Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-01-07
Continued from Last rssue)

mans when, by using the most
barbaroUs methods, they tried
! to compel them to work for them
| in Belgium itself, had already be-
come we'll known in Belgium. Later
these quarrymen had been sent to
| Germany, where they were put on 4
diet similar to that of the Soltau
| camp.
used to compel them to work. One
! day they were lined before ma
| chine gun aud told that if they did
not Immediately consent TO work
| they would be shot. They all re-
| piled that they would rather die
! from bullets than die from hunger.
| The machine gun did not fire. Be-
| fore such splendid resistance even
| German persistence grew weary
| some of the Workmen were released
and returned to their homes; they
| were in q lamentable condition, and
some of their heroic comrades died.
| 1t seems indeed to have been the
| custom generally in the slave COM
| pounds to menace the working men
| with machine guns. One returning
| group was composed of two or three
! hundred men of all ages, who came
| from the camp near Munster; the
| greater number had been able some
how TO endure and to survive the
sIfferings that they had been made
! to undergo.
To force them to work. their Ger
| man ldShiIdhSES llttu dIIIlOSI SI1IlIS-
| ly- deprived them of food, and had
| left them exposed for ten hours to
| cold and rain; then. thinking that
! they were sufficiently reduced. they
! ranged about thirty of them before
machine guns: the order to work
were shot. And they all refused.
The order was Given to fire. They
| did not finch and the Germans fired
| in the air: BEFORE such resolution
I i ,-
thopities present were not able, to
| conceal their emotions and that
| they announced to the men that they
were free and could return to Bel
| GUM.
Another group, less numerous, re-
| turned to the Hainault from the
| same camp; one eff them was found
| dead in the train on it's arrival at
| Mons; about fifty were so enfeebled
and exhausted that they could
| from the railway station to their
| homes supported by two or three
relatives. And yet all of the men
h1aaSd been been examined by German doc;
all those who were not physically
| fit We're rejected. In six weeks time
| these strong, healthy, vigorous
Workmen had been turned to skele-
tons.
One of the men was the son of
| manufacturer at Chin, who had been
the foreman of his fathers factory
| where thirty workmen were employ
| ed: After q heroic resistance of
| thirty-five days he was no longer
! able to endure the food, became i'll.
! surrendered, and agreed to work. He
was set to digging, in spite of the
TACT that he was not physically fit
ted for such work; and far from
being a chomeur, his factory at Chin
| in the meantime had never ceased
to operate.
After the protests made by the
President and the King Of Spain at
Berlin. certain influences were set
in motion in an effort to have the
slave drive in Belgium stopped. and
returning from visit to Berlin
undertaken as a result of these eff
| forts, Iancken brought back word
| that if Cardinal MERCER would ap-
would suspend the deportations and
order the return of the men. The
cardinal therefore prepared and sent
an appeal signed by all the person
Cardinals letter to Berlin and came
back with the reply. The emperor
had been graciously pleased to grant
the request, the deported men were
to be returnd to Belgium. but-the
inevitable, sinister but" in all Ger
man negotiations-thev must work
for the Germans in Belgium.
Cardinal Mrcier's Letter
But in a lenten pastoral letter
which he had written on agesima
Sunday and had read in all the
churches, the cardinal had spoken out
once more; he had publicly expressed
the horrors of the deportations.
Those who are fighting for the
liberty of the Belgian flag are brave
men. Those informed in Holland and
Germany, who raised their fettered
hands to heaven on behalf of their
country, are brave men. Our eXiled
cOmpatriotS, who bear in silence the
weight of their isolation also serve
their fatherland to the best Of their
ability, as do all those souls who,
either behind the cloister walls or
in the retirement Of their own homes,
pray, toll, and weep, awaiting the
return of their absent ones, and our
common deIiVerance.
1--WE have listened to the mighty
voices of wives and mothers; through
their tears they have prayed God to
sustain their courage and fidelity
to the honor of their husbands end
sons, carried off by force to the enc
mys factories. These gallant men
have been heard at the hour of de-
parture, rallying their energy to in
still courage into their comrades, Or
by q supreme effort to chant the
national hymn; we have seen some
of them on their return, pale, bag
gard human wrecks; as out fearful
eyes sought their dim eyes we bowed
reverently before them for all I'M
consciously they were revealing to
US new and unexpected aspect OF
national heroism.
"After this. can it be necessary TO
preach courage to you"
AS a result of the cardinals words
the Germans were once more in a
rage and threatened to rescind the
promise that the deportations would
themselves at last, however, with
arresting the secretary of the cardi-
nal and some of the priests who read
the pastoral, and on March IA the
| following announcement was made,
and appeared in the journals in Bel
Berlin, March IA, 1917.
Certain prominent Belgians be-
longing to various groups have re-
GENTLY addressed a petition to his
majesty the emperor, begging him
to put an end to the forced deporta-
ton of Belgian workmen into Ger
| many, and to have those Belgians
who have been sent there returned
"Those who signed that petition
directly addressed to his majesty
have just been informed that the
emperor has decided to submit the
to the careful consideration of the
governor general and Of competent
authorities, himself reserving Z
final decision until after that cXami-
nation.
I'm the meantime. his majesty has
given an order to have returned inn
mediateIy to Belgium, if this has not
already been done, those Belgians
sent to Germany by mistake, and to
suspend until further notice the
forced deportation to Germany OF
unemployed Beligians."
The condition that they must work
on their return, which at first was
so deeply resented. proved to have
:
Ugh! CaIoneI Sick