TERRIBLE BRUTALITY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 139, 5 November 1914, Page 2

TERRIBLE BRUTALITY.

JOURNALIST'S EXPERIENCES. Some graphic stories of German brutalities in iieijjium have oeen supplied by a youiy juuuia.isi.. .u. uoosbroec*, who iu the, course of his duties travelled over u guou pun, ui me area m w-hun the Germans were operating in the earner iiu;s ol dli-e war. lie hun-seli had an uupu-asu.nl expencne, beuy taken prisoner and tud'eatened wiu deaui iia a ,sp,,'biii. :ie uiu meKy enuugn to escape Willi the loss ol bis money, proiess.uiui ami a kick in the roar from a soldier's boot.

Hiw travelling lU tin- war area many stones ol brui.aii.iy on Uie part oi the Hermans were told |iy .u. KoosbroecK, At Aerschot the slieiill and his son wars murdered by the Germans, the sheriff bein<; shot and Uie son, a lad of sixteen, hanged in the presence of the wifu and mother. Near the same place a peasant woman wnose son had been injured warn huiiiig from the investing troops, told a terrible story 0 f German brutality. Into a house near where she was Inning, sue said, the Germans entered and demanded food and drink, which were supplied them. 'Having satisfied themselves, .the soldiers threatened the wiie and daughter of the householder, who, 'beside himself with rage, picked up a rille and shot oue of i|he men dead. The householder was instantly filled and the two women hid themselves iu a cellar. Th a Germans then set the house on Are. "1 was in a cellar near bv," aaid the woman, "and I heard the two unfortunates crying out lor over two hours, when there came a silence. Thev must have Ibeon tamed to death or killed by'the house falling iu upon.them." M. Roosbroeek stated that he -aw the bodies of over one hundred wimfen and children who had been murdered by the Germans m Jjouvain. -The Get. mans cared for nothing," he declares. "They brought machine guns into the streets and tired on the people, shooting them down indiscriminately. My wife's father an dmother and t'weiuy'-two of her relatives were in the citv, but. only two of them have escaped."' Hie added that he met a man who experienced the honors of the saekiu-r and burning of Louvaiu. When the Germans "ot 'TtiU) tlhe city, his informant tod iiim,, they seamed to jjo mad. They turned the men ami women out in the street-,-, an., separating tJie men from the women, •marched them iu opposite directions'. The men were marched for fuiir .hi.vs and nights in the rain'between German ?uanls in .the direction of (ier-.minv. 'l : h-.;y were on);,- allowed two hours' sleep and were practically s'arved during 'tile whole of the time,' while they siilViirwl terribly- from thirst. Mr Roor-.broeek's informant managed to escape after the fourth day, while the guards were shvping, and eventually found his wnv to England. He .bears the marks of no less Uian fifteen bayonet wounds in the back of his legs inflicted by tiie. Germans, when, through sheer'fatigue he WW compelled to lag behind. M. Roosbroeek was in ' Antwerp \\!m;i a- Zeppelin ma-de an onslaught on the city. He was in bed about one o'eloch :u theamming when lie heard a whirring noise. "I had seen and heartl a Zer>peliit in Germany,'' he proceeded, "and at once recognised the sound. 1 i-oused «i" relatives and they went into Die street. Then I heard the explosion of about- ten bombs, but all we could see in the air was a huge blue light, which completely bid the airship. When the Zeppelin had gone I investigated the damage done. The bombs were each

about fivfl hundred pounds in weight, loaded with an explosive, 'but the injury they did was not a.s extensive, as could: have been expected. One : 0 f them killed lour and wounded twenty men in the -street. At another spot oiie of Hie bombs fell through £he roof of a lm-i«». but all the inmates escaped injury with the exception of a servant, who was sleeping near Me roof, and who was slightly wounded. A boml) also fell in the barracks in the Horse Market, but, fortunately, th> troops had just, left, for the front. Another damaged a (liaiiisui .building, and another fell ,i.u'(o a hospital riving the Red Cross, doing soan<> mischief to the operating theatre. Ju one house the only damage that wns done by a bomb was to smash a bust of the 'fterman Emperor. One of the .pieces of •shell, however, cut oft tile bea,! of a man who was leaning out of a window, leaving his wife, who was at his side. injured." , i _„ .■■ . ;j