THE LUST FOR BLOOD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15748, 24 October 1914, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE LUST FOR BLOOD.

MURDER AND OUTRAGE.

SAVAGE GERMAN SOLDIERS.

OLD AND YOUNG PERISH. ArrAixiMO details of the atrocities committed by German soldiers on defenceless Belgian women and children are given in the course of the following narrative by M. Isadora Felix Cruls, a Belgian refugee, who has arrived in London from Ostend. M. Cruls carried on a prosperous printing works at Saint Josse, a suburb of Brussels, giving employment to several men. " When hostilities broke out," commenced M. Cruls, "I was called up for service in the Guard Civic, and was stationed on the Chnussee de Louvain. the road between Ixjuvain and Brussels- This was on July 29, but it was not until August 8 that we had anything to do. On that day the wounded began to arrive. My wife was suffering from an internal complaint, and as a rumour was I spread through Brussels that the Germans i had poisoned the drinking water I took j her and our three children to Ostend. So disorganised was tJie railway system that it took seven hours to do the ordinarily two hours' journey. " I returned' to Brussels in a taxi-cab, and for sixty hours on end I had no sleep and very little to eat. That will give von some idea of what the Belgian people had to go through even in the early days ;of the war At midnight on August 19- | 20 I was on duty oy the Chaussee de Lou- , vain watching the refugees come in from the various towns and villages. The road was blocked when I got near. I saw that a party of German lancers were at the rear of the procession of refugees. I saw one of the lancers prodding a woman, who had four or five children walking by her side.

Fate of a Child.

I " There was an old woman, evidently] ; the mother of the young woman, walking j | with them- One of the Lancers was amus- \ I ing himself by pricking this old woman j I with his lance in order to make her walk j I along more quickly. The young woman j turned round and shouted "something at j j the Lancer, either by way of remonstrance j jor insult. I was not near enough to hear ! j what she said; The Lancer took up his , i lance and ran it through one of the little j ■ girls who were walking along, clutching I the hand of her mother. She was a fair- ] retired girl of about 7 or 8 years of age. I When the crowd saw blood spurt through I • her white dress, they Became infuriated j ' and a panic ensued. The Lancers bored j I down upon the people, scattering them , lin all directions. What became of these , • people I do not know. I ! " I want, to he perfectly fair to the Her- ! , man soldiers, so I will'say here that II saw many of them behave properly. The ! atrocities were not in the nature of an I Organised series of insults." j j Referring to the case of two little chil- [ jdren from DL'sl, whose parents were mur- j ; dered before their eyes bv the German ! soldiers, he said: "'The people were so : filled with pity for the children that some • men picked them- up and pitched them j j into a train as it was going out of the i i station for Ostend- The children fell on j the tender of the engine, and thus tra- j | velled to Ostend, where they arrived ! I covered with coal dust. A stewardess of | the Marie Henriette. a mail steamer plvjing between Ostend and Dover, was so filled with sympathy with the terrible i sufferings which these two little mites i bad undergone that she herself took them lon to the boat. ! ! " Youth is Better." j " Another story I have to relate was' : told me by the mother herself. It hap- | pened near Lean. A squadron of about 1500 Uhlans marched through the town, j and, alleging that somebody had shot at I them as they were passing through the j streets, went round to all the houses ] searching for firearms, smelling the riflej in order to see if they had been recently ! fired. At the house at which this woman j lived there could be no question that a j rifle had been fired, as there was not a firearm of any description in the place. " The familv circle consisted of a grandfather, the father, mother, and a girl of 17 or 18, and a young boy, who, upon seeing the approach of 'the German soldiers, fled and hid himself. The j soldiers came in, and without any quesj tioning fired at and killed the father. | They were going to shoot the grand- | father, when the mother and daughter fell on their knees and begged the soldiers to spare the life of the old man. The officer, or under-officer, of the party then said : ' Yes. we won't trouble about the old people,' and touching the cneek of the yoang girl with his fingers, he added, with a significant laugh : ' Pretty vouth is better.' " The following story was related to MCruls by a gentleman with whom* he was closely acquainted on nis arrival from Liege. This gentleman had a friend who was impressed into the service of the Germans as a motor driver for transport purposes. The man was told to go to headquarters to get further orders. He either did not hear or did not understand what the order was, and a sentry thereupon j shot him dead. * Governess Hung. A man who saw this from a window ' shot at the sentry, whereupon the Germans brought out twenty mitrailleuses and poured whole volleys into that quarter of the town, killing men, women, and children. This started a fire, and it was not until tho flames had assumed such dimensions that the whole town 'was threatened that the Germans allowed anybody to come in and put them out. It is considered certain that between thirtv and forty houses were burnt down, and that many men, women, and children were burnt to death. A family who lived in the Rue de la Loi, in Brussels, went to stay at their villa at Genck, about six kilometres from Brussels. When the Germans arrived at the village they went to. the villa and smashed up the whole of the place, stealing everything they could lav their' hands on, and even taking away 'the weddingring that the husband wore on his ringer. They took away the men first, and nobody knows what has become of them. A member of the family and two sen-ants fled from the house in terror, but returned when they saw the German soldiers going- , This is what they saw: "The body of an old lady of 70 years of age lying on the floor with her throat cut. A governess, about 30 years of age—l cannot tell you her nationality—was found hanging from a tree, naked and disembowelled and the rest of the family managed to make their way back to Brussels, where they now are."