THE PATE OF VISE.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2274, 7 October 1914, Page 5

THE PATE OF VISE.

A SAD STORY. The Rotterdam special correspondent of the "Daily Chronicle" wrote that the tale of the fate of the little Belgian villago of Vise was one to compel tears. He described it thus:—. "A sad little procession of women and children arrived in Holland after trudging many weary miles from Vise, where they have seen their homes reduced, tp a mass of blackened ashes, and their'husbands and fathers dragged away to a German prison. Though the Germans seized and set fire to Vise early in the Belgjan campaign, a bin , section of the village escaped the ,, flames, and about a hundred families remained. Late one night shots wore fired in the village, and a German officer, non-commissioned officer, and several men were killed. Refugees declare that the shots were fired by drunken Gorman soldiers who, to avoid punishment, blamed the inhabitants. At any rate, the Germans entered every house, and drove the people out with fixed bayonets, subsequently setting fire to every house. The Germans then arrested all the male inhabitants, sent them to Aix La Chapelle for what will probably be a short and sharp trial. The>n a'l the women and children, homeless and destitute, ' sot out for Holland, where, on arrival at Maastrich, they were received with the warm-hearted, generous hospitality characteristic of the Dutch.

About the samo time as the Germans wrecked vengeance on Vise, a Uhlan patrol entered the Belgian village of Hechtel, 10 miles from the liutch frontier, and demanded money. The only reply was a shot, which hit no ono. . Tlio at once demanded that the man who fired the shot should be surrendered. Tlio villagers refused, whereupon the Uhlans destroyed the place by fire. A Dutchman who arrived at Rotterdam after an adventurous journey through tho Belgian war area, said, on leaving Liege,, ho passed through Lpuvain, where he said no stone had been left upon another. Tho Mayor nnd pastor had been hanged, and all males had been shot. A German staff officer breakfasted there, and when lip called for his bill tlui landlord shot him dead for tho destruction of the village. As tho result of tho artillery fire tho bodies of men and horses lie everywhere. In Mouland he saw the bodies of threo youiifi! farmers hanging from a tree, a terrible warning to civilians who offer any oort of■ opposition to the Germans.