Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-03-18
FREE SPEECH In GERMANY
DR.. LlebkneCht and Rosa Luxembourg
WefesMufdefed.
NEITHER Rad A SHOW FOR life

Story of Attempted Escape Was All
Lie-Leaders of the Sparacan Group
Were Simply Killed by Those in
Charge of the Government.
Literary Digest.
"Shot while attempting to escape ar
rest" said the official German report
of the death Of DR.. Karl Liebknecht.
"Clubbed to death without provocation
by German soldiers at the command of
German officers" says an English cor
respondent in Berlin, writing in the
London Daily Telegraph Of February
l. The correspondent, it appears, is
not anxious to spread the truth for any
motives that might be called "Radi-
CAL" but because the circumstances OF
the death Of Liebknecht and Of Rosa
Luxembourg have "a very grave bear
ing on the wider question Of the true
conditions in Germany, and the rela-
tive power of the old military regime,
and the present governments condi-
tion which may he very different from
that presented to the outside world
Both DR.. LiebkJ;echt and Rosa Lux
emburg, according to this authority,
were pounded to death with rifie-butts,
at the command Of German officers, in
a way that suggests the all-powerful
German militarism Of the first year Of
the war in Belgium. The report was
given out, it will be recalled, that
Rosa Luxembourg was taken from an
automobile by a mob and lynched.
There was no mob, according to the
Telegra ph's correspondent; there were
only typical German soldiers, under
the command Of typical German off,
GERS. Writing from Berlin, he tells the
story Of his discovery:
When in my message describing the
scene at Liebknecht's grave I tried to
give you a hint of, some deeper horror
which was accountable for the extreme
nervous tension among the mourners,
and which had very close connection
with the deaths of Liebknecht and
Rosa Luxembourg, I had only the thin
nest thread, hardly amounting to evil
dence, on which to found my suspicion
that behind the tragedies Of these two
deaths there was being deliberately
hidden a truth which must ultimately
come out, and would prove the facts
to be of such horrible character as
scarcely to be believable. But a short
hour ago I chanced on one who has
given me what in all solemnity he as
sures me is the story of what actually
took place. In themselves, as I have
said, the facts are deadful and revolt
ing, but apart from the matter Of the
fate Of the two victims Immediately
concerned, the whole awful story has q
very grave bearing on the wider ques-
ton of the true condition Of Germany
and the relative power Of the various
parties of the old military regime and
the present governments condition
which may be very different from the
picture presented to the outside world,
if one only knew what may possibly be
going on beneath the froth of general
elections.
MY informant claims to have been
an eyewitness of the incidents which
he describes. He was staying, he says,
at the Eden hotel, where the horrible
affair took place, and he returned
there on the night Of the tragedy at
1890 to find an armed sentry guard
ing the door. This sentry told him
that Liebknecht had been arrested and
that it was intended to beat him to
death. In the immediate neighborhood
of the hotel nobody was to be seen.
Thus the story circulated In the Official
report about the "infuriated crowds
was false, and the crowd existed only
in the imagination Of the military au-
thorities who spread the report. When
he entered the hotel he found group
of eight military officers and half a
dozen civilians. There was an air or
expectancy about them, and in about
fifteen minutes Rosa Luxembourg ap-
peared, accompanied by the Kriminal
Wachtmeister (chief Of the criminal
police). A few minutes later Lleb-
knecht came down stairs, after having
been questioned by the military. He
was guarded by armed soldiers.
Just when Liebknecht was passing
the narrator of this affair, an officer
of the Guards Cavalry suddenly sprang
toward him, shouting, rs that fellow
still alive?" The officer then joined
the military escort, which left the no
tel with both prisoners. In about fif-
teen minutes he returned and said that
Liebknecht had been beaten to death
with the butt-end of rifles. The blows
were struck from behind, and at the
second blow Liebknecht collapsed.
Again the story circulated about Lieb-
knecht's attempt to escape appears to
have been invented by the authorities
concerned and to be a downright lie.
According to a statement made by one
of the sentries, Liebknecht was delib-
erately murdered by the soldiers, who
were encouraged to this deed by their
officers.
Regarding the fate Of Rosa Luxem-
burg, the correspondent sends report
even more at variance with the official
German announcement He writes:
The next step taken was to compel
all civilians to leave the hall of the
hotel while the military and hotel en-
ployes were assembled alone. These
employees afterward declared, quite in
dependently Of each other, that Rosa
Luxembourg had also been beaten down
at the entrance to the hotel by soldiers
and officers. There was no sign OF an
enraged crowd. My informant states
that the official declaration OF the
Guards Cavalry Schutzen division was
one complete untruth from beginning
to end. A major who was present III
the hotel could easily have investigated
the affair, but caused a false statement
to be issued instead Of the truth. La
ter on the manager of the hotel was
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