Their Crimes | Page 5

the fun began. Villages in flames, one after the other." Another
note-book simply states, "Sommepy--horrible carnage. The village
entirely burnt; the French thrown into the burning houses; civilians
with the rest." Another recalls theatrical memories. "The village is
ablaze; it reminds one of the conflagration of Walhalla in the 'Twilight
of the Gods.'"
Here is a poet speaking: "The soldiers set up the red cock (i.e., fire)
upon the houses, just as they like." This poet is moved, and speaks of
"pure vandalism" on the part of his companions in arms. And again, a
musician writes, "Throwing of incendiary grenades into the houses; a
military concert in the evening--'Nun danket alle Gott'! (Now thank we
all our God)." Finally, a Bavarian: "The village (Saint-Maurice,
Meurthe-et-Moselle) was surrounded, and the soldiers posted one yard
apart so that no one could escape. Then the Uhlans set fire to the place,
one house after the other. No man, woman, or child could possibly
escape. Only the cattle were removed in safety, because cattle have
some value. Anyone trying to escape was shot. Everything in the
village was destroyed." We shall see presently that they even went so
far as to burn ambulances.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] They destroyed by fire the Library at Louvain, with its 200,000
volumes and its incomparable treasures. By means of shells and fire
they have injured in one place, totally destroyed in another, wonders of
art that were an integral part of our human heritage; our Cathedrals at
Rheims, Arras, Ypres, &c.
[5] Belgium alone accounts for about 20,000.
[6] This fact is quoted in the admirable book by Captain A. de Gerlache,
entitled "Belgium and the Belgians during the War," published by the
firm of Berger-Levrault.

[7] See note at foot of page 31. (this is foot-note 11)

MURDER
Not having sufficient space for a complete catalogue, we shall here
simply mention the judicial murders of Miss Cavell, Eugene Jacquet,
Battisti, and others, in order to honour the memory of those noble
victims. For the same reason, as they are now well known to everyone,
we content ourselves with merely recalling the criminal torpedoing of
the Lusitania,[8] Ancona, Portugal, Amiral-Ganteaume.... all merchant
steamers, without any military character whatever, employed in
carrying passengers of every nationality, and the last-named crowded
with refugees.
We may pass over the crimes committed from a distance, so to speak,
on unfortified towns, with fieldpieces, long-range guns, aeroplanes, and
Zeppelins, merely noting that the Germans were the first to fire shells
into the centre of towns indiscriminately. If they made an exception, it
was to aim at the cathedral square, when people were leaving after
Mass, as at Nancy, or into the market-place at the time when women
are busiest, as they did at Lunéville.
We only mention here such outrages as were committed at close
quarters with hand-weapons, bayonets or rifles. The list is a long one.
Will the exact number of victims ever be known? In Belgium alone it
has been proved that up to now more than 5,000 civilians have been
assassinated: grown men, old people, women and children. They
slaughtered their victims sometimes one by one, sometimes in groups,
often in masses. They were not content only with killing. At one place
they organised round the massacre such tragic scenes, and at another
displayed such refinements of cruelty, that reason falters in face of their
acts, and asks what terrible madness has brought this race to such low
depths? Is it possible? Yes, it is. Judge by the following examples:--
At Forêt, the village schoolmaster was shot for refusing to trample
under foot the national flag, torn down from the front of the school.[9]

At Schaffen, A. Willem was tied to a tree and burnt alive, and two other
unfortunate men were buried alive. Madame Luykx and her little girl,
12 years old, were shot together in a cellar. J. Reynders and his young
nephew, 10 years of age, were both shot in the street. At Sompuis, an
old man named Jacquemin, aged 70, was bound to his bed by an officer
and left there without food for three days, dying soon after his release.
A Westphalian prisoner states, "The commanding officer ordered us to
shoot two women, and we did so. One of them was holding a child by
the hand, and in falling she dragged the child over with her. The officer
gave orders to shoot the child, because it could not be left alone in the
world." At Rouves, a Government clerk refused to tell a Bavarian
officer the numbers of the French regiments in the neighbourhood. The
officer killed him with two shots from his revolver. At Crézancy,
another officer shot with his own hand young Lesaint, 18 years old, "to
prevent his being a soldier later on."