Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-06-21
Brand WhitIock Tells of CoWardly
Act of Commander of Ger
man Detachment.
HUGH GIBSON ADDS EVIDENCE
Tells Of Priests Compelled to Walk Be-
fore "Huns" to Form Screen
Cardinal Mercier's Statement
as to Taking Of Hostages.

priests as screens to protect the in
raders from Belgian troops is Shown
By the following testimony gathered
bv the committee on public infor-
nation:
Minister Whitlock, in his report of
September IL, 1917, to the secretary of
states, gives an instance of the Ger
man practice OF seeking protection.
"The Germans attacked Hougaerde
on the 18th August the Belgian troops
were holding the Gette bridge in the
village. The Germans forced the par
ish priest OF Autgaerden TO walk in
front of them as shield. AS they
neared the barricade the Belgian sol
diers fred and the priest was killed.
After the retreat of the Belgians the
Germans shot four men, burned 90
houses, and looted 100"
Hugh Gibson, in "a Journal From
Our Legation in Belgium" page 155,
gives another incident:
''Two old priests have staggered In
to the - legation more dead than
alive after having been compelled to
walk ahead OF the German troops for
miles as a sort Of protecting screen.
One of them is i'll, and 1t is said that
he may die as q result of what he has
gone through"
Statement Of Cardinal Mercier.
AT the time of the invasion Bel
gian civilians, In 20 places, were made
to take part in operations of war
against their own country. At Ter
monde, Lebbeke, Dinant and elsewhere
in many places, peaceable citizens,
women and children were forced to
march in front of German regiments
or to make a screen before them.
"The system of hostages was carried
out with fierce cruelty. The procla-
nation of August 4th, quoted above,
declared, without circumlocution:
Hostages will be freely taken
"An official proclamation, posted at
Liege, in the early days of August, ran
thus: Every aggression committed
against the German troops by any per-
sons other than soldiers in uniform
not only exposes the guilty person to
be Immediately shot, but will also en-
tail the severest reprisals against all
the inhabitants, and especially against
those natives of Liege who have been
detained as hostages in the citadel or
Liege by the commandment of the Ger
man troops
"These hostages are Monsignor Rut-
ten, bishop of Liege; NJ. Kleyer, burgo-
master of Liege; the senators, repre-
sentatives, and the permanent deputy
and sheriff of Liege."
The above quotation Is taken from
"An Appeal to Truth" addressed NO
vember "a, 1915, by Cardinal MERCER
and the other bishops of Belgium to
the cardinals, archbishops, and bishops
of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
"Some ten or dozen American cor
respondents, of whom / was one, wit
messed the first German drive through
Belgium. Most of us were so appalled,
and Mortified by what we saw as to be
come antl-German for life." VIII lr
win In Saturday Evening Post, Octo
Der 6, 1917, page Al.
Robbery Under Guise Of Fines.
The contracting nations including
Germany, who signed the conventions
of the second peace conference ut The
Hague, 1907, pledged themselves to the
following:
article L. No general penalty, pc
cuniary or otherwise, shall be inflicted
upon the popumtion on account or tne
acts of individuals for which they can
not be regarded as jointly and several
ly responsible"
"Article LII. acquisitions In kinc
and services shall not be demanded
from municipalities or inhabitants eX
cept for the needs of the army of oc
cupatlon. They shall be in proportion
to the resources Of the country, and OF
such nature as not to involve the in
habitants In the obligation of taking
part in military operations agains
their own country"
The German authorities have violat
ed these articles from the very begin
ming. AS soon as they invaded Bel
GUM, heavy fines were laid upon indi
vidual communities as reprisals 10
some act against the German army o.
its regulations which was committed
within their boundaries. In IAN Ap
peal to Truth Cardinal MERCER cite
the following cases:
"Mallnes, II working-class town
without resources has had fine o
10000 marks inflicted on 1t becaus
the burgomaster did not inform tn
military authority of II journey whic
the cardinal, deprived of the use of hi
kmotorcar, had been obliged to max
= on foot. In fact, upon the flimsies
preteXts heavy fines are inflicted o
communes. The commune of Puer
was subjected to fine of 5000 mark
because n telegraph wire was broker
although the inquiry showed that
bad given way through wear"
Merciless Exactlons.
In addition to such arbitrary
sporadic pXactiOns, In December, 1911.