Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-10-21
GERMANS CONSCRLPT
5000 GIRLS OF LILLE
Terror Held Hearts OF Inhabitants -Four Yems-Man,
Tales of Horror Revealed to Deliuerers-Russan
Prisoners Treated Like Dogs
BY PHILIP GIBBS

",o'"cis "dlheu Wild tnem as tar as
allowed. weeping and crying, and the
boys and men tried In vain to hide
their own tears. and 1t was breaking
of hearts
Robbed Lille OF Machinery
More than two years age German
commission visited Lille and all the
machinery was removed from the great
textile factories which made the wealth
OF the city. with that of Roubaix and
Tourcoing millions of pounds worth
of machinery was taken, and what could
not be taken was smashed. II was a
dclibei ate plan to kill the industry Of
northern France. 4 thousand times to-
day ! have heard these words:
Monsieur. they are robbers. They
stole everything we had worth anything
TO them. our brass, our metal of all
kinds. our linen clocks. draperies. They
even took the bells out of our churches,
and that Is why there are no bells
ringing today because of our deliver
ance."
Among the worst cruelties done by
The Germans was their treatment of
the British prisoners. From Mr.. Moore.
the clergyman, and from the Amer
lean doctor. and from other witnesses
heard dreadful things of the prls-
oners' sufferings. Most of them were
kept in the citadel at Monsenbarceu,
outside the city, and from that place
were drafted TO dig trenches. There
were about 500 of them there at "A
time. and II was said by Mr. Moore
TO be Black Hole of calcutta. They
were always half starved so that they
were almost toe weak To walk
Il looked into young faces" said the
clergyman. and thought. I shall be
called TO bury you In "A day or tive. "
French women smugglsd bread to
them at great risk of imprisonment and
sometimes old German Landsturm whom
they met turned their heads away and
encouraged this in disobedience to or
ders. The sick and wounded were tend
ed by Sisters of Charity and French
ladies' who waited on them and saw
frightful things without ninching.
Because of their courage the treat.
mcnt of British officers was much bet
ter than that of the men. and cspc.
cially when they we're dead did the
ercmy take the trouble to give them
military honors. But for the living
men who were private soldiers this
Imprisonment was torture,
One does not wish at this stage OF
the war to stir up passion and desir,
Tor revenge God knows there is nc
need of that, but these things must bs
written in history. and | write then
now. knowing their truth. In this cit,
OF Lille have heard n thousand things
of tragedy, even in one days visit.
When the Emperor Came
In the hearts of the people there ar,
thousands of other memories, one
scene that was described TO me had the
German Emperor as it's central charac.
ter. He came TO Lille in April last
when the German offensive i'm Flanders
was in full force and they had takef
KENNEL
from in the morning until 2:15 II
the afternoon soldiers were drawn III
III the streets, awaiting the man who
symbolized the might of German arm,
and is now bearing the burden Of all II.
crimes. When he passed at last on hi.
way to KENNEL there was only one com
pany of German soldiers who cheeret
| him with mechanical "Hoch Hoch =
| All others maintained dead silence, anC
| the Kaiser passed down their lines will
| gloomy looks on his way to KENNEL Hill
| Those were the worst days for the peo
pie of Lille. and during the last often
sive in Flanders, when the British los
| Armentieres and KENNEL and the Brit
ish army was but "a thin line, holding
| back the tide
I'VE gave ourselves up for lost
some of the people told me. 1T seem
ed that all our faith and all our pa
| thence had been in vain. We cried ou
to God in despair. but that lasted onl,
| IA little while. We stceled ourselve
again and said: France and Englan,
| cannot be beaten. We must win in tn
end And your men helped U.S. Your pris
oners were brought through our streets
muddy. exhausted. and covered wit
blood. some Of them. but they held thei
heads high. so proudly. OH so proudly
and some of them said as they passed
It's all right, we shall have them yet
we shall come back on them Then W
said: If the boys speak like that, aft G
all they have suffered, we must not los
heart : and we were comforted."
Treated Russians Like Dogs
Worse even than the treatment q
British prisoners was that of the Rus
| slams "Oh, they We're treated lik
dogs" said one girl, and many othe
people told me So
Two hundred and forty British so
diers lie buried in Lille. but 1000 Ger
mans lie buried there, too.
once when / was burying three c
our men," said Mr.. Moore, IA Germa
pastor was burying seventy-six of HI
own soldiers. The number of the
dead appalled, them, and as year b
year their losses piled up and still theI
was no end and no victory. even 4,
braggarts were silenced. and gloom too
possession of them all, The most arrt
giant changed their tone. and in thes
last days II was easy to see defeat wri
ten on the German faces, and many
the men made no secret of it,"
The American doctor was friend
with a young German who had an Eni
lish mother and was a nice fellow. al
it was he who brought tidings of strant
things about to happen.
II was past midnight on Septemb'
80 that the doctor heard a ringing
, his door bell He went down. frighter
ed, as some sudden summons like th
was always frightening. and opened Il
, door and saw his friend.
What are you doing at this hour
he asked. The young German was whi
and haggard.
r II must tell you strange secret
ne said in whisper. II promis,
to let you know when to leave, In ca
Lille were abandoned by us and the
was risk of bombardment. That tin
has come. Tonight $4,000 men a
, leaving Lille and is "A little while
will be evacuated"