Newspapers / The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / Sept. 25, 1914, edition 1 / Page 4
Part of The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
A SI The Chicago Tribune prints a long copyrighted dispatch from James ODonnell Bennett, staff correspondeut, dated at Alx-la-Chapelle, Germany, which in specific detail disputes and ImIm tha charees of cruelties and atrocities lodged against the Germans , la Ifelglum. Mr. Bennett, In company with John T. McCutcheon of the Chlca CP Tribune, Irvln S. Cobb of the Sat aorday Evening Post, Roger Lewis ol Ote Associated Press and Harry Han son of the Chicago Dally News, trav eled 100 miles through 20 towns and Stair observations lead him to the firm conviction that the reports ot bar ferities alleged to have been perpe trated by German troops are false hoods. The following dispatch to the Asso ciated Press, evidently forwarded by Boger Lewis, Is in substantial agree aeot with Mr. Bennett's story in the Ctiicago Tribune: By the Associated Press. New York. An Associated Press taff correspondent of. American birth mad antecedents, who was sent from (lb Mew York office and was caught fta Brussels at the time of the Ger- invaslon, held as a prisoner for reral days, and who Anally escaped a Holland, has sent by mall the fol lowing story of his experiences: "The night before the Germans en tered Brussels, when the Belgian civil smarts and refugees began pouring fkiia the cltv from the direction of Iwvaln, they brought stories of un speakable German atrocities, maltreat ment of old men and children, and the violation of women. "The Belgian capital reeled with ap- jsehension. Within an hour the gay the vivacity, and brilliancy of the sr went out like a broken arc light. Th radiance of the cafes was ex- fcanced for darkness; whispering troops of residents broke up hurried Ar and locked themselves into this femes, where they put up the shut tan and drew in their tri-colored Bel titan flags. Fears of Brussels Quieted. -The historic Belgian city went rtlrough a state of morbid consterna tion, remarkably like that from which IX suffered on June 18, 1815, when it trembled with the fear of a French vlc- fccrry at Waterloo. "In less than 24 hours the Belgian -eftizens were chatting comfortably with the German Invaders and the a! 2eatlons of German brutality and de zexoniacal torture dissolved into one of tbe myths which have accompanied all -Xeither in Brussels nor In Its en wtrons was a single offensive act, so tar as I know, committed by a German snMier. In a city of over half a mil lion people, invaded by a hostile army rat perhaps a quarter of a million sol , dfers. no act sufficiently flagrant to demand punishment or to awaken pro- v test came to my attention. ? None Knows of Outrages. ""The frightful reports that had pre ceded the German army into Brussels ftsckided the disemboweling of old mea . and the impaling of children on lances jsat outside Louvaln. Investigation :ot only failed to substantiate these iswmors, but could not even discover stay one in the immediate vicinity who credited them. -An eve witness of unimpeachable Tvaraclty told me that the worst be havior he had observed during the first German entry into Louvaln (August IS) was that of a German soldier who uied from his horse ana mssea gaetty Flemish girl who brought him a. class of beer. "l marched for days with the Ger- wan columns, often only one day be- ttfmd the fiehting, with the houses that Usui been burned still smoldering, the nnnd freshly broken by sneii ttrampled by horses and men, and the tsamory of the German advance vivid t the minds of the inhamtants. No Proofs of Murder. 1 interviewed an average of twenty ncTEona in each of a dozen towns gonad only one Instance of a noncom totant who had been killed : without a justifiable provocation. In thta case fee evidence did not clearly prove that the man had been wantonly muraerea, He lived in one of the typical small Belgian countryside houses which com t4ne the comforts of home with the knot a email nubile bar. This house was at the north of Merbes-le-Cbateau, 1 a. town through which a large part of he German army passed on the road so Maubeoge. "A son of the murdered man, whose same was Arthur Nicodem, showed me stood clots on the floor marking the place where Nicodem fell, his throat cut by a saw-edged German saoer, Enallsh Fired From House. "It was said by some inhabitants that the murdered man showed a pair '' mt binoculars; but a more probable xDlanation is that English outposts had concealed themselves in the house, , .Wen Ow poured ma ot Jr. KAISER ADDRESSES , TROOPS AT VIRT0N Rotterdam. The Cologne Gazette rr ports that the German emperor de Kvwed a speech to his troops after the battle of Vlrton, near Longwy, -when he visited his son, Prmee Oscar, wbo is commandant of the ; grena C arm. TSe V'.ir sppeared in the evening .-,!,. ' j 1 1 fve automobCes, He s , , f, t tVi wa!'ii alof upon the first German Invaders. The Inference that the shooting was done by Belgian civilians may have in flamed the Germans to reprisals. "In that neighborhood four houses had been burned and one was still ablaze as I passed on Wednesday, Aug. 28. This town of Merbes-le-Chateau, which had been the scene ot an unim portant skirmish between the Ger mans and English on the previous Sunday, was riddled with rifle shots. The small number of windows Intact showed that the Germans had made a deliberate assault upon the residents of the town. But the inhabitants themselves admitted that all of tne shooting had been done by a com paratively small number of Germans, and that the firing had not been be gun until English soldiers who had concealed themselves in the nouses had fired first upon the Germans. News of Incident Goes Far. I have emphasized the one fatality the noncombatant because the news of It traveled up and down the Sambre and across to Hantes-Wiberle and Solre-sur-Sambre, multiplying as it went and developing ghastly and in human details until it seemed an un answerable reproach to the whole German empire. "With this one possible exception, l did not encounter in Nivelies, in Binche Bulsslere.' or Solre-sur-Sam- hra nr nnv nf the other tOWnS I visited, a single incident of mistreat ment or any sort by German officers or soldiers "Rrulaaiere narticularly the lower Dart of the city had been virtually destroyed by a cross fire from French and German artillery. Tops of brew eries bad been hurled bodily to the zround. and walls had either disap peared or become grotesquely dis lodged. Burgomaster Denies Reports. "Into this town 130 French killed and more than a hundred wounaea were brought in a single day. Au eust Blalriaux, burgomaster, said that he knew of no cases of German cruel ties, except distant rumors which he had learned to discredit. It ought to be said to the credit of the Belgians that they have not allowed their bit terness toward the Germans to carry them into unfair recrimination Robert J. Thompson, American consul at Aachen, visited Liege during and after the capture of the forts. It Is the opinion of Mr. Thompson that no outrage was committed by Ger mans during the several days' fighting there. There' are, of course, reported out rages beyond investigation, either on account of their vagueness or because it is impossible to weigh the provoca tion. It is known, for instance, that 112 natives were killed In Renouchamp, not far from Ardennes; German sol dlers say that they were killed be cause they fired upon them from the roofs and windows of the houses. Differ on Louvaln Incident. "The history of the absolute de struction of the historic city of Lou valn with its cathedral and its univer sity is bv this time well known. The German version of this is that the in habitants, under the direction of the burgomaster, established themselves in the church, where they also in stalled a machine gun. They proceed ed to greet the Germans with a deadly fire. The Belgians say, on the other hand, that part of the German army, mistaking one of their own retiring ai vislons for the enemy, opened fire upon them, whereupon, deluded into thinking this an assault by Belgian civilians, the Germans razed the city. I have not been able to acquire any direct evidence in regard to these last two instances, but the explanation gen erally credited by disinterested per sons Is that the Belgians, who had laid down their arms, according to the bur gomaster's proclamation on the en trance of the enemy, took them up aeain when it looked as if the Ger mans were retreating from the town, and opened fire from their windows upon a retiring German train. Jarotzsky Tells Outrage. "The most authoritative German de nial of German offense comes from Mai. Gen. Thaddeus von Jarotzsky, military governor of Brussels, ;who in formed me that In numerous cases he had been received with a pretense of friendliness by Belgian civilians, who later fired upon the German soldiers from windows and from between the roof tiles. This was done, he said, after a declaration of surrender by the bureomaster and a proclamation warn ing the citizens against any show of resistance. "In such violations of the rules of war, the general said, he, punished the offender 'by burning the houses from which the shots were fired. I can only say tnat in every case 01 ..ported otrw. or roprl.J wWch the lines greeting the men, who were quartered in the village. ; Stanaing in the middle of the square, the kaiser saidt -; oy.-iVs'" v "I greet you as your chief. I thank you. I have often seen your regiment on parade and now it gives me par ticularleasure to greet you on con quered land.' - - iv ' . " - ' "Your regiment fought as I expected and as your fathers fought in 1871. The battle of Vlrton will be eternallr lnsoribod la letters of gold In the his tory of tfe war. T, - THE NEWS-RECORD. MARSHALL, NORTH CAROLINA was susceptible of investigation I have found either that the outrage was figment ot the Belgian mind or that It was more than halt excused by cIp cumstances. i "The prevalence of the Belgian prac tice of sniping from the houses was nerhaDS indicated by the warning or the German ofllcer who acted as guard for Ave American- correspondents, in cluding myself, who were being taken as prisoners from Beaumont to Aachen in an army train. We were advised to He down on the floor of the car as the Belgian snipers would shoot at us from the houses. But there was no firing. "This, of course, is not a brief for the German army; it Is an account oi German conduct as it appeared to an impartial observer who had the rather extraordinary opportunity of traveling for days with the German columns, over a distance of more than a hun dred miles through a dozen Important cities and towns. Sometimes I was near enough to the front to see the white artwery smoke spurt into clouds along the horizon and hear the double detona tions which came from artillery at short range. At other times I trailed behind through the desolate waste which a victorious army leaves Be hind it. Pay All and Tip Well. . On the contrary, I witnessed nu merous cases of the moBt careful cour tesy on the part of German soldiers. In Brussels they not only paia tneir cafe bills, but tipped generously. Along the road, when a German officer or soldier entered a Belgian bouse for food or shelter, it was not with a de mand but a request. In spite of the confusion and errors which arose from a strange tongue there was almost no friction of any sort. "The German soldiers were punctil iously considerate and polite to wom en and children, apologizing for the discomfort they were causing. Upon leaving a house where they have been given shelter, I have seen them shake hands with the concierge, peasant woman, or In some cases with the gentlewoman of a Belgian villa, as pleasantly as if they were bidding adieu to their hostess at a week-end house party. So many Instances of tnis ton are at hand that a recital of them wouia be tedious. ' Naturally inclined to be grun witn their soldiers, the German officers al ways gave the French prisoners a pleasant word, and treated them with every consideration. Not a single ex ception to this civility towara prison ers has come to my attention. 'A French lieutenant and two Eng lish officers traveled with us in the prison train from Beaumont to Aachen, a halting Journey which took over thirty-six hours. The train was crowded with German wounded and French and English prisoners,' ana there was nothing to eat or drink, except a few fragments of rye bread, hard as a atone, and a little liquid compound of chicory, which in Bel glum masquerades under the name of coffee. Since there was not enough even of this disheartening fare to go around, German officers went without food so that the prisoners migm db ieu. Aid Owners of Cafe. In a little cafe in Beaumont, con- cierge and madame naa nea ueioro the approach of the soldiers and aban doned their business. Two omcera found them in hiding, brought them back, and in a day they had taken In more money than in any previous week in their career. : "These incidents could be Indefinite ly prolonged, but they, would only oi fer additional support to a point that think I have already established the universal Kinanness oi uermau soldiers as I have observed them. . , ; I have seen perhaps half a aozen m m , nknn.trln tr cases oi arunneuuBBo m nearly 1,000,000 soldiers, and these few were only good-naturediy maua lin. In Beaumont while I was detained for 24 hours in the small cafe pre viously, mentioned, with an armed guard at the door, althougn specincai ly told that I was not an ordinary prisoner, a swaggering petty officer of .dT; ZIZTZ lunged toward me . anu of his sword, insisting that I run my hand across it Warned to Avoid Drinking. "German ' discipline and German training seem , to have put into the German soldier an exemplary behavior which is nothing less than remarkable. Before I fell asleep on the floor of the Beaumont cafe, with two German sol diers guns slanting almost over me, I heard the petty officer who was In charge of us, giving instructions to the guards, which Included the state ment that any one of us who stirred outside the door should be shot Then he counseled them, almost in a father ly way to drink only moderately, stat lng that If they became drunk he would recommend a sentence' of 15 years in the penitentiary. "If the conduct 6f the German sol dier errs at all it is on the side of a too complete subordination; It is im possible for any one who has seen much ot the German system to be lieve in the tales of deliberate depre dations and unsoldierly conduct." , K ."Our comrades in the eastern army also fought gallantly, also the army of the crown prince. The fourth army, under the duke of Wurtemberg, ad vanced victoriously. Our enemies are withdrawing in flight- "The eastern army has driven three Russian corps over the frontier. Two Russian corpB capitulated on the open field. Sixty thousand men and two generals were taken prisoners. -. "For all these victories we have t thank but one that Is our God,, wha Is ever ovef us." IPRESS MEN ANXIOUS Foreign Correspondents in Wash v ': ' ington Worried. ' Being Able, Scholarly and Well Liked, Their American Colleagues Re frain From Hurting Their v Sensibilities. By EDWARD B. CLARK. Washington. Perhaps the most anxious men in Washington today are the correspondents of foreign news papers sent, here by their editors to report the doings in this capital of a first-class power. There are not many of these men, but each has his heart engaged, naturally, with the cause of the country across the water of which he is a native. Their anxieties are Increased by the difficulties which they have in communicating to tbelr Jour nals the Washington view of the war abroad. It la unqpestlonably true, for one sees it and must know It, that the great preponderance of sympathy in the capital, lay and official, is with the fighters on one side of this great European war. It Is true also that the preponderance of sympathy among the newspaper correspondents rests with the same cause. It must be left to the readers to guess or to Judge where the greater fund of sympathy rests. The correspondents ot foreign news papers, men sent here from their home countries, are members of the Na tional Press club. American newspa per men, no matter how their sympa thies Jie. refrain from expressing them In the presence of their foreign news paper brethren. , These foreign cor respondents all are good fellows, well Nked, and admired for their ability and their scholarship; for the foreign newspaper men for the most part real ly are scholars in the best sense of the term. One of the greatest newspapers In all Germany is represented in Wash ington by a native German correspond ent who has been here for some years. This writer of American affairs for German readers is Dr. George Bar thelme. The German cable was cut at the very outset of the war by the British and there are no malls today reaching German ports. Doctor Barthelme might be thought in a way to be a man with his occupa tion gone. It is true that he cannot send his daily dispatches or his daily and weekly letters, but unquestionably he is writing for future reading his studies of the American attitude in this great war and to give the Ger man view ot how America felt and act ed when Europe was at grips. The Washington correspondent ot the great London Times is Arthur Willert, a graduate of Oxford tnd a man who has served his newspaper in various capitals of Europe. Willert's lines of communication with his news Daner are not as open as they were. but he is not handicapped to anything like the extent of his German Journal ist brother. War between the countries of Eu rope has not produced war between the newspaper representatives ot those countries now in Washington. It seems that the battlefield is the only place where men ot different countries cannot fraternize. The offi cial news of the department In Wash ington is as open to-the foreign cor respondents as it is to American cor respondents. - They get all that it, Is possible for anyone to get, and they interpret it according' to their Judg ment for the benefit of their readers. Seemingly the sympathies of most American correspondents in this war are all one way, but they do not per mit themselves to give open expres sion of their views in the presence of the foreign correspondents whose sensibilities might be injured. MANY RESERVISTS OVER HERE W.n(. ... C.OW mately Million and a Half Men From United states. Nations of the triple, entente and Belgium could call upon 792.068 re servists In the United States for mili tary duty, and Germany and Austro Hungary could call out 650,962. There are approximately one and a half mil lion' unnaturalized foreigners more than twenty-one' years of age, natives of the warring European countries, In the United States, according to latest reports from the census bureau. ,V i Most of these are liable for military duty, and many of them have already gone forward to Join the armies of their respective fatherlands." About one-tenth of the entire population; of the United States came from the na tions now at war, If the women and children are included, making the. to tal. 9,965.479 .viv'v '.;V'' , Those liable for war duty are divld- BU mm luuurr.. , , , - - Great Britain and Ireland, 197,626; Canada, 160,718; Russia and Finland, 418,428; France, 16,605, and Belgium, 8,691. On the other side, Germany had 127,103 and Austria-Hungary, 523,- 859. . , . In addition to these the other ronean nations might call from Eu the United States men who have not been naturalised here as follows: ( Italy. 468.44J; SwiUerland,' lOMii Norway. 34.478; Swvden, 63,041; Den mark, 14,107; Holland, 11.706; Portu gal, 18,444; Rou mania. .11.669; Bul garia, Servla and Montenegro com bined, 14,552; Greece, 58,208; Turkey. 87.494. and Spain, 1,313. " . SAV MEAUX BATTLE English Correspondent Describes the Recent Fighting. Graphlo Picture of the Artillery Con flict, the Wrecked Village and Aer oplanes Cruising About Over It All. By FRANKLIN P. MERRICK, International News Service Staff Cor respondent. Paris. An English correspondent who has just returned to Paris gives a lively description of the fighting at Meaux, which Is on the Marne 50 miles east of Paris. He was an eye witness of part of the conflict which centered around Meaux, where the German lines finally gave way and fell back. "I came upon the battle at Meaux with startling suddenness," said the correspondent "My motor car bad just topped a little rise overhanging the town when it was stretched out like a panorama before my eyes. For some' time I had been hearing the growl of the artillery and knew that the allied forces were In action against the Germans. I stopped my automobile upon the crest and looked upon thrilling scenes. 1 "Behind a piece of thlcket I could see troops and far distant along the range of hills were several batteries ot artillery. In the foreground was a cluster ot cottages surrounded by fields. In the fields were a number of hay stacks, some of which had been set on tire. In another field a number of frightened horses were galloping about. Opposite the Ger man guns, about five or six miles dis tant I should Judge, were several batteries of French artillery. "The day was clear and the clouds of white smoke which rolled upward drifted lazily in the upper currents. Far overhead and distinct against the sun cruised the inevitable German aeroplane. "I could see, shrapnel bursting in the air with little clouds of spurting black smoke, for the Germans charge their shells with powder which gives off a black smoke so that they can ascertain where the shrapnel are fall ing. I could see showers of dirt spraying upward where shells rlc ochetted on the ground. "German shells were falling In the fields just beyond Meaux. We could see a long twisting snake-like line of new earth, where the French bad thrown tip entrenchments. "I pushed onward Into the town. How changed It was from the peace ful, sleepy little French village of a week before. It was desolate and empty. Houses had been burned or wrecked by shells. The bridge was blown into a shapeless mass. ' The streets were like avenues in a city of the dead. But soon I saw that the town had not been deserted, for when the chasseurs came clattering through with the iron-shod hoofs of their horses ringing upon the cobbles many a shutter was cautiously opened and heads peeped forth to see whether the troops were French, English or German.. ,, .''.'. --. "Looking upward, , I saw several more aeroplanes, but could not tell whether they were French or Ger man. I could see shells bursting be neath the , machines and marveled how the gunners could tell whether they were firing upon friend or foe. "Curious scenes attend every battle, but one of the most unusual that I witnessed was in Meaux.' A shell fell In the street and tore up a great hole. Dirt and stones rained upon all the buildings in the neighborhood. I passed by immediately afterward and when some one opened a shutter to look out I caught a glimpse of a woman sitting within the room darn ing, as though : nothing was happen ing. On all sides of her battle raged; she alone seemed to be calm., ' "I tried to get Into the fields flank ,lng Marne to see what was happening where the infantry and cavalry were believed to be engaged, but an old man warned me back. 'Hell Itself seems to have turned loose,' he said. "I turned and made oft toward Paris and as I P"d over the hill tops the sound of the cannonade was in my ears and the geysers of earth from bursting shells." . How Burgomelster Max Escaped. , - London. How Burgomelster Max of Brussels evaded arrest by becoming an American official Is described by William Gore, correspondent of the Dally Sketch, In a dispatch from Brussels. The dispatch states: ? "The burgomelster Is one too many for the Germans. One morning be was In the meat market, when a. Ger man official arrived and said: 1 "I want all this meat.' , , " . " "M. May replied:. " 'One-quarter of It for yon and the rest for my people.' " 1 "The German, furious, arrested the burgomeiater, who asked for a half hour in which to put his affairs In or der. He then went to the American consulate, where he said: 'I have been arrested. "The consul replied: Ton are my secretary.' - "Thus the burgomelster was enabled to' give the laugh to the Germans." . Kaiser Watched Attack on Nancy. London. The Geneva correspond ent of the Express hears from a Ger man source that Emperor William watched the attack on Nancy from a hill outside the range of the flench artillery. , 7 A MINISTER'S WIFE Always u Speaks r a Good ; Word For Pcruna. A Splendld Womao V Mrs. O. F. McHargue, 147 W. thi BU Jacksonville, Florida, writes: "X had - catarrh and throat trouble. Three 'bottles of Peruna cured mew As a minister's wife Z come in con tact with all classes ' of people, and shall always speak a good word for Peruna. - X have given trl&J bottles) to a few friends. Wishing you abun dant success. I remain, yours truly. To Coo! a Burn and Take the Firo Out 3 Be Prepared (? rot - s-ij Asddenta HAHFORD'O Balsam of Llynfi Fof Cats. Darns. Bruise Sprain. Strains. Stiff Neclc. ChOblaink Lame Back. OUSorOoea Wound, mnd all External Injuries. Uad3 Sines 1348. Sffiy . Price 25c, 60o and $1)0 All Dealers a-S? HAIR BALSAM A toll prfrprmtloQ of marl. Help, to radio dadruft. Far Rartnriu Color aad It to lira y or r xto MaUJ Ka and 1L0 t DtuctK. TIB flBOT TREreO,ueually glvMonlek N llnllro I rellat.aoonramoTeifwelUnC hortbrUi,often giTi entire leltol r in 16toHS daye. Trial tmttmentMnt Free k Dr. THOMAS . GRKSN. Bikcmmt te ' Dr. H.H. Greene Son t, BoxO,AUsnta,Qa KODAKS & SUPPLIES We also do highest elaaa of nnUhlnc. Prloee and Catalogue upon roquoo. S. Galetkl Optical Ce., RicUoed, Vs. Fighting the White Plague. Adeguate hospital facilities for the 35,000 residents of Ohio who are suf fering from tuberculosis has been de cided upon by the prevention of tuber culosis and officials ot the state board of health. It is proposed to create 12 hospital districts of from four to six counties each, wherein campaigns will be inaugurated for the erection of dis trict tuberculosis hospitals to be main tained . Jointly by - the co-operating; . counties. ; Through the erection of these It district hospitals, supplementing the present sanitaria, anti-tuberculosis workers believe that the 35,000 vic tims will be -adequately cared for, and that .the people of the state will be so well protected through this hospi talization that eventually Ohio's death rate of 7,000 per year will be reduced materially.. r ' " , ' 7." vv ' ' - No Dancing Floor. . "This apartment is not big enough to turn around In," said Mr. Groucher. "Yott arg not - supposed to ; turn around in It," replied the agent Idly. "We are letting apartments,; not ball- ' rooms." ;' Proved. ' "Her father thinks a great deal of; you." ' ' - . v "Huh! He refused me her hand in marriage," ' 'That proves it.". SICK DOCTOR , Proper Food Put Him Right, The food experience of a physician In his own case when worn and weak from sickness and when needing nour ishment the worst way. Is, valuable: ,J u "An attack of grip, so severe it cam near making an end of me, left my stomach in such condition I could no retain any-ordinary food.' I knew of course that I must have .food nourish ment or I could never recover. ; "I began to take four teaspoonfula Of Grape-Nuts and cream three times a day and for 2 weeks this was almost my only food. It tasted so delicious that I enjoyed it Immensely and my stomach handled It perfectly from th first mouthful It was so nourishing I was quickly built bade to formal health and strength. ; . "Grape-Nuts is of great value as food to BUBtaln life during serious attacks in which the stomach Is so Herangea it cannot digest and assimilate other foods, ."i ' " ' ;': -"I am convinced, that were Grape Nuts more widely used by physicians. It would save many lives that are oth erwise lost from lacrot nourjsnmeni.. Name given by postum vo., yoaww -Creek. Mich. : .' The most perfect food in the world. Trial of Grape-Nuts and cream 10 days proves. 'There's a Reason." Look in pkgs. for the little book. "The Road to Wellvllle." . v w ve letter' A mww trmmm tlmm t MM, TkrVf or praatlae, tree, teU " latereat, ...... 1 ..-.. . ft V 7 K ST 1 1 w
The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 25, 1914, edition 1
4
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75