ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2257, 17 September 1914, Page 6

ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM

HORRIFYING STORIES BELGIAN COMMISSIONER'S SECOND REPORT. (Rec. September 16, 5.2(3 p.m.) i •• London, September 15. ; The Press Bureau states that the Belgian. . Commission's second report gives' instances of German atrocities at , ifouvam, MalmeSj and the neighbouring villages, ami include the following: —Body of an old woman, bayonetted, her tingeis still holding the sewing needle; man with j)is arms and legs cut oit; a■■w n, flaii bayonetted, petroleum poured over her, and:thrown alive ; intovher own. burning house; a woman slain, and burnt similarly; an old man •■- suspended, by the'arms from a rafter - and burnt alive; a : child,; aged fifteen, • horribly mutilated. ,A > Belgian officer who has reached London says there is a deep well at .-. 'I'ermondo lull of the bodies of peasants .who-'were thrown in by the Germans while alive.' The odour made it impos- . sible for him to stay, but he saw that . tile. bodies reached to within two feet :of\'the.' top.—"Times " and- Sydney "Sun" services. -V(Rec. September 16, 7.30 p.m.) London, September 15. . The Commission's report continues: •"Many of the corpses of peasants were fin an-' ; attitude of supplication; two wounded Belgian soldiers were thrown \ into a flaming .house.,. Witnesses completely confirm the report that Germans who' were' retreating unexpectedly into Louvaih encountered the German Gar- - rison,'who .fired, and;tho Germans alleged the civilians were guilty of' v firing ' and consequently sacked' the 5 town. Drunken soldiers in several towns killed unoffending civilians at random; Fifty bodies were found'on tho road toTirlemont. >, -? "At Louvain many others were incinerated oil their door-steps, where-they : were-.shot ■ while, escaping from their • burning 'homes. In some cases drunken Gormans fired from deserted houses and ''.tho shots were used as a pretext for massacre and incendiarism. In several . towns large groups ■of citizens were threatened with massacre and .were subjected to agonies.' of --mental- . torture. • Instances.aro given of outrages on'wo-' men and girls. NEUTRAL COMMISSION OF . INQUIRY. London, Sept-ember 15. .The.-Earl of Osborne suggests thattrained lawyers! or Judges of a neutral nation, like the Netherlands or tho . United: States, should conduct a .sworn ■ inquiry into such alleged cases of oom- ; mori outrages on women as are already ■ open to investigation. STORIES BY REFUGEES/ .. ■ (Reo. September 17, 0.50 a.m.) The Hague, September 16. Refugees who'are streaming,into Hoiland from' East Belgium tell ; harrowing stories .of German -butcheries. A drunken Gorman officer at Lince, near Liege, killed an old man. The hitter's son. then shot the .murderer, whereupon tho'Gormans fetched the old man's irae from the kitchen and killed the son : before her eyes, and in a drunken frenzy ■ made her drink his blood, all the while threatening her with their'" bayonets. ■ Records aro being taken of these and . other incidents for tho purposo of denouncing tho Germans.