MURDERS IN BELGIUM.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 February 1916, Page 11

MURDERS IN BELGIUM.

TERRIBLE IXDICTMENT. NEARLY GOOO EXECUTIONS. The fol!»wing striking article 011 the execution of Jfrae. Frenav in Belgium reached America from Emin Halil Elindi, until recently clerk or secretary in tile puiplay »i Hie Ottoman Kmbassy at Berlin. Emin Halil vouches for it as coming t« liim in the form of a letter from a Cerman amy captain in Belgium, who some years e,g» was an instructor in a Constantinople German establishment, where lCciin Efindi received his German educatisn. to Halil Efindi's reptrt, the captain, who is about 50 years of age, is now in Holland, having left the German army. The letter fr»m the eaptais reads as follsws:— "If I am fortunate enough to succeed in crossing the frontier I will attempt to communicate with you from Holland. I have been considering this course for many months, and perhaps, even n#w, wsuld net have summoned courage t» make the attempt had it not been for the fact that I feel it is my duty to Make a desperate attempt to escape a sure and disgraceful death in the ;;uise 0 f a su( id ell 'disappearance.' "If an officer executes ail unjust order with a protest he is eventually transferred to such regi#ns that no one ever hears of him again. One must either cut out his tongue or one's head will be cut »ff. "Desertions from the ranks are becoming alarmingly frequent. This is especially true of the navv. Bright and smart naval officers are being recruited to the submarine service, which ig looked upon by the rank and file with contempt. INVADERS' GHASTLY WORK. "Since our arrival in Belgium we have executed exactly 5781 Belgians upon one pretext or another, and this does not include those whom we have destroyed without the ceremony of military trial. ; "According to our official mttitMy tab-

ulation the fallowing executions occurred, beginning early after our occupation to the lath day of this year:— Brabant, 900; Flanders, 150; Liege, 999; Antwerp, 250; Hainaut, 485; Limbourgc, 62; Luxemburg, U18; Namur, 1910. The treason and espionage charges against these thousands of unfortunate Belgians of both sexes were so flimsy that, I believe, If they were tried by open civil tribunals, not one would or could have been executed. But the truth is that these Belgians are being executed for not being in sympathy with us, or for having refused to serve our military in spying upon our enemies. WOMEN' SLAIN* ON' SLIGHT PBETEXT. "I have seen women taken away to he executed for having refused to work in our interest, or having taunted those Belgians who are working as laborers in our service. "You will lie surprised (o '.-nnw that, since the beginning of the war several thousands of German soldiers or officers have been executed for insubtrdiaation. "Y#u have no doubt heard by this time of the Cavell episode. "Terrible and inhuman as this British nurse case ia, it is sot as pathetic as the case of Mae. Frenay, who was exi.ceuted early in October under my supervision. lam terribly ashaueii that I lud to perform this grievous task, which I no longer consider as duty. "At the time I was stationed at the Fort of Charereuse. We learned through secret channels that some more executions were to take place. A teoirade told me that 29 persons were just taken before the court-martial. This batch of 29 persons, several of them women, were marched into the hull where the military court held its session, between 4.30 ami 5 p.m. At seven o'clock the sumo afternoon, about two hours later, they were sentenced, 11 were condemned to death, and the rest to penal servitude in Germany for life.

A MOCKERY OF JUSTICE. "At about 10 p.m. the same evening, it was knewn that eight of the eleven that were condemned to death by shooting were selected to be shot before the next morning. Why such haste? Whispers told us that these executions were to take place in order to prevent their being saved through neutral parties. If that was the reason for their having been executed with such haste, it certainly accomplished its purpose. "We are told every day that we must terrorise these stubborn and impudent Belgians. But with every execution the people of Belgium afre becoming desperate. "Anyway, to the fort of Chartreuse marched the 11 condemned Belgians, eight of whom were picked out t» be executed at once. "The precession wag headed by Mine. Frenay. The last pers«n was M. Julien Lenders ,a Belgian writer of note, so I am told. "Instead of sending ten s»ldiers we were given charge of 50 soldiers, ten in line, five deep. TROOPS FIRE WIDE, "I selected the woman first. Not because I had more pity for her. This wag not my motive. I might have thought so Unconsciously, perhaps. The truth is, I feared myself. I suspected that I could not bear the ordeal. Neither did I like the attitude of the men, the soldiers. As I lined up my men, facing the victim, something warned me that — I thought of a certain Russian ex/eution. "'Fire!' the officer had commanded. It was also a woman. The firing squad had fired, but not at the victim, not at the condemned! They fired at the officer commanding! "I stepped back, revolver in my hand. I gave the order, 'Fire!' "The squad instantly fired. Mme. Louise Fronay fell with a .scream. She was not shot mortally. A bullet had shattered her ankle. The awkward incident had happened. I rushed at her, and stood her against the wall once more. 'I ordered the second squad. Oiioe more she fell. But this time she was not even struck. She was terrorised; she fainted. 0, Cod, what torture! For a second I wanted to give the command once more while holding her in my arms. Perhaps I would have wiped the taint off the name of my Fatherland, but I confess I was, and I am now, a coward. We Germans have only disciplinary courage, otherwise we are cowards. "I pulled my revolver, out it cruelly and deliberately into the lower back of her right ear and killed her with my own hands. "It sickened me. I was relieved by a reserve officer. Other officers were ordered out. Revolvers in hand, aiming at the squad, commands, accompanied witli threats, were given. The rest of the execution proceeded satisfactorily. It only lasted ten minutes, M. •Tulien Lenders was the last Belgian to die. What courage! Morn courageous and daring, moi'e defying were the victims that we, their unwilling executioners. ''The eight patriots were piled up in a motor truck, like so many carcases, anil speeded to the cemetery of Robermont— Robermont, where several thousands of other patriotic and heroic Belgians arc buried in five, tens, and even a» many as twenty-fives. At Robermont a large grave was already awaiting the warm, the still panting and vibrating bodies; their fresh bullet-wounds gaping. As their bodies were covered with dirt and soil one of my superior officers said to me: 'They will be immortalised, while the coming generations will remember us as their executioners.'"

The latest volume of Detrett's Peerage should have a new value—as a recruiting medium. Twelve pages of it are filled with tflie names of more than 800 members of the British peerage wh» have lost their lives in the war. The list includes one member of the Koyal Family—Prinee Maurice of Battenberg; fi peers, 16 baronets, 6 knights and 7 members of Parliament; lfM companions of tfhe order of chivalry, S~> sons of peers, 82 sons of baronets and SI sons of kr.igths. "England may be proud of her noblemen,'-' reflects the French Figaro. To show the value or importance of the motion picture industry, or art, to Los Angeles, the following figures make very interesting reading. There are probably twenty producing studios in Los Angeles an-i its vicinity, employing each from one to twenty directors, with their company of stock players. Probably one-half of these directors are making what are termed "regular programme releasee." The other half arc making multiple reel "features." The average one and twa-reel pictures cost about £2OO per week for each director. Feature pictures run from £4OO per week up. Upon this basis sixty directors on regular releases would expend £12,000 a week, and sixty directors on features would expend £24,000 a week—a total of £30,000 a week—not far short of two TaillioßS a jrejj, r- - -