St. Louis Post-Dispatch
August 29, 1914

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. — K * * * > Odi: Reanlan Paper in St: Leuk Wh Assctoted Pose. Newsi Benen: decal ates VOL, 67. NO. 9. ST. LOUIS, SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 29, 1914.—12 PAGES. PRICE ONE CENT | E 9 5 7 5 11 ee N * =e 7 7 25 — * . en _ er. RS ya „ * Ms ermany s Great Fortress at Koenigsberg Invested, ‘Allies Say - of Louvain by Germans Called Needless Horror ; WEN AND LORE LLFD, SAY REFUGEES AS LOUVAIN BURNED Germans, After a Retreat, Said to Have Become | Angered When Fired on by Own Troops by ‘Mistake— American Clergyman Reported Slain--Library, University and Churches in Ruins. f- essary, according to German officers, by the action of ‘citizens not Sd ea FS * 8 * ti 2. Sd “ " * ＋ — „ 8 ] 1 2 ‘ 7 +: uniform, firing on German soldiers. Belgium denies this saying the citizens had been disarmed several days before, and that 3 was done by German soldiers themselves, who mistook bipomendes for the enemy. The Post-Dispatch and New York have received the following special cablegram from a cor- nt: rer — ul Cable Dispatch From a 2 Correspondent of the Post-Dispatch and che London Morning Post. + (Copyright, 1914, by Press Pub. Co.) TER NEUZEN, Holland, Aug. 29.—Louvain was sacked and 1 Wednesday night by the Germans. All the noble build- © tnehnding the town hall (the Hotel de Ville), the library and eee were destroyed. The hall was one of the most utiful Gothic buildings in the world. One of the great losses e the library, with 150,000 volumes of incalculable value. is the: y disclosed at Malines ; fleeing refugees and confirmed by nd children. The atrocity seems in. e but there is no reason to doubt 8 day, fell back upon 33 Reaching the | in the evening, the German fugl- Be were crea on in error by their e at this misfortune and chagrin the defeat at Malines seems to av — — the rage of the Germans. > a set about to take re- population and destroy ® 1 it is not possible to put upon paper @ accounts of the fugitives as they Pere given in gestures and broken ex- damations rather than in sentences. 7 was always the same — that Louvain Inhabitants Were Unarmed, Sa a ‘High Belgian Official LONDON, Aug. 29. HE War Information Bureau announces the following: “The Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs reports that on Tuesday a German army corps, after receiving a check, withdrew in disorder to the city of Louvain. The Germans on guard at the en- trance of the city, mistaking the nature of this incursion, fired upon their countrymen, whom they mis- took for Belgians.” The report continues: “In spite of all the denials’ from the authorities, the Germans, in order to cover their mistake, pre- tended that it was the inhabitants who had fired on them, although the inhabitants, including the po- lice, all had been disarmed more than a week before. “Without inquiry and without listening to any protest, the Ger- man commander announced that the town would be destroyed imme- diately. The inhabitants were or- dered to leave their dwellings, and some were m prisoners, The women and cilldren were placed on trains, the destination of which is not known, and soldiers fur- nished with bombs set fire to all Parts of the city. “The splendid Church of St. Pe- ter, the university buildings, the li- bra and scientific establishments were delivered to the flames. “Several notable citizens were shot. The city, which was the in- tellectual metropolis of the low countries, is now nothing more than a heap of ashes.“ mung fleeing from their cloisters and priests from their churches, the sick carried on their beds, the aged tottering along with the help of their children. and ali who could carrying some poor article of household furniture. In one cart was collected 17 children. evidently of several families. Another handcart held an old, palsied womar pushed by her grandchild. All were fleeing to Antwerp as the city of refuge. a city which shudders in darkness throughout the nights from fear of mid- night bombs. Among the train of fugitives were i not ‘the mite of a camp of Julius Caesar. but AI vot until the eleventh century did it ie. heceme. Cy coronal as the seat of the It remained the BELGIUM ENVOYS. 10 TELL U.S. OF GERMAN CRUELTY King Albert Sending Them for Fear Kaiser’s Men Plan to Exterminate Nation. REPORTS ARE SWORN TO Aged Persons and Girls Reported Tortured and Women Cap- tured to Work Farms. By E. ALEXANDER POWELL, A Special Correspondent of the Post- Dispatch, ANTWERP, Aug. 29.—King Albert ap- pointed a commission of three envoys extraordinary, headed by Minister of State Vanderveld, famous Socialist Dep- uty, to sail from England on Sunday for the United States and lay the facts regarding the German atrocities before President Wilson and the American Government. The other commissioners are Hymans, Goblet and Belvelia, ai! Ministers of State. The King takes this extraordinary. step because he is convinced that the Germans fully intend to exterminate the Belgian population unless they are halt. ed by American public opinion. Here are the facts, obtained from eyewit- nesses: Andrew Courts of the Second Grena- diers, in a deposition taken by the Rev E. L. A. Hertslet, chaplain to the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, in the British ship here, in my presence, swears that in the village of Elwyt he saw an old man hanging by the hands from the rafters of a farmhouse. A fire had been kindled under him and his body was charred completely except his arms and shoulders and his old gray head. Hands and Feet Cut Off. Lieut. Malon of the First Grenadiers told me yesterday that at Hostadt, a vHlage which I saw bombarded Wednes- day, he found in one house a man and wife and two little children with their bands and feet cut off by Germans. In another house he found a 10-year- old boy hanging from the rafters. In another house a youth of 18 years had been tied in a chair and bayonetted over 2 times, and a woman, 82 years old was lying across the threshold with two bayonet wounds in her back. A man, his wife and four children were shut in a cellar by the Germans who set fire to the house. Owing to there being water in the cellar they escaped alive, but were terribly burned. Commandant Monteneif of the gen- eral staff sixth division, entered Elwyt immediately after the Germans had left. He found the corpse of a little boy, kneeling with his hands raised in supplication and run through by a German bayonet. He found the bodies of two young girls shockingly muti- lated. A soldier in a hospital here was wounded in the fighting around Ma- lines. He tells me that German Uhlans rode over the field after the battle and dispatched wounded ‘Belgians by run- ning them through with lances. My informant only escaped by feigning death. From Reputable Sources. These stories come from every quar- ter of Belgium and from the most rep- utable sources. There is no possible dgubt that the Germans are acting un- der orders, so as to diminish and ter- rorize the population in their rear. I desire to impress the American peo- ple with the fact that these are no ru- mor or hearsay, but statements from officers, soldiers and priests and vil- lage officials under oath. Gen. Wey- jer’s atrocities in Cuba pale into insig- nificance beside these things I have seen and heard in Belgium. Count Goblet d’Alviella, vice-presi- dent of the Senate and chairman of inquiry on the atrocities, informs me that. the Louvain massacre was wotst in centuries. About half the en- tire male population of the city was executed and the women deported to Germany to work on the farms. The city was nothing but a heap of ashes and the streets were carpeted with charred corpses. Belgium is sick with horror. One Edition Daily Limit Is PARIS, Aug. 2.-—The newspapers are forbidden to publish more than one edi- tion in every NA hours. Failure to ob- eerve the order, which was issued by Celestin Hennion, Prefect of Police, and approved by Gen. Gallieni, Military Gov- ernpor of Paris, will result in the sus- of the newspaper concerned and in the total suppression of a paper in Jase of @ second attempt — — the 4 Put on Paris Newspapers Map Showing the Russian Advance * 2 oo * ai. — ARROWS INDICATE RUS SIAN ADWANCE- ee — — — BOUNDARY LINES SCALE OF MILES POSEN | 448 MULES 25 N BERLIN. * 2 NR, “J FIVE RUSSIAN CORPS) REPORTED DEFEATED | HERE . — = A England in Life and Death Struggle, Lord Roberts Says LONDON, Aug. 29.—Field Me «ha! Lord Roberts made the declaration today that Great Britain, in the pres- ent war, would require hundreds of thousands of soldiers. The occasion of this statement was the review of a new regiment of 1300 London business men, at which Lord Roberts made an address. “We are engaged in a life and death struggle,” he said, “and you are showing your determination to do voun duty as soldiers, and by all the means in your power to bring this war—a war forced upon us by an am- bitious and hee nation—to a successful result.“ FAIR WEATHER TONIGHT, | ‘WARMER ‘TOMORROW THE SRMEERATU RES. 72 Oftictat fore- east for St. Louis and “vicinity — Fair weather to- night and to- morrovyr; rising temperature to- morrow. Missouri—Gener- ally fair tonight and tomorrow; somewhat higher temperature in north and west portions tonight. Illinois — Gener- ally fair tonight and tomorrow, except possibly local showers in northwest portion. warmer in north portio tonight and in north and central cortions to- * | LATEST WAR BULLETINS | By ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON, Aug. 29.—An official dispatch from the Foreign office i Paris, dated yesterday, was received by the French Embassy today. It says: ‘*On Auzust 27 the French troops took the cffensive in the Vosges and in the region between the Vosges and Nancy, and their offensive has been ‘nterrupted, but the German loss has been considerable. „Our forces found, near Nancy, on a front of three kilometer’ (nearly two miles), 2500 dead Germans, and near Vitrimont, on a front of four kil.- meters, 4500 dead. Longwy, where the garrison consisted of only one ba- talion, has capitulated’ after a siege of 24 days. In the North the English army was attacked by a very superior force end after brilliant resistance, moved back a littl>. ‘‘In East Prussia the German troops are retiring on Allenstein and Koenigsberg. In Galicia the Russians are only thirty kilometers from Lem- verg. The general army headquarters of Servia have moved forward to Zalievo.’’ BERLIN, Aug. 29 (by wireless to the Associated Press).—No news was received here today concerning the situation on the French frontier, beyond a special lispateh to the Tages Zeitung declaring that the British defeat at St Quentin was complete. The British losses were heavy and the routed British soldiers were forced to accept battle by the German cavalry, who were in masses on their line of retreat. LONDON, Aug. 29—A dispatch to the Evening News from Copenhagen says: „Ordinary railroad transportation in Germany has been suspended for the present because the railroads are engaged in carrying troops from the west front to the hard-pressed east front. communication between Paris and Boulogne runs The line of 00 a little west of north to Beauvais, and then con- from the French capi LORD ROBERTS SAYS BRITISH NEED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF MEN Copenhagen Reports Germany. 13 Withdrawing Troops From Wust and Hurrying Them East to Check Russians Paris to Boulogne Tre! in Service Suspend d. What little definite war news escaped the censors todar, reflected chiefly the situation in East Prussia, where the opere- tions are assuming daily a greater importauce. | ‘These reports are conflicting. At Berlin, it is offieially an- trians and Germans, south of Allenstein, Koenigsberg. Newspaper dispatehes from St. Petersburg, on the other hand, declare that Allenstein has been occupied by the Russians, who are investing Koenigsberg. From the same source comes the statement that the Russians are drawing a net around Lem- berg, the capital of Galicia. Field Marshal Lord Roberts declared today that Great Brit- ain would require hundreds of thousands of men for the con- flict. , Berlin has received a report of the defeat of the British 44 St. Qeuntin, France. If this is true, it places the Germans 28 miles south of Cambrai, the scene of the recent German success. Paris and Boulogne Train Service Suspended. A dispatch from Paris says that train service between Paris and Boulogne has been suspended. According to a report from Copenhagen, Germany is ed ing troops from her west front to reinforce her army and that of Austria in the east. : The German Ambassador at Weshinktou denied today stories of German cruelty and. declared that Zeppelin airships had at- tacked nothing but fortifications. The Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry, 1000 strong, sdiled from Montreal today. . Exhaustion on the part of the German troops and the conse- quent necessity of momentarily slackening their forward movement 60 miles south... }}is offered in some quarters in London today as an explanation of the absolute silence which has veiled all the operations in Northern France since the desperate struggle on Wednesday when a quarter of a million of German soldiers tried to hack their way through the Lritish lines held by less than half that number. Just as many ether people, however, are convinced that the bat- tle which Field Marshal Sir John French, Commander in Chief of the British forces on the continent, said Wednesday, was impending, is now in progress and that the commanders are awaiting a decisive out- come before permitting any information to become publie. Since Wednesday both British and French troops have had time to entrench themselves, and their artillery has been able to find the ranges over the zones the Germans must traverse in the next fighting. Rumor Has Five Corps Moving on Belfort. : A telegram from Basel, Switzerland, declaring that five German and Austrian army corps are marching on Belfort, France, has not been authenticated. London has not verified the report that the Germans have been obliged to withdraw a portion of * in the West to meet the Russian advance in the Eat. Fired by the news that the native Indian army is dite par- ticipate in this war, the Basutos of South Africa have London dispatches say, that in the event of an attempted invasion of South African n they be allowed to cast a few stones at the enemy. = * Berlin Reports. Russian Defeat; KK 85 „ 2 Ea Fe —— —— COREE — FS Pe om - 8 * fe Te eee Sie . wea =. B 9 5 2 Tie „ cy > mer * ¥ sa 3 rat 1 % 1 3 * . dounded that five Russian corps have been defeated by the Alle | foo