BELGIUM.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 January 1917, Page 5

BELGIUM.

AN INFAMOUS TRICK. A BOGUS PRTTCST VIOLATES, THK COXFESSIONAL. Amsterdam, Jan. m. An inf»mmis> tvick against a Belgian condemned fr>r at Louvain lias been revealed. T)ie man asked in see a Belgian.priest for his final confession. The Clcrman oflicicls replied tlmt all priests were equal before Clod, anil lie. might see a German priest. The Belgian accepted, and under Hit seal of the confessional, .vav<> Hie so-called priest a message to eight of his friends wliom lie desired to he warned, i,o be careful, as the Herman police were on ill civ track. The priest solemnly promised to deliver the message and to keep the secret inviolate, end gave the condemned man his blessing. ' Within 24 hours the eight nun. were arrested, tried, and .-hot. The priest ,vas .1 Herman sergeantmajor disguised His name is known, to the Belgians, and he demands his removal to the eastern front, fearing assausin- 1 at'Oii. . 1 A TERRIBLE INDICTMENT. IRK DEPORTATIONS ATROCITIES. London, .Tan. W. The Morning Post's Paris eoiTcsp.in<>nt states that a girl who was recently in Lille makes a terrible indietmeni egninst the Herman deportations. Soldiers raided houses in the middle of the night and machine-Rims were trained en the streets. Well-to-do unmarried .iirle were taken haphazard with prostitutes, in order t'lmt all might he reduced to the same level. Before going they were threatened with revolvers and forced to sign a statement, saying they were leaving voluntarily. All the girls placed at the disposal ojf the officers and men were subjected to a strict medical examination. Her family ransomed one girl by a payment of 2000 marks (;C100). Only those have returned who have fallen i'l, become euciente, or are suflering fron nervous disease. Several arc insane,