The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-02-08
THE AWFUL GERMANS
CANADIAN SOLDIERS STORY OF
BLlNDING CHILDREN, RAW.
IsHING WOMEN AND
MANNING MEN.

Toronto, Can.-The things that
stand out most prominently as the
one outstanding feature OF my exper-
fence at the front, are the instances
OF German 'kultur' that 1t was my
fortune to actually see. My own per-
sonal discomforts and dangers fade
into insignificance in comparison.
My recollections of France and
Belgium will always be of a vast des-
olate plain, ruined farm houses and
and story; but a France composed OF
crooked cobble stoned roads. rain
and mud. principally mud, and long
nightmare marches In the dark and
rain; the ever present sound of the
big guns in the distance. i~nterspersed
by the crash and rattle of small arms
and machine guns.
My first introduction to 'kultur"
was on Salisbury Plains. A farmer
living about a mile from our camp
had adopted two little Belgian chill
dren, a boy and a girl. The boys
right hand had been Topped off at
the wrist and the little girl whose
pretty brown eyes would w look
upon Gods fair world again, had had
her eyes scared out by a red hot iron,
an ugly wound extended from tenn
pie to temple. the eyelids being so
scared and shriveled that 1t was i'm
possible for her to close them COM
pletely. Can you picture 1t, you who
sit here at home, can you picture n
Of your little ones. scarce 8 years old,
being mutilated In this manner?
| What harm had these babes done to
the Hun that such a terrible revenge
should be taken?
Ask the devils in field grey; I
don't know.
The next instance was in Flanders.
We, that is, the detachment that /
was in charge of, detrained at a rail-
head, the Belgian village OF Steen-
warke. After breakfast we proceed
ed to brigade headquarters some IL
kilometers northwest of Ypres. There
was told that I and my draft were
to be attached to the 18th battalion
Royal Highlanders Of Canada (the
Canadian Black Watch) and that 1
would find their headquarters In a
farmhouse between Wietje and Ypres.
When we arrived there, all We found
was a broken typewriter, SO 1t was up
to me to find the battalion. While
searching for my unit we ran into a
billet of the Manchester regiment
and my next case OF "kultur." A
sergeant standing outside the barn
asked If I and men would like a
drink OF tea; of course, We did not
refuse. While eating our lunch my
attention was attracted by a civilian,
a Belgian, who was walking up and
down in the orchard. He had a reg
ular path or sentry's beat worn in the
grass. At the end OF his beat he
would stop and look off In the dis
lance, then he would hold up his
right arm from the elbow, look at
1t, and shaking his head resume his
beat. Only thus did I notice that his
hand was off at the wrist. And this
is the story told me by the sergeant
OF the Manchesters:
HE was a blacksmith and that
was mis- forge and cottage over there"
said the sergeant. pointing to a pile
of bricks and mortar about a mile or
so nearer the firing line. When the
Boches came through here they fore
ed him to shoe the horses Of a troop
of Uhlans. When he had finished
they drew his hand over his anvil
and hacked Ii off with a sword. In
the meantime his wife and baby were
standing near and the baby was cry
ing. A non-commissioned officer
tore the child from it's mothers arms
and tossed it into the ranks, where
II was caught on a lance and thrown
from point to point like a lacrosse
ball. The mother fought for her
babe until she tainted and while In
that condition was assaulted by those
brutes and left lying there. Shortly
she regained consciousness, bound up
her husbands wounds, found the
body of her child and made way. fin
ally, through the lines to this farm.
The Borderers were here then and
they took care of them. The woman
was sent down the line to some nun
merry. but every time we try to send
the man away he becomes violent, so
the medical officer advises that he
be left alone. We have to bring him
in to eat or sleep, but just as soon
as 1t Is light enough to see he is back
on his beat again."
This case you will find in the re-
port of the commission that investi-
gated the German atrocities in Bel
GUM. What became of him I never
found out. I left him still doing his
melancholy sentry with the look OF a
big. tired, hurt child In his eyes.
In my next letter I will tell you Of
my experience In the first gas attack
and what l saw az I went back into