SLAVE-DRIVING HUN

Taranaki Daily News, 26 February 1918, Page 3

SLAVE-DRIVING HUN

STARVATION AND 'BRUTALITY, BELGIAN ESCAPEE S STORY. ■ Router's Telegrams, London, Veil. 3, Router lias received from a trustworthy Belgian cit'zen who lias escaped from Valenciennes an account of the appalling conditions of the occupied districts of Belgium anil Finite, 0 f which little news ever reacho.i England. llu confirms the reports that a ispJ system of slavery e\isls. All i'ivi. lians are compelled to] mute for )hu T'iormans- Even littk gi* •>*. tY-wu vwtilvc to fourteen cannot p. i Vwuiao they must coJW, S»ni« ~„i Even one vefci'ji 11* V Ui which town he W.ongt, and i oika v M \f f, stripe round the leg. ttaWliuy have attempted to escape. Renter's informant says tliat iie saw an old man M'ith a large, cross painted oil his back, hut he did not know what this signified. The life „(■ these civilians is dreadful, hut is nothing as compared with that of the war prisoners, especially the EnglWli and Russian. ' ° It was while this informant was endeavoring to give a starving Russian a little of liis own small supply of foo.:t that a guard knocked out his teeth with the lint-end of his rido. The escapee took a handful of teeth out of hi* pocket and showed his disfigured jaw in eloquent proof. He explained what "requisitioning" ioa!l\ means. I<or example, domestic clocks and lamps were hroke n for coppers, mattresses were ripped for wool, all sacks and spare clothes were seized.' Everyone must, declare every possession People were dragged to prison for hiding a pound of potatoes or a single egs. ' As instances of brutality hAohfiimv an Alsatian absentee was murdered Ity a non-com., who struck a woman who remonstrated with su'ch force that she became deaf. A little aifl of thirteen was shot dead for nj!cm»(ing to cross tho Franco-Bel-gifUl »"ttier fur bread. The informant, \vh*ji J " Jutes and names in every ■*< t Concluded, "Whcrcvor von turn ytflf ( ' j it In the same tragedy of star«ii4 »I*>i«! 7 and untold brutall ity.