Untitled

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 257, 9 April 1915, Page 5

JIL'IIDKH, RAPS, AND ARSON/- \$

London, February 19. The Belgian Commission of Inquiry ott ~ ilu ..i.m.ui invaders' violation of thft iule.-s 1,1 international law, is still con- ' tuning iu, investigation ■>, and though tlicy nave now issued tlto eleventh re- ' p0,., tlii! eommi»j:on give no ludiduioa ..... tiu-j n.iu' approached the end of llie.r ta:o of horrors. The latest result mate,, to tiie acts ot incendiarism, outrage, pillage, and murder at Namur, i.i.i.i i., Ahu. une, jjjiwiit, ilastieres, ami (-urice. In certain parts of the province of Namur it k slated that half ' t.ie adult male population ha» disap- - peared, and the horrors of the conflagration.-, at Umum and Tormoiide, of too luujsacica at Aerschot, and in Luxcm- - berg and Brabant, were surpassed by those of tile slaughter at iJniuul, Andenne, Taurines, and Nainur. Tliu di-tnils of the outrages arc uimi* v lar in all respects to those reported from ~ other places. And, as fie commission- ~ era point out, the incidents were deliberately prepared, and formed part ot ' the general system of terrorism whioh has been habitually practised in HelgU um by the Herman At Nainur i a war contribution of two millions sterling was levied, houses were sacked, women were outraged, and other nameless horrors were perpetrated. Twenty-six -' priests and members of religious, order* were shot.

MACHINE-GUN MURDER.

Taurines was sacked and burned, and between 400 and 450 men were collected ' in front of the church. .Soldiery opened. fire on them, but as the shootiug wag & slow business, the officer ordered up a - mac'iine-gim, which soon swept off all who still remained standing. Many wounded still lay across the corpses,, and soldiers finished these off with the bayonet. Those who remained alive-ia the town were made to dig graves for the d*ad, and these gravediggers in soma cases recognised, the corpses of a boo or brother among those they buried. One . man, who was still alive, 'although se-j verely wounded, was ordered bv an of- i ficer to be buried with fie rest. Alto- ' gellier, 2tij homes were sacked and burn- [ *. Ed in Taurines, and many persons, in-'j "• eluding women and children, were shet ,; or suifocated in their homes, white, others weie shot in the fields. Thj total number of victims was 050. At ■ Andenne the whole population, includ- ' ing old men, the sick and the paralysed, '. ' were driven to the Place des, TilleuU. ■■ The men were then separatud~from the women, and 40 or 50 of the men were, picked out of the mass and shot. After, - the women had been detained for six hours they were told to withdraw, and were then ordered to gather together the ' dead bodies, and wash away the stains of blood in the streets and bouses.

BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA.

Two hours later t'ie surviving men. to the number of 80'J, were shut up ait hostages in three little houses, which ' were like no many black holes of Calcutta. There, amidst the most dreadful sanitary surroundings they were detained, for four days, although thcvi were so crowded together (hat they had not room even to sit oh t\e floors. About . 30U houses were burnt in Andenne and '• Scilles and 300 persons were massacred. , Then comes the story of the sack of Dinant, w\ure tho German soldiers, mad with drink, shot a number of the mate inhabitants, in spite of the entreaties of > their womenfolk. Dinant is practically' destroyed. It had 1400 houses, of which only 200 remain, and 700 of the inhabit* ants have been killed in cold blood.

The church at Hastieres was profaned in the odious and disgusting manner, and relies which had escaped tha fury of the Huguenots of 1500, and the Revolutionists of 17U0, were destroyed. The priest, the schoolmaster, and other men were, shot, and their bodies were Jeft lying on the road.

A PRIEST'S FATE. , _ " In the village of Surice between SO and 00 persons were led to a piece of ground and placed in a row. "Soma minutes passed," says one witness, "then before our eyes and amid the shrieks of the women and the wailing of the children, the men were lined up. They waved last greetings to us ,som? with their hands, others with hats or caps. . . . Unable to bear the sight" any longer, I turned my back to the road and covered my eyes with my hands. The soldiers fired their volley-, and iho men fell. But they TOre not all dead, and several were finished oil' by having their skulls beaten with rifle-butts, Among these was the priest of Surice.' Many other. teriblc details are to ha found in the report, hut the full truth will probably novsr be known. The commissioners Bay that they lack detailed knowledge of what went on in three of the six cantons which form the district of Namur. So far it has been ascertained that in that district 800 person* were killed, and 11 GO houses wero burnt, but those are probably much be!o\y the .. real figures. In the district of Din*nt ■ the town of that name and 21 village* have been destroyed. In the district of Philippeville 20 villages have been sacked; plundered, and more or less burned down. In the whole province, which baa 304,000 inhabitants, nearly 2000 unoffending citizens, men, women, and children, have been massacred. The commissioners deny emphatically • that these German atrocities were inr'-' the nature of reprisals for "Franc. - Tireur" proceedings on the part of the civil population. They say: "From the day of its first session our commission has been trying to discover what foundation there'might be for this carnage. '. . After having exumincd hundred* of witnesses—foreigner* and natives—and after having exhausted every possible means of investigation, wa affirm once more that the Belgian people took no part in the hostilities. The «wpposed 'Franc Tireur' waT, which is said to have been waged against the German army, is a mere invention. It was in- . vented to lessen, in the eyes of the civilised world the impression caused by tl>o barbarous treatment inflicted by ttio German army on our people, and also to appease the scruples of the German nation, which will shudder with tear on the dav when it learns what a tribute of innocent blood was levied by its troops on our children, our wives, and our defenceless fellow-citizens.