The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-01-04
Secret of Belgium's Mystery
Paper at Last Revealed.
For Four Years Sheet Defied
Hun Suppression Effort.
IT KEPT BELGIAN SPIRIT UP
Victor JOurdain Was Editor of
the Mysterious Publication.
1t Was The Patriot, a Long
Established Catholic Weekly.
(By the United. Press.1


the coming OF liberty to Belgium, La
Libre Belgique has departed, and The
Patriot has reappeared. 1t is now pos
sible to tell that the most remarkable
of wartime. newspapers, La Libre
Belgique. which successfully defied
years, was The Patriot, a long-estab-
lished Catholic weekly in disguise
Victor Jourdain. aged editor of The
Patriot, likewise edited Nhe will-o-the-
ficials in constant state of irrita-
ton during their occupation of this
country and helped to keep the spirit
of the Began people steadfast.
Editor Now Dead.
He died a few weeks ago, just too
soon to see his city of Brussels lib
Grated.
The Patriot was suppressed by Ger
man order at the outset of the war.
few weeks later copies of a new
paper began to fall into the hands of
the German officials and army Off
GERS. 1t did not prove popular with
the latter. Gen Won Kissing, military
governor offered $4,000 francs reward
for the name of the editor and prong
ised one years imprisonment to any
Belgian found reading it. There were
arrests in great nu7s9Sr of versions
suspected of the editorship but no
convictions. 1t seemed that almost
everybody who could possibly have
been guilty was arrested at one time
or another-everybody except Jour-
dain. One man was he1d~by- the Ger
mans to have been proved sufficiently
guilty to warrant one-year sentence,
but Belgians in the secret say he was
innocent.
The baffled' German police were
kept busy running down false clues.
Given the tip that the printing plant
would be found at such-and-such a
street, they would rush thither only
I,
Told that man of a certain name
was the actual editor they would comb
Brussels for him. learning eventually
he was not in the city and never had
been
While the police hunted. Victor
Jourdain prepared copy. He pointed
out intentional errors in the German
official cOmmuniQue, he gave the Bel
gian people the latest news of the Bel
gian army and the allied armies, he
ridiculed and lampooned the German
officials. and generally kept alive the
peoples faith in a better day to come.
A few times obscure printing shops
in this city st up and printed the lit
tie 4-page paper For the most part,
however, the work was done in shops
elsewhere. Jourdain would appear by
night at the home of some small town
or city printer, always selecting one
for the moment free of German troops.
Next morning he would depart in his
automobile with the entire issue con-
cealed in the car. Distribution would
begin as far as possible from the place
where the printing was DONE
In spite of the difficulties of publ
cation La Libre Belgique nearly al
ways was neat and attractive typo
graphically. Sometimes. when the
services of complete printing plant
were obtaina BILE, the first page would
be bordered in~the national colors, red,
yellow and black. Editions. of course,
were not enthusiastically irregu-
lar was the papers own statement of
it's publication dates. but Jourdain
managed usually to issue one each
month.
His Announcements.
Part compensation for his troubles
was found by the editor in such an
nouncements as these:
Telegraph address,, Commandatur,
Brussels"
"Offices: Not being able to estab-
fish these in a fixed place, they are
installed in an automobile cellar"
Advertisements: Business being
nil ,lder the German domination. we
have suppressed the page of adver-
Using. and advise our readers to keep
their money for brighter days"
Price per. copy: Elastic, from
zero to the infinite. Please do not
exceed this limit"
A typical article from La Libre
Belgique. printed on the third anniver-
sary of the war. follows:
August 4. 1914, Dame Germany
started off to war. The plan is SIM
taken in weeks. Russia crushed be-
fore winter. England remaining
alone, too small a thing not to under
sand that nothing is left but to ne
gotiate.
WE made the house of cards
crumbIe! WEI After they decided to
take Calais, pass into England, etc.
there was the YserI Still US.
"zeppelins were to destroy London.
London suffered little, the reputation
of the Zeppelins suffered much. Mean
time they tried to finish Russia. by
military means first; the coup failed
by diplomatic means then; the Rus
sian people put stop to that. They
plotted in the Balkans, they bled
themselves white at Vefdur. All was
useless. And all this ii me the people
of Germany were suffering enor-
mously. The new chancellor began to
throw; the submarine! And even in
Germany itself they have dared to an
nounce that this weapon is Ineffective
Then it is the end? Yes. it
CT rtainly is the end
Since the coming of America into
the arena, the account of the Central
Powers has been definitely settled.
In little while they will have to beg
FOR mercy. No doubt another winter
Ill mean great hardship to US. But
seeing the importance of our goal we
wish, we BeIgians, to suffer still if
necessary in order that Right and JUS
tice shall triumph more completely.
more glorious1y.
What the Allies know: That we
do not ask that consideration eff our
sufferings should haste the end of the
war one single day."
Mclaughlin Gets New Paper.
Hiawatha. Kan, Jan. friday,
Ewing Herbert purchased the inter-