The sun., 1919-09-02
WITNESSES REPORT
SILESIA ATROCITIES
Tell Shocking Cases Of Ill.
treatment Of Poles by Ger
man Soldiers.
ALLIED BOARD AT WORK
Church Raid and Innocent
Men Beaten, Shot and Even
Dragged to Death.

ny CHRISTOPHER LUMBY.
Special Gable Despatch TO TEE sus from To
London Times Services.
Copyright, 1919, all riOhts reserved.
sosNowIcE, Upper siesia, Aug. 81
tdelayed) with the arrival of the En-
tente Commission in Upper silesia the
most poignant act of the tragedy Is
closed. Its presence Will have the effect
of moderatfng the policy OF hatred and
oppression which the Germans have pur-
sued toward the Poles hitherto and will
calm the Poles themselves This result
might have been achieved by the same
means two months ago.
The commission began its labors
Thursday at Glojwitz, where 1t listened
to statements of the German officials,
officers. mine owners, foremen and work.
men with regard to the causes and char
acter Of the strike and revolution. Pol
ish representatives were conspicuously
absent. This fact was commented upon
by the British representative, Lieut.-Col.
Tidbury, who is head of the commission.
Friday and Saturday the commission
pursued their investigation at various
mining centres which have been In In
surrection.
Whatever the aims and functions Of
inc commission may De IL Gun p6 IOIc-
seen they will be compelled to conduct
some such investigation into the German
methods before and after the strike as
was pleaded for in the Joint report
drawn up by myself and Cameron Nc
Kenzie. The convictions expressed In
that report have not been modified one
particle by further inquiry. Since writ
ing it have listened first hand to the
evidence of more than fifty witnesses of
murder and brutal maltreatment COM
mitted by the Germans Most of this
evidence was OF persons who had taken
refuge In Poland.
On Friday, in company with my col
league of the Morning Post, crossed
the German frontier with the object OF
confirming some half dozen of the worst
cases on the spot. OF sight cases thus
Investigated only one remained un-
proved, that of a man who was sup
posed to have had his throat blown out
by a hand grenade. In this case the
man in question. so far as could dis
cover. still is living.
Innocent Man Dragged by Horses.
Emile Kott Of Lepina stated that she
saw on August 10 man named Albert
Siska Of the same place arrested by
soldiers because he was supposed to
fed to this mans innocence. Siska' s
wrists were bound to the stirrups Of
two mounted soldiers. He was then
dragged between their horses at a gal
lop about one kilometer. The witness
did not know, first hand, what happened
to him subsequently,. but afterward she
saw his body at mortuary at Pirsniyi.
The arms were dragged out of their
sockets and the legs were broken and
.-,tNlx Tlxa HlI A,I axrA
bullet wounds
This morning I drove to the small
mining town of Lepine and asked the
first group of men l saw in the street
IL they knew a man called Siska.
You mean the man who was MUIR
dered by the Grouaschutt?" they said.
In a few minutes a crowd of a hundred
persons had gathered around and from
a dozen different mouths 1 had con-
frmed the story. John Mockor in par
ticular said he was attending the hos
pital where Siska was taken. Mockor
stated that as they approached PirzniE
the riders of the two horses spurred
their mounts apart in order to draw
Siska's arms out of their sockets One
stirrup leather, however, broke. and an
other soldier ran after Siska and struck
him on the head with a rife butt.
Mockor added the detail that Siska was
an old man.
then proceeded to the village OF
Rudo, where. according to the first hand
evidence of Marie Weyrwool. on August
IL Vincenz Janas, a Polish school
teacher, was visited at his house by
soldiers. According to Marie Weyr-
woods story. he was beaten with rife
butts while in bed, then driven down.
stairs and told: Run. Polish swine. -
AS he ran he was shot in the back.
He fell down, but was dragged up and
was told to run again.
This time he took refuge in the house
of Pintaro Schwartz There the soldiers
found him and dragged him downstairs
by the feet, and behind the house
There they beat him with rifle butts,
smashing an eye out, then they shot
him. and after he was dead kicked his
body.
Body Found Badly Mutflated.
At Ruda this story was confirmed by
several persons, and was taken 70 see
Janas's body, which still was lying In a
mortuary The body was mutilated in a
most terrible manner. the left eye beaten
out, the nose smashed fiat and the arms
and body showing great masses of black
bruises Part of the right ear was torn
OF and the body showed at least three
wounds of bullets or bayonets. My in
formants all agreed that the victim was
an innocent man, whose only fault in the
eyes Of the soldiers was that he was a
Pole.
then went to Hohenlinde, near Beu-
then, to investigate the case of a boy
named Richard Podara, who. according
TO the first hand testimony of Franz
Goliek. was shot and wounded by SOL
diers, August IS, as he was going home.
Podara dropped and lay in a heap, but
was Immediately fired at. Other per-
sons. attempting to help, also were fired
at. Podara subsequently died in hos
pital At Hohenlinde visited the Po-
6ara house and found his brother. He
showed me where his brother had been
hit while climbing a fence. Other wit
nesses gave evidence that the fire of the
soldiers prevented anybody from assist
ing him for an hour
At the same time corroborative evil
dence was given me by several persons
of the shooting of two men, Richard
Polka and Fritz Hasler, both of Hohen-
hnde. 1 already had heard of these
cases from an, eyewitness. Sylvester
WolnL Both men were on the Beuthen
road August Is. Soldiers suddenly