Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1918-06-21
GERMAN ATROCITIES
A Wounded Eyewitness Relates What
He Saw,


We do not like repeating German
atrocities, but just now-Friday, June
2Sth--we are asked by our govern
ment to buy War Savings Stamps,
and lest we should be lukewarm or
Indifferent about this, we print this
story from a soldier who fell a VIC
tim to German "lxultur'::
He'll has adopted German as the
official tongue.
This unusual and significant state
ment was made by Private w. r. Col
hnge, who spoke at the Red Cross
rally at Liberty hall, Ell Paso, last
week
Some of the things the veteran Of
Canada's Fighting Seventh" said
about the Germans follows:
"'The call came to the boys in Can
ada early in August, 1914, and did
not fall on deaf ears. We did not
exactly know what the war was about
but we did know that our country
was in trouble, and that was enough
to Jam the recruiting stations to suf
location within few days. Soon We
started overseas and after a shori
training, landed in France and Bel
gium.
Handles Babies
"In our march toward the battle
land we got an idea of the manner OF
beast we were to fight. Picture, il
you can, what was once a pretty
country, fertile, prosperous and
happy. Now it lay waste, shell-tOrn,
poisoned, stripped as though the
blight of all He'll had been launched
upon it. Picture the road we were
marching on, lined with women, stu
pefied by the greatness of the desola-
tion-widows, made so by mad mon
arch--and, raising up their handless
arms, were babes.
"Let me tell you, it was the sight
of these wee tots, waving a blessing
with their stumps, that first set oul
blood to the boiling point. We knew
not, nor cared little, what the politica
significance of the war-we knew The
beast was fighting babies, and it was
up to US to defend them.
Assault Women
"But, miles brought us new horrors
Countless, almost, are the atrocities
we found had been practiced or
women. In one convent the Germans
had staked down seven of the nuns
and violated them in unspeakable
fashion, completing their dastardly
work by surrounding the bodies with
the sacred candles from the altars
We found these women, surrounded
by the burned-out funeral candles, and
then our rage knew no bounds.
at was but a few hours ere we
had captured the men responsible for
the terrible outrage, and let me tell
YOU frankly, we did not hold them
prisoners of war, nor did we release
them, but sent them (slowly, and with
ceremony to help swell the popula'
tion of Hell, which has lately adopted
German as the official tongue.
Monuments to German Kultur
"In a Belgian hospital, / saw 3
couple of thousand, French and Bel.
gian girls, shattered, half-crazed, in
fected-awaiting the coming of babes
forced upon them. | saw women, dis
eased beyond repetition, their breasts
slashed, their minds tottering, mOnu
men;s to German kultur.
Thousands of boys we passed IL
our march, marred, ruined by the en-
emy in the campaign of frightfulness
This was the warfare of 1914, and
am confident that no annals of bar
DdTlSnl, ere CiNlilAdblOu NohiN3 Noi
show a counterpart.
Tear Families Apart
"In Belgium, l have read some o
the proclamations which for all tim
separated families-rent apart hus
bands and wives, brothers and sisters
sweethearts. / remember one, whicI
ordered that all the males of littl
Belgian city should depart on trail
at Z o'clock of a certain date. Al
hour later the females of the cit.
should depart. Death was the pen
atty for attempt to evade the order
Here, with the scratch of pen, Ger
many had, forever perhaps, torn apar
mothers from their babes, aged par
ents from their children. Picture tina
condition in FL Paso-what would
mean to you?
"Then came the battlehelds, wher
we had an opportunity to pay bac
in lead the ones responsible for tn
horrors we had witnessed. / wi