The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1918-04-05

tins Barracks, and later in the Place
de la Station. Meanwhile an in
cessant fusillade was kept up on the
windows of the houses. In their
efforts to escape the flames the in
habitants climbed the walls.
my mother and servants" says a
witness, had to do the same and
! took refuge at Monsieur AS, whose
cellars are vaulted and afforded q
better protection than mine. A lit
tie later we withdrew to Monsieur
AS stables, where about thirty peo-
pie who had got there by climbing
walls were to be found. Some OF
these poor wretches had to climb
twenty walls. A ring came at the
bell. We opened the door. Several
civilians flung themselves under the
porch. The Germans were firing up
on them from the street. Every
moment new fires were lighting up,
accompanied by explosions. In the
middle of the night l heard knock
at the outer door of the stable which
led into little street, and 1 heard
woman's voice crying for help. l
opened the door, and just as / was
going to let her in q rife shot fired
from the street by German soldier
rang out and tho woman fell dead at
my feet. About 9 in tho morning
things got quieter, and we took the
opportunity of venturing into the
street. A German who was carrying
silver pyx and a number of boxes
of cigars told us we were to go to
the station, where trains would be
waiting for us. When we got to the
Place de la Station we saw in the
square seven or eight dead bodies of
murdered civilians. Not a single
house in the place was standing. A
whole row of houses behind the sta
ton at Blauwput was burned. After
being driven hither and thither in
terminably by officers, who treated
us roughly and insultcd us thruout,
we were divided"
The prisoners were then distrib
uted between different bodies of
troops and marched in the direction
of Herent Seventy-seven inhabit-
ants of Louvain, including number
of people of good position (the
names of several are given), were
thus taken to Herent.
1--WE found the village-of Herent
in flames, so much so that we had to
quicken up to prevent ourselves from
being suffocated and burned up by
the flames in the middle of the road.
Half-burned corpses of civilians were
lying in front of the houses. During
halt soldiers stole cattle and
slaughtered them where they stood.
Firing started on our left. We were
told it was the civilians firing, and
that we were going to be shot. The
truth is that it was the Germans
themselves who were firing to
brighten us. There was not single
civilian in the neighborhood. Short
ly afterward we proceeded on our
march to Malincs. We were insulted
ficers were worse than the men. We
got to Campenhout about z p. M,
and were locked into the church
with all the male population of the
village. Some priests had Joined our
numbers. We had nothing to eat or
drink since the evening of the day
before. A few compassionate SOL
diers gave us water to drank, but no
official took the trouble to see that
we were fed"
Next Thursday, the 9th, safe
conduct to return to Louvain was
given, but the prisoners had hardly
started, when they were stopped and
taken before a Brigade General and
handed to another escore. Some were
grossly ill-treGted. They were ac-
cused of being soldiers out of uni
form, and were told they could not
go to Louvain, "as the town was
going to be RACED to tho ground"
Other prisoners were added, even
women and children, until there
were more than 200. They were
then taken toward Malines, released,
and told to go to that town together,
and that those who separated would
be fired on. Other witnesses cor
roborate the events described by the
witness.
A woman employed by an old gen.
tlcman living in the Rue de la Sta
tion tells the story of her masters
DEATH
1--WE had supper as usual about s,
but two German officers (who were
staying in the house), did not come
in To sumner that evening NV mas