LOOTING THE DEAD
BATTLEFIELDS DESECRATED. SEARCH FOR BURIED WAR METAL. (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association). PARIS, October 29. A scandalous state of affairs is revealed in the war zone as a result of the return to agricultural use of the soil on battlefields, such as Chemin-des-Dames and Craonne. The Government leased to contractors the right to search the battlefields for metal, the lessees employing hundreds of workmen of all nationalities, including Poles, Portuguese, Arabs, and Chinese, to seek for buried steel, iron, and copper. The search reveals many skeletons of English, French, Italian, and German bodies, which were carelessly flung aside after everything of value had been taken. The searchers are paid in accordance with the amount of metal they find. Thus two Arabs found several tons of shell cases, for which they received 10,000 francs, and spent it within a day by gambling in the cabarets. The Government pays a premium of two francs for each body discovered, but this is too little to prevent the ghouls looting the dead. A searching inquiry has been ordered, and already several arrests have been made.
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Bibliographic details
Southland Times, Issue 19388, 31 October 1924, Page 6
Word Count
187LOOTING THE DEAD Southland Times, Issue 19388, 31 October 1924, Page 6
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