Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-02-22

of the bodies of Is old men whom the
Germans lined up and shot because
there were no young soldiers to kill;
heard the detailed sstory of a woman
whose- Red Cross son was first hung
to pear tree in the garden, and when
the officer and soldier had left him
and were busy setting fire to the next
house, she cut the rope, revived the
strangled youth, only to find the SOL
diers had returned, and while the Of
ficer held her hands behind her back,
his assistant poured petrol on the
sons head and clothes, set fire to him
and, while he staggered about, a fam
ing torch, they shrieked with laugh
ter. When they had burned all the
houses and retreated, the next morn
ing the project of Lorraine reached
that Gethsemane and photographed
the bodies of 30 aged men lying as
they fell, the bodies of women stripped
and at last slain.
Proof overwhelming. Here are, in
brief, the records of more than thou
sand individual atrocities that 60
with the original photographs, affi-
davits and documents resting in the
archives of France against the day of
reckoning. What is more important
still, here are the letters taken from
the bodies of dead German soldiers
with their diaries. Out Of the large
number, note these:
Dead girls with breasts cut off
and for this reason: Every German
soldier is examined for syphilis by the
surgeon of the regiment, and only
healthy ones receive the card giving
access to the camp women. If the
syphilitic German communicates the
camp woman, his disease is handed on
to his brother soldier, and that means
he will be shot. This syphilitic SOL
der, therefore, finds his only chance
with the captured French girls, but,
having contaminated a girl, he fears
that she in turn will contaminate the
next German soldier, and, therefore.
he mutilates her body to warn away
Germans. The girls life weighs moth
ing against German soldiers lust
or the possibility Of the brute's hand
ing his contamination to the next SOL
der
Here is German efficiency for YOU
and organized by the devil himself.
Take these pages found in the diaries
of German soldiers:
Diary of -Eitel Anders: I'm Ven
DIRE all the inhabitants, without ex-
ception, were brought out and shot.
This shooting was heartbreaking as
they all knelt and prayed. 1t is real
sport, yet it was really terrible to
watch"
"At Haecht I saw the dead body OF
young girl nailed to the outside door
Of cottage by her hands She was
about IA or 16 years old"
| Records Limitless.
These records could be multiplied by
thousands. Upon the retreat from
one city alone. inquests were held
upon the bodies of over six hundred
victims. including very aged men and
women and babes unborn, removed
by the bayonet from their mothers. 1t
is the logical result of the charge OF
the kaiser to his army: Give no
quarter and take no prisoners. Let
all who fall into your hands be at
your mercy" The general staff of the
German army published a manual sew
eral years before they began the
war. They explicitly charged their
soldiers to break the will of the enemy
by cruelty. Witness this page from
| the War Manual on page 81: "A war
| is conducted with energy merely
against the combatants of the enemy
states and the positions they occupy.