelled for more than an hour the lit
tie village OF Appels, though no Belgian
/ force was posted there. A child was
killed by a fragment Of shrapnel- Some
minutes after the bombardment stopped
the Germans entered the place, and sci
fire TO the house OF Casimir Laureys
who had been wounded by a splinter
from a shell; the wretched man was
left TO perish in the flames. They
burned eight more houses, and sacked
most Of the others. They shut up the
parish priest and most Of the inhabi-
tants in the church for about an hour
and a half. and only allowed them to
depart after compelling them to shake
hands with their guards They burned
the house Of the rural policeman, be-
cause they found his military cap
there. They also destroyed the house
Of Adolphe Neldermann, where they
/ had found an old regimental tunic be
longing to his son. then soldier in
the Belgian Army. -Four neighhorlng
/ houses were burnt and all the rest Of
the village was plundered.
MANY inhabitants Of Lebbeke st.
GILES, and Termonde were arrested by
the German troops and sent OF TO
/ Germany. The parish priest Of Lebbeke,
/ his curate, the communal secretary, the
notary, and about $50 other people from
the aboVe-named places, were interned,
partly at the camp at Soiau, partly at
the camp at Munster During the whole
of their journey, and for the first part
Of their Imprisonment. they were treat
ed IN a most odious fashion. While on
the march three of them, exhausted by
hunger tried TO turn on from the road
they were at once put to death-two
were bayoneted, the third was thrown
down on the ground and dubbed.
twenty-five people Of Lehbeke and
60 0'"'e v-ore murdered by the Ger