Classification is difficult, mainly because ten lines of a single
text not infrequently furnish evidence of a variety of offenses. I must
take them almost at random, grouping them under such analogies or
association of ideas or images as they may offer.
I.
The first notebook at hand is that of a soldier of the Prussian Guard,
the Gefreiter Paul Spielmann, (of Company I, First Brigade of the
Infantry Guard.) He tells the story of an unexpected night alarm on the
1st of September in a village near Blamont. The bugle sounds, and the
Guard, startled from sleep, begins the massacre, (Figs. 1 and 2:)
[Illustration: Figure 1.]
The inhabitants fled through the village. It was horrible. The
walls of houses are bespattered with blood and the faces of
the dead are hideous to look upon. They were buried at once,
some sixty of them. Among them many old women, old men, and
one woman pregnant--the whole a dreadful sight. Three children
huddled together--all dead. Altar and arches of the church
shattered. Telephone communication with the enemy was found
there. This morning, Sept. 2, all the survivors were driven
out; I saw four little boys carrying on two poles a cradle
with a child some five or six months old.
Pages:
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154