Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-10-31

The nurses certainly work hard.
They always have more to do than
they ought to. but they never complain.
and are always cheerful and ready to
play games when they have the time.
or read to some pollu. And their work
Is pretty dirty too: I would not like
to have to do II. They say there were
lots of French society ladies' working
a. nurses, but you never heard much
about society. or any talk about Lord
Helpus. or Count Whosis. or pink teas
or anything like that from these
nurses.
A few shells landed near our hos.
pital. while ! was there, but no patient
was hit. They knocked a shrine Of Our
Lady to splinters. though. and bowled
over a big crucifx. The kitchen was
near BY. and 1t was Just the chefs luck
that he had walked over to our ward
to see a pal Of his. when a shell landed
plumb In the center Of the kitchen.
and all you could see all over the bar.
racks was stew.
That was a regular eatless day for
US. until they rugged up bogies and got
some more dixies, and mixed up some
cornmeal for US. The chef made up
for It the next day, though. The chef
was a great little guy. He was q
"blesse" himself. and I guess his stom.
ach sympathized with ours.
There vas a Frenchman in the bed
next to MI who had the whole side of
his face torn of. he told me he had
been next to a bomber. who had Just
lit a fuse and did not think 1t was
burning fast enough, so he blew on It.
1t burned fast enough after that, and
there he was.
There was a Belgian in one Of the
other wards, whom l got to know pretty
well, and he would often come over
and visit me. He asked many ques.
tons about Dlxmude. for he had had
relatives there. though he had lost
track Of them. He often tried to de.
scribe the house they had lived in, so
that I might tell him whether 1t was
still standing or not, but / could not
remember the place he spoke of. Dur.
Ing our talks, he told me about many
atrocities. Some Of the things he told
me ! had heard before. and some OF
them I heard Of afterward. Here are
some things that he either saw OF
heard Of from victims:
He said that when the Germans en-.
tered the town Of st. Quentin, they
started firing into the windows Us they
passed along. First. after they had oc.
cupied the town, they %bayoneted every
.workingman they could find. Then
they took about half of the children
that they could find, and killed them
with their musket butts. After this
they marched the remainder of the chill
dren and the women to the square
where they had lined up a row of male
citizens against a wall. The womer
and children were told that IL they
moved, they would all be shot. An.
other file Of men was brought up, ant
made to kneel in front of the Other
men against the wall.
The women and children began tt
beg for the lives Of the men, and many
of them were knocked in the head witt
gun butts before they stopped.
Then the Germans fired at the double
rank Of men. After three volleys, Their.
were e%ighty-four dead and twenty
wounded. Most Of the wounded the,
then killed with axes. but somehow
three or four escaped by hiding under
the bodies Of others and playing dead
though the officers walked up ant
down firing their revolvers into til,
piles Of bodies.
The next day the Germans wen,
through the wine cellars. and shot al
the inhabitants they found hldln.
there. A lot Of people. who had takei
refuge In a factory owe night, decided
to come out with a white flag. The,
were allowed to think that the white
flag would be respected, but no soone,
were they I'LL out than they were selzet
and the women publicly violated In tn,
square, after which the men were shot
A paralytlc was shot rs he sat in hi.
armchair. and a boy Of fourteen wa
taken by the legs and pulled apart.
At one place, n man was tied by tn,
arms to the ceiling Of his room and sc
afire. His trunk was completely car
BOMBED, but his head and arms wer,
n%nburned. At the same. place, til,
body Of a flfteen.year.old boy wa!
found, pierced by more than twent,
bayonet thrusts. Other dead wer,
found with their hands still In the air
leaning up against walls.
At another place the German
shelled the town for a day, and the
entered and sacked 1t. The womcl
and children were turned loose, with
out being allowed to take anythin
with them, and forced to leave tn
town. Nearly five hundred ME wer
deported to Germany. Three, VIII,
were almost exhausted by hunger, trio,
| to escape. They were bayoneted nm,
dubbed to death. Twelve men, WI,
had taken refuge In q farm, were tic,
together and shot In a moss. Anothe
!. group Of six were tied together 90