EXCUSES FOR SAVAGERY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 132, 28 October 1914, Page 6

EXCUSES FOR SAVAGERY.

TRAIL OK THE IXDIAX. BELGIANS VUOVOKED TO Kiv PIUSALS. (iVy Alfred Stead, Kxpr.'S.s Special Correspondent). Ostcnd. September 1. I was fortunate in bemy tibio to have from the mouth of an c,-,<.-witnc.vs of high standing, who had'jtot arrived from the neighborhood of'.Muiis, some account of the German imnsion in the Iliiinaut. \\. Leon lliard, Senator of Haimiut, and one of the largest manufacturers in Lclgium, only left his home at Ilaine -St. Pierre on Sunday. He felt that he could no longer conta.u him-.;,, ami was boning c\fr with rage at the constant indignities" and honors wiiith he ! saw around him. I lie was given a laiss. by a wounded tinman ollhor of the Imperial Guard, and had this .vised at J!raiue-le- ' Conile by a major of the Land-hum, ■ This fact, is of interest since, it shows , that there are Landsturm regiments also engaged in the biow at Paris. At IJniiuc-le-Comte tiiere were some. 10,000 Germans, principally elderly men, and looking as if they had not stood the strain of war well at all. I'l'oui liraiue-le-Comte, w'aiell is on th,; main t.i-rmun road to Mons and Valenciennes, there Were no more German troops, save a patrol at JCngliien. The Germans are passing all 'their reinforcements fhro.igh Soignes, Mons and Ya-hn-cieunes. while their wounded arc evacuated in the direction of Wavre, .

KILLLVti TJJLdK OWX. V.. L.ar.l HsCfies to the astounding :-mh that the Germans mH uwh x >\h •.cvercly Wounded oil the held uf halt.e. Jiny ci-.ng lor those \vi;o c.'.u soon be lead,, lit for battle again. Jin' Germans occupied inline id. i'i.ire I" lore tin; battle of M.uis and ie-

'ipiisiiioucd ovcrylhing. Revolver in iiand, threatening di.'iitli for unpunctual.ty or disobedience, the Clcrma.-is ofticeirf spread terror into the hearts of the .nliabiwints. At I'miiine, ihe Ma\or, M. Cravis, had very inijirudeiitiy caused all ihe a nils of the inhabitants -to Hie de-po--'.t.jd at his house instead of the mm! lull, lb' also carried a revolver, anil sumo of his carts had -ibccn used to bar a road. .

He was luken before the Herman general at the town hall with his secretary. The s'-ance was short. "Vwis fusille'," said the general, and the unfortunate man was led out, blindfolded, and shot. As the secreii'-iry was following him a more kindly oflk-er said an his ear. "Mais ftle/.-done, imbecile," and 1 'pushed him on one side.

Thi: body of M. Gravis was propped up against a wall for forty-eight hours as an example to the town. Men were billeted in a!!'the houses, and, afhough in the betler houses ii'lio officers ihehaveil with some restraint, in the' peasants' cottages unbridled -license was the rule. AM'Kl'b s:;aa Women were vv.uuul. iudestrib.ibie sccu.-s of ti.'.h and vi b.uicheiy u.u.< place, while all the pu-si ssioiis oi the .'iifoi-tunales weie. wilfully wasi: 1 and il-slio.cd. Tin- liery-tei,iin;ri;d peoj'.e were being diivm to reprisal, so that »"■ exMi,e for further truoky might be ielilid.

lin.-i.iiges were taken from the town, among them the cur.', who protested, saying he was only u ,„,or man and of no inllucnce, there were no ( atilolh-s there, uniy Socialists and l/berais, and adiis-ng-tiiem to lake the Senator lliard as a ho-fiage. Hut iu.-ki.v for them they did not.

All the lorries and hors-s-ViVt commandeered and all the foou.:!v.fTs, One (urious item of informati-cii was that a Cerman officer, having in a hurrv, left m his home his map. This was one printed in Belgium, and had ad the towns to lo occupied underlined in red, while all the railway lines to be usee were marked in. blue.

There were manv signs after tin: batj tic of Mons that the <;onnaris had suflered heavily—the remnants which reliiriip,! to the village looked dazed and crestfallen—all ypoke bi'iterly of the courage of the British. And well they migli!. because it was tfe> E\))LHl:.tioii:iry force's right wing which had done so much damage. TKAr VOW GriiMAXS. One force of 2.i0 Jlrlti-h nut-it have c-icoiin'icd lor literally thousands of l-i'rnuitis. All along the line of n-lre-it they had prepared dcfeneis, reach with l-igs lull ot poiasli, found in a wcighhorii'g laetor.v; tlirough these vvcr,; placed •■lux ins, and on top (ierman 'helmets. the l.rst lime the (Icnnans vnnx ■-•,., v.. t.ns seemingly fri ( ndlv -line Hiiro, win tie li-r-r-r-r-r of the .Maxims, and no liv.ng (.■en.Kiu left. And ,so on «nd again, Ibe defenders .sirllerin.r ljft]closs. Mo„s 'sullVied' fcarfulJv, and'tlie l.e.gii'borhuod was devastated. ( J he .Mone-Conile did not only run red >" ceased to rum at all, and it was jiosstb.i! m. ,toss, dry shod, save for blood, on till! bodies of killed.

After the baLtle the; Oormn.ii army r»«. ; l ~,,, t !, (! heavy artillery gone- to- , war,!-* M :[ ,,l„,, g „, tnc , lla f n % 0( ,- , ()f I roups towards Yalcneiemio.-) ami Paris ■»■ liaiM uoiild scarcely contain him■ns vt.lagm, wantonly and individually, , il " :! '; U "' Stories were not <]'«- <!' .hull not the policy „f the army, Hat produced u,e horror*. And jf this m oe. t,» Wil y forward, -what of th> way back?