Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-05-07
=

pierreuX fell to the ground, dead.
1t was about 2 o'clock. The priests
were loaded into great filthy carts,
used ordinarily for transporting
swine, or on transport wagons. There
were five groups of them. The pro-
cession started, and for six hours,
from two to eight, from Tervueren
to Hal, passing through the suburbs
of Brussels, the carts rumbled, the
priests, as one of them said, shown
like criminals to the population.
They were given nothing to eat, not
allowed even a drink of water. AS
they passed through Brussels they
were seen and recognized; and two
men, their faces blanched with hor-
ror, came to the Legation to report
it. Near Hal they were overtaken
by General Won LuttwItz's orders and
released.
The Shots Cease.
Back in Louvain, however, the
rage was abating. Friday, the 28th,
there was, if not calm, such a di-
minution of the storm that 1t
seemed, after all the horror, like
calm. 1t was then that Gibson and
Bulle, Mr.. Sven Pousette, the Swed-
ish charge d'affaires, and Blount,
drove out to Louvain in Blount's lit
tie car. They found evidences of
the fury of the destruction, houses
still blazing and soldiers pillaging
them. While they were standing in
the rue de la Station talking to a
German officer, shots were suddenly
fired, and the German officer led
them to the railway station, where
for half an hour they took refuge in
the freight depot. During all that
time they could hear firing outside.
The Germans claimed that they were
being fired upon by Belgian civilians
from the upper windows of houses in
the rue de la Station, but the Bel
gians of Louvain always insisted
that the firing from the upper win
dows was done by German soldiers
placed there for the purpose of i'm
pressing the diplomatic representa-
tives of neutral powers.
l do not know who it was that
fired German soldiers for three
days had been firing from the upper
windows of houses they were looting,
and they did it afterwards, If after
three days of such horrors, of such
murderous destruction, any Belgians
could have been found in the upper
stories of houses and were still
armed and firing, of that the Ger
mans have never produced any evil
dence, and they made no arrests, did
not even shoot any one, at that time,
on such a charge.
The town, indeed, was almost de-
serted, though the shooting and the
burning and the pillage continued
until August 30th, when Professor
Nerinckx, of the University of Lou
vain, entered into negotiations with
Major Won Manteuffel, organized a
temporary communal administration
and succeeded in re-establishing
some sort of authority. Orders
were issued to the troops by Major
Won Manteuffel to cease firing, and
order was restored; it was forbidden
to burn homes any more; placards
were posted on them, or on certain
of them, bearing these words:
"Dieses Haus list zu Schutzen.
Els list strong verboten, ohne
Genehmigung der Kommandan-
tur, Hauser Zu betreten oder in
Brand SUI setZen.
"Die Etappen-Kommandan-
tur"
(This house must be protected. 1t
is strictly forbidden to enter the
houses or to burn them without the
consent of the Kommandantur)
The number of citizens of Louvain
slain was two hundred and ten, of
both sexes and all ages, from infants
of three months to persons Of eighty
years.
Several thousand were taken pris-
oner; over six hundred, of which one
hundred were women and children,
were deported to Germany.
The Germans report that five Of
ficers. % men and 95 horses were
killed or wounded.
Two thousand houses were burned,
together with the buildings OF the
university, the library and its prec-
ious manuscripts, and the Church
of st. Peter.
The AerschOt Story
General Won LuttwitZ had heard
that the son of the burgomaster of
Louvain had killed German gen.
eral. But the burgomaster of Lou
vain had no son, and no German
general or other officer was killed
at Louvain.
The story of a general shot by the
.auuzqwuuvN a