The Adair County news. [volume], January 16, 1918, Page 7, Image 7

About The Adair County news. [volume] (Columbia, Ky.) 1897-1987

Image provided by: University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

                
A.DAIR COUNTY NEWS
(
QUTSID
E PALE
OF HUMANITY
Rightfulness Taught by German
Leaders Belongs to Age of
Barbarism.
SOLEMN PLEDGE MERE WORDS
'Kaiser's Statesmen Had No Intention
i of Keeping Faith With Their
f Agreement on International, Law
Horrors Told by Diaries.
, In giving io the American people
the knowledge of German inhuman
ity in Belgium . says a pamphlet is-
'sued by the committee on public in
formation, the evidence is drawn
'mainly from German and American
sources. The German sources in
'clude official proclamations and
other official utterances, letters and
'diaries of German soldiers, and quo
tations from German newspapers.
The "Rules for Field Service" of the
German army advises each soldier
to keep such a diary while on active
service.
' In the wars waged in ancient times
it was taken for granted that con
quered peoples might be either killed,
tortured, or held as slaves; that their
property would he taken and that their j
lands would be devastated. "Vae vie-1
,tis ! woe to the conquered !" For two
.centuries or more there has been a
steady advance in introducing ideas of
humanity and especially in confining
the evils of warfare to the combatants.
The ideal seemed to have become so
thoroughly established as a part of in
ternational law that the powers at The
Hague thought it sullicient merely to
state the general principles in Article
XL VI of the regulations: "Family hon
ors and rights, the lives of persons
anl private property, as well as re
ligious convictions and practice, must
be j .'.-Npeeted. Private property cannot
bo nfiscated." Germany, in common
with the other powers, solemnly
ph d-.'ed her faith to keep this article,
but her military leaders had no inten
tion of doing so. They had been
tn.im'd in the ideas voiced by Gen. von
Harnnann 40 years ago: "Terrorism
H v, ,. to Ix a relatively gentle pro
coilure. ueful to keep the masses of
tin- people in a state of obedience."
Tin- had lieen Bismarck's policy, too.
Acf-nriling to Moritz Busch. Bismark's
Wogi-ipher. Bismarck, exasperated by
the French resistance, which was still
continuing in January, 1S71, said:
"If in the territory which we occupy,
we cannot supply everything for our
troops, from time to time we shall send
a flying column into the localities
which are recalcitrant. 'We shall shoot,
.hang and burn. After that lias hap
pened a few times, the inhabitants will
finally come to their senses.'
Horrors Told in Soldiers' Diaries.
The frightfulness taught by the Ger
man leaders held full sway in Belgium.
This is best f-cen in the entries in the
diaries of the individual German sol
diers. "During the night of August 3.1-1G
Engineer Gr gave the alarm in the
town of Vise. Every one was shot or
taken prisoner, and the houses were
burnt The prisoners were made to
march and keep up with the troops."
(From the diary of noncommissioned
offif-er Relnhoid Koehn of the Second
battalion of engineers, Third army
corps.)
"A horrible bath of blood. The whole
village burnt, the French thrown into
the blazing houses, civilians with the
rest." (From the diary of Private
Ilassemer of the Eighth army corps.)
"In the night of August 1S-19 the vil
lage of Saint-Maurice was punished
for bavins fired on German soldiers by
.being burnt to the ground by the Ger
man troops (two regiments, the
.Twelfth landwehr and the Seven
teenth.) The village was surrounded,
,men posted about a yard from one an
other, so that no one could get out.
Then the Uhlans set fire to it, house
by house. Neither man, woman, nor
child could escape; only the greater
part of the live stock we carried off,
as that could be used. Anyone who
ventured to come out was shot down.
All the inhabitants left in the village
were burnt with the houses." (From
the diary of Private Karl Scheufele of
the Third Bavarian regiment and land
wehr infantry.)
"At ten o'clock in the evening the
first battalion of the One hundred and
Seventy-eighth marched down the steep
incline into the burning village to the
burning village to the north of Dinant.
A terrific spectacle of ghastly beauty.
'At the entrance to the village lay about
fifty dead civilians, shot for having
fired upon our troops from ambush. In
the course of the night many others
were also shot, so that we counted over
200. "Women ahd children, lar.-p in
hand, were forced to look on m il.e
horrible scene. We ate our rice later
in the midst of the corpses, for we had
liad nothing since morning. When we
searched the houses we found plenty
,of wine and spirit, but no eatables.
Captain Ilamann was drunk." (This
;last phrase in shorthand.) (From the
.diary of Private ' Philipp of the One
Hundred and Seventy-eighth regiment
;of infantry, Twelfth army corps.)
Writing from Belgium In 191G Irvin
S. Cobb said:
"Briefly what I saw was this : I saw
wide areas of Belgium and France In '
which not a penny's worth of wanton
destruction lmrl hopn normittpfl to no- !
cur, in which the ripe pears hung un
touched upon the garden walls; and I
saw other wide areas where scarcely
one stone had been left to stand upon
another; where the fields were rav
aged; where the male villagers had
been shot in squads ; where the miser
able survivors had been left to den in
holes, like wild beasts."
Even Soldiers Horrified.
Some German soldiers, we are glad
to see, showed their horror at the foul
deeds committed in Belgium.
"The inhabitants have fled in the vil
lage. It was horrible. There was clot
ted blood on all the beards, and what
faces one saw, terrible to behold ! The
dead, CO In all, were at once buried.
Among them were many old women,
some old men, and a half-delivered
woman, awful to see; three children
had clasped each other, and died thus.
The altar and the vaults of the church
arc shattered. They had a telephone
there to communicate with the enemy. j
j-ius hum mug, oeinciiiuur , uii uie sur-
little boys carrying a cradle, with a lhcir statements concerning atroci
baby five or six months old in it, on ties committed by the Belgians and
two sticks. All this was terrible to allies. That their own soldiers were
see. Shot after shot! Thunderbolt fagwilcd bv the cruelties practiced
after thunderbolt! Everything is given ,,7 , " , 7 . , , ,7
over to pillage; fowls and the rest all ' at .ihe ordcr f hl9h fFcers f ihe
killed. I saw a mother, too, with her , kaiser ts shown. Extracts taken
two children; one had a great wound from pamphlets issued folloiv:
on the head and had lost an eye." The Vorwaerts of Berlin, October 22,
(From the diary of Lance Corporal 1914, said :
Paul bpielman of the Ersatz, first bri
gade of Infantry of the Guard.)
"... In the night the inhabitants
of Liege became mutinous. Forty per
sons were shot rnd 15 houses demol
ished, 10 soldiers shot. The sights here
make you cry.
"On the 2.'!rd of August everything
quiet. The inhabitants have so far
given in. Seventy students were shot.
200 kept prisoners. Inhabitants re
luming to Liege.
"August 24. At noon with "G men on
sentry duty. Sentry duty is A 1, no post
allocated to me. Our occupation, apart
from bathing, is eating and drinking.
We live like God in Belgium." (From
the diary of Job. van der Schoot, re
servist of the Tenth company. Thirty
ninth reserve infantry regiment, Sev
enth reserve army corps.)
"Behaved Like Vandals."
"August 17. In the afternoon I had
a look at the little chateau belonging
to one of the king's secretaries (not at
home). Our men had behaved like
regular vandals. They had looted the
cellar first, and then they had turned
their attention to the bedrooms and
thrown things about all over the place.
They had even made fruitless efforts
to smash the safe open. Everything
was tonsv-turvv magnificent furni
ture, silk, and even china. That's what '
happens when the men are allowed to
requisition for themselves. I am sure
they must have taken away a heap of I
useless stuff simply for the pleasure of
looting." j
"August Gth crossed frontier, inhab-
itants on border very good to us and I
give us many things. There is no dif-
fcrence noticeable.
"August 23rd, Sunday (between Bir
nal and Dinant, village of Disonge).
At 11 o'clock the order conies to ad
vance after the artillery has thorough
up prepared the ground ahead. The
Pioneers and Infantry regiment ITS
were marching in front of us. Near
a small village the latter were fired on
by the inhabitants. About 220 inhab
itants were shot and the village was
burnt artillery is continuously shoot
ing the village lies in a large ravine.
Just now, six o'clock in the afternoon,
the crossing of the Maas begins near
Dinant . . . All villages, chateaux,
and houses are burnt down during this
night. It was a beautiful sight to see
the tires all round us in the distance.
"August 24. In every village one
finds only heaps of ruins and many
dead." From the diary of Matbern,
Fourth company, Eleventh Jagcr bat
talion, Marburg.)
All Male Inhabitants Shot.
"A bliell burst near the Eleventh
company, and wounded seven men,
three very severely. At five o'clock we
were ordered by the officer in com
mand of the regiment to shoot all the
male Inlu bitants of Xomeny, because
the population was foolishly attempt
ing to stay the advance of the German
troops by force of arms. "We broke into
the houses, and seized all who resisted, '
in order to execute them according to
martial law. The houses which had
not been already destroyed by the
French artillery and our own were set
on fire by us, so that nearly the whole
town was reduced to ashes. It is a ter
rible sight when helpless women and
children, utterly destitute, are herded
together and driven into France."
(From the diary of Private Fischer,
Eighth Bavarian regiment of infantry,
Thirty-third reserve division.)
Too Many Servants in Britain.
Duncan Miller asked the minister of
national service, says the London
Times, whether his attention has been
called to the number of advertisements
for servants in households of one, two
or three persons, where seven to ten
indoor servants are already kept, and
whether he proposes to limit the num
ber of indoor servants employed in
each household. The minister of na
tional service replied that he had al
ready pointed out how essential it is,
in the national interest, that no per
son should employ more servants than
are absolutely necessary. The min
ister trusts that the awakened con
sciences of those who have in this
respect failed to appreciate their duty
will provide an immediate and suffi
cient remedy. If not, he will tell his
plan in the general statement on man
power.
Murder, Pillage and Arson Part
of Deliberate Scheme of
Warfare.
HIGH OFFICERS GO ON RECORD
No Possible Evasion of Responsibility
for Bestial Acts Which for Centu
ries Have Had No Parallel
Officially Indorsed.
The people of the United States
j are beginning io learn the truth con-
ccrning the conduct of the war by
Germany. Proof is offered that Ger-
t! 7 77 V 17 7' J
man ojticials dchl'ralclu lied in 1
" J '
"We have already been able to es
tablish the falseue.ss of a great number
of assertions which have been made
with great precision and published
everywhere in the press, concerning al
leged cruelties committed, by the popu
lations of the countries with which
Germany is at war, upon German sol
diers and civilians, Av'e are now in po
sition to silence tw others of these
fantastic stories.
"The war correspondent of the Ber
liner Tageblatt sj !u a few weeks
ago of cigars and cigarettes filled with
powder alleged to have been given out
or sold to our soldiers with diabolical
intent. He even pretcided that he had
seen with his own ejes hundreds of ;
this kind of cigarettes. We learn from 1
an authentic source that this story of '
cigars and cigarettes- is nothing but a
brazen invention. Stories of soldiers '
whose eyes are .all' " d to have been
torn out by francs-tirt urs are circulat
ed throughout Germany. Not a single j
case of this kind has been officially es
tablished. "It matters little that reports of this
nature bear an appearance of positive
certitude, or are evon vouched for by j
eye-witnesses. The desire for notoriety,
the absence of criticism, and personal
error play an unfortunate part in the I
days in which we j,re living. Lvery ,
nnse sht off or Mmply bound up,
pverJ y removed, is immediately
transformed into a nose or eye torn
s'ay 1,v the francs-'iuurs. Already the
Volkszeitung of Cologne has been able,
contrary to the ver "atecrorical asser-
tions from Ais-la-Chapelle, to prove
that there was no soldier with his eyes
torn out in the field ambulance of this
town. It w.ts said, also, that people I
wounded in this wi'y were under treat
ment in the neighborhood of Berlin,
but whenever inquiries have been made ;
in regard to theso reports, their abso- ;
lute falsity has been demonstrated. At i
length these reports were concentrated j
at Gross Lichterfelde. A newspaper j
published at noon and widely circu- ,
lated in Berlin printed a few days ago
In large type the news that at the
Lazaretto of Lichi'Mi. ide alone there
were 'ten Gorman soldiers, only slight-
ly wounded, whose eyes had been wick- in Brussels one, the second bnrgomas
ertly torn out.' Bu to a request for ter, is generously excepted should be
information by C01 rade Liebknecht immediately seized and subjected to
the following written reply was sent trial in order to expiate the wrongs
by the chief medical officer of the ' which, according to fragmentary and
above-mentioned field hospital, dated I highly uncertain reports, were said to
the eighteenth of the month:
"'Sir: Happily there is no truth
whatever in these stories.
'Yours ohefliently,
'PROFESSOR R A i'TEXBERG,' "
German Soldiers Protested.
T, th toachin.rS 0f the German
! ,v.. ,. ,mfl f t1. nPrmnn nnnsHns
of frightfulness, suspicion and hatred,
had now begun to bear their natural
fruit. But the voice of protest was
not entirely silent. A considerable
number of letters by German soldiers
who were shocked by the German
atrocities were sent to Ambassador
Gerard, because he v as the representa
tive of the United States, the leading
neutral nation. The three letters
which follow, in translation, were re
ceived by the American ambassador
from German soldiers.
nere is the protest of a German sol
dier, an eye-witness of the slaughter of
Russian soldiers in the Masurian lakes
and swamps:
"It was frightful, heart-rending, as
these masses of human beings were
driven to destruetio,.. Above the ter
r"V thunder of tin annon could be
heard the heart-ren ang cries of the
Russians: 'O Prussians! O Prussians!'
but there was no mercy. Our captain
had' ordered: 'The whole lot must die;
so rapid fire.' As I have heard, five
men and one officer on our side went
mad from these heart-rending cries.
But most of my comrades and the offi
cers joked as the unarmed and helpless
Russians shrieked for mercy while
they were being suffocated in the
swamps and shot down. The order
was : 'Close up and at it harder !' For
days afterwards those heart-rending
yells followed me and I dare not think
of them or I shall go mad. There is no
God, there is no morality and no ethics
any more. There are no human beings
any more, but only beasts. Down with
militarism.
"If you are a truth-loving man,
please receive these lines from a com
mon Prussian soldier."
Following Is the testimony of another
. ea.-tern fj. ::.:
'-Pirh(.-IS, '14.
Christianity I send
you these wurds.
"Wounded Russians are killed with
the bayonet according to orders.
"And Russians who have surrender
ed are often shot down in masses ac-
heart-ending prayers.
"In th( hope that you, as the repre
sentative of a Christian state, will
protest against this. I sign myself,
"A GERMAN SOLDIER AND CHRIS
TIAN." Th third letter, from the western
front, shows the same horror of th
system of which the writer was a wit
ness.
"To the American Government,
AVashington, U. S. A.
"Englishmen who have surrendered
are shot down in small groups. With
the French one is more considerate. I
ask whether men let themselves be
taken prisoner in order to be dis
armed and shot down afterward? Is
that chivalry in battle? It is no longer
" MUl'l UIIIUIIj; lilt," lltMJlJlf I UU litfUI
, ., . , .
evorvwhere that few nnsnnprs nre
taken ; they are shot down in small
groups. They any naively: 'We don't
want any unnecessary mouths to feed.
Wlu'-e th''";' is n one to enter com
plaint, there is no judge.' Is there
then no power in the world which can
put an end to these murders and res
cue the victims? Where i Chris
tianity? Where is right? Slight is
right.
"A SOLDIER AND A MAN WHO IS
NO BARBARIAN."
Socialists Oppose System
Many of the Germans, as has been
already indicated, do not believe the
reports of the atrocities committed by
the Belgian civilian's and refuse to ac
cept the system of frightfulness. The
Vorwaerts, the leading socialist paper,
which has a very wide circle of read
ers, has opposed the policy of fright
fulness. All honor to Its editors who
have so courageously opposed the pow
erfrl military authority ! Its editorial,
entitled "Our Foes," published August
2.1. 1914, reads as follows:
"What should one say when even
such an organ as the Dentsches Offi-zier-Blatt
expresses its sympathy with
a demand that 'the beasts' who are
, taken as francs-tireurs should not be
killed, but only wounded so that they
may then he left to a fate 'which makes
any help impossible?' Or what should
I we say when the Deutsches Offizier-
1 Fi:it states that 'a punitive destruc- 1
j torn evi-n of whole regions' cannot 'af
I ford full recompense for the bones of a
I l?ifln tniirilovofl INmipVfininn 'r(nn-
(1pr?, Thns(? arp t,,p (ps-res of Wf)0d.
thirsty fanatics and we are thoroughly
ashamed of ourselves because it is
'nsslhle tnat there are p amon
lie wlm .,. lh,ns,.
"Barbarism," Declares Vorwaerts.
On the following day, August 24,
1014. the Vorwaerts returned to the
attack in an editorial "Against Bar
barism." . . . "One might, in the first
place, possibly relieve that such a de
mand for a bloody vengeance against
alleged Belgian outrages emanates
from a single disease-racked brain;
but it appears that whole groups
among certain classes who represent
German kultur want to indulge in or
gies of barbarism and to devise a
whole system for the purpose of or
ganizing 'a war of revenge.'
"What of law and custom! Such
thoughts do not stir a 'great nation.'
Thus in a leading article of the Ber
liner NYueste Nachrichten, the de
mand is made that all the authorities
have been committed by the people.
They demand that the captured city
should immediately pay a fine of 500,
000,000 marks; that all stores of the
conquered territory be requisitioned
without paying the inhabitants a single
penny for them."
Vorwaerts in Protest.
Three years later, August 2G. 1917,
the Vorwaerts quoted the following
passage from the Deutsche Tageszel
tung: "We have a ring of politicians who
hold that might makes right Qlacht
politiker), who despise the forces of
the inner life and believe that they
must eliminate all ethical points of
view . . . from foreign and social
politics. For them, Germany of the
present and of the future is the coun
try of the Krupps and Borsigs, of the
Zeppelins and the U-boats. Any idea
of a connection between politics and
morals is rejected and any reference
to the right of a moral method of con
sideration is ridiculed as delusion and
sentimentality."
The German officers were provided
with the forms to be used in terror
izing the conquered people. The com
mon soldiers were provided with
phrase books which would enable them
to impose their will upon the terrified
people. Minister Brand Whitlock in
his report to the state department on
September 12, 1917. writes:
"The German soldiers were provid
ed with phrase bonks giving alternate
translation in German and French of
such sentences as:
" 'Hands up.' (It is the very first
sentence in the book.)
" 'Carry out all the furniture.
" 'I am thirsty. Bring me some beer,
gin, rum.
"'You have to supply a barrel of
wine and a keg of beer.
" 'Lead me to the wealthiest Inhabi
tants of this village. I have orders to
requisition several barrels of wine.
" 'Show us the way to . If you
lead us astray, you will be shot.' "
tii t i
"lit smsi;i .!, (
Automobile Line.
The Regular Line from Columbia to Campbellsville is
owned and operated by W. E. Noe. He has in his
employe safe and reliable drivers.
Transportation can be had at any hour at reasonable rates.
Address,
W. E. NOE, Columbia, Ky.
J
IWt
FIRE AXE) LIFE
INSURANCE
"The Service Agency.
Columbia, Kentucky,
Bettter Than Ever Are Our Gigantic Stocks Of
Carpets, Rugs, Linoleum, Wall
Paper and Draperies.
We Specialize in these Lines and Cater Especially to
the People that Want Reliable Goods
at a Minimum Price.
Every inquiry is answered intelligently and we count our satisfied
customers in Adair county and vicinity by the score. To know all
about Floor Coverings, a visit to our spacious floors is instructive
and convincing-
Habbtich Bros. & Weliendorff, Inc.,
522-524 W. Market St.,
Louisville, Kentucky.
5 3 3
11
Incorporated
$1.00 ond Up Rooms Without Doth.
$1.50 and Up Rooms With '
you ROOMS
Equipped throughout with Automatic Sprinklers the fresi'
Fire Protection Known to tnsuranee Engineers.
1
Louisville,
6tli & Main Streets.
pAJgrn
iifiiixu
mi tmrAu
Sis Years Ago, Thinking She SSiJ Dl" Says Tnes Lu?y, Bet Now
She I Well Sfecag vae-w mJ Fs&ises Cm&m For
Her Rceovsry.
Hoyse City. Tex. Sir. Mary Kil-j
-ifin, of this place, says; "After the !
l):rta of my little girl. . .my side com
menced to hurt ms. I Bad to go back
to bed. "Wo called the doctor. He
treated me... but I got no tetter. I
got -Trorse and worse until the misery
was unbearable... I was in bed for
three months and suffered such agony
that I was just drawn up in a knot. ..
I told my husband if he would get
me a bottle of Cardui I would try it. . .
I commenced tnking it, however, that
evening I called my family about
mo... for I knew I could not last
many days unless I had a change for
is the new "cold
bottle" to enjoy with the
iranienicrial "hot bird"
a soft drink in the
strictest sense, but the
liveliest, nippiest appe
tizer imaginable rich
in the flavor of nutritive
cereals and imported
I'JPWA Saazer Hops, atvu
rrWr$k :nakes ccod things to
w' fH' 11 AW$ eat taste evcn fcetter
lil Mi 4m I nd it's healthful.
ANHEUSER-BUSCH
St. Lcuis, U. S. A.
tS ! L
u
Kentucky.
the better. That -was six years ag9
aad I am stSH here and am ft well,
strong woman, and I are my life to
CarduL I bad only taken naif the
bottle when I began to feel better.
The misery in my side got leas... I
continued riglit on taking the CarduL
until I had taken three bottles and I
did not need any more for I wag well
and never felt better in my life... I
have never had any trouble from that
day to this."
Do you suffer from headache, back
ache, pains in sides, or other discom
forts, -each month? Or do you feel
weak, nervous and fagged-out? If so,
give Cardui, the woman's tonic, a
trial. J. 71
iPJmfl '' 1& Css$n