The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-01-07
Murder, PiIlage and Arson Part
of Deliberate Scheme of
Warfare.
HIGH OFFICERS GO ON RECORD
No Possible Evasion of Responsibility
for Bestial Acts Which for Centu-
ries Have Had No Parallel
Officially Endorsed.

ufe oeyHHtHy " teuFU tbG UutU con-
corning the conduct of the mar by
Germany. Proof is offered that Ger
man officials deliberately lied IN
their statements concerning atroci-
ties committed By the Belgjans and
allies. That their oWn soldiers wcrc
disguised By the crueIties practiced
at the order of high officers Of the
kaiser is Sbown. Extracts taken
from pamphlets issued foUow:
The Yorwaerts of Berlin, October %,
1911. said:
I'VE have already been able to es-
tablish the falsCnCSs Of n great number |
of assertions which have been made |
with great precision and published |
everywhere in the press. concerning al |
legged crucltes committed, by the popu |
lations of the countries with which
Germany is at war upon German sol
diers and civilians. We are now in POI
sition to silence two others of these
fantastic stories.
"Thc war correspondent Of the Ber
liner Tageblatt spoke a few weeks
ago of cigars and cigarettes filed with
powder alleged to have been given out
or sold to our soldiers with diabolical
intent. lie even pretended that he had
| seen with his own eyes hundreds of
! this kind of cigarettes. We learn from
! an authentic source that this story of
| cigars and cigarettes is nothing but
| braZen invention. Stories of soldiers
! whose eyes are alleged to have been
| torn out by francs-tlreurs are circulat-
ed throughout Germany. Not a single
case of this kind has been officially es-
| tablished
at matters little that reports of this
! nature bear an appearance Of positive
| gertrude, or are even vOuched for by
| eye-WitncSSes. The desire for notori9ty.
the absence Of criticism, and personal
! error play an unfortunate part In the
days in which we are living. Every
nose shot off or simply bound up
every eye removed, Is Immediately
transformed into a nose or eye torn
away by the francs-tireurs. Already the
NolksZcituug of Cologne has been able.
contrary to the verr categorical aSSer-
tlons from Aix-la-Chapelle, to prove
that there was no soldier with his eyes
torn out in the field ambulance of this
town. 1t was said also. that people
wounded in this way were under treat
ment in the nei%hborhood If Berlin,
but whenever inquiries have been made
in regard to these reports. their abSo-
lutte falSity has been demonstrated. At
length these reports were concentrated
at Gross Lichterfelde A newspaper
published at noon and widely circu-
lated in Berlin printed Il few days age
In large type the news that at tbs
LaZaretto of Lichterfelde alone there
were ten German soldiers, only slight
ly wounded, whose eyes had been wick
edly torn out But to a request fol
information by Comrade Lebknechf
the following written reply was sen
by the chief medical officer of tn,
aforementioned field hospital, date,
the eighteenth of the month:
3 "'Sir: Happily there is no trutl
s whatever in these stories.
q Yours Obediently,
PROFESSOR RAUTENBERG,'
81 German Soldiers Protested
Il Thus tho teachings of the German
81 War Book and of the German apostle
q Of frightfulness, suspicion and hatred
81 had now begun to bear their natura
B fruit. But the voice of protest wa
n not entirely silent considerable
\ number of letters by German soldier
3 who were shocked by the Germa
q atrocities were sent to AmbasSado
n Gerard, because he was the represents
d tive Of the United States. the leadn
~ neutral nation. The three letter
& which follow, in translation. were r,
IA ceivcd by the American ambassadC
~ from German soldiers.
Nd Here is the protest of German so
n der, an eyewitness of the slaughter {
Russian soldiers in the MaSurian lake
81 and Swamps:
ID at was frightful heart-rending, s
H these masses of human beings wei
~ driven to destruction. Above the tc
~ riblc thunder of the cannon could |
~ heard the heart-rcnding cries of It
M RUSSIANS: % Prussiansi O PrusSians
IA but there was no mercy. Our CAPITA
al had ordered The whole lot must di,
8 So rand fire. As | have heard. fl
n men and one officer on our side we
a mad from these heart-rendfng erie
"a Rnt most Of my comrades and the OF
GERS ioked as the unarned and helple
n Russians shrieked for mercy viii
they were being suffoCated in Il
- sNampe and shot down. The ord
was: Close up and at it harder" F
DAYS afterwards those heart-reudi
J Wells followed me and dare not THU
| of them or | shall go mad. There is
n God. there is no morality and no ethi
II any more There are no human bein
| any more but only beasts. Down wi
\ m;litariSm.
I'll IF you are a truth-loving ms
MI please receive these lines from a co
Ll non PrusSian soldier"
IlE Following is the testimony of anotl
W Keen VOur tpmbar ! + If GOOD y