s substantially with that given in a
letter written by Mme. Tielmans, the Burgomaster's wife, which is
printed in the fifth report of the Belgian Commission. The letter is as
follows:

This is how it happened. About 4 in the afternoon my husband
was giving cigars to the sentinels stationed at the door. I
saw that the General and his aides de camp were looking at us
from the balcony and told him to come indoors. Just then I
looked toward the Grand Place, where more than 2,000 Germans
were encamped, and distinctly saw two columns of smoke
followed by a fusillade. The Germans were firing on the houses
and forcing their way into them. My husband, children,
servant, and myself had just time to dash into the staircase
leading to the cellar. The Germans were even firing into the
passages of the houses. After a few minutes of indescribable
horror, one of the General's aides de camp came down and said:
"The General is dead. Where is the Burgomaster?" My husband
said to me, "This will be serious for me." As he went forward
I said to the aide de camp: "You can see for yourself, Sir,
that my husband did not fire." "That makes no difference," he
said. "He is responsible." My husband was taken off. My son,
who was at my side, took us into another cellar. The same aide
de camp came and dragged him out and made him walk in front of
him, kicking him as he went. The poor boy could hardly walk.
That morning when they came to the town the Germans had fired
through the windows of the houses, and a bullet had come into
the room where my son was, and he had been wounded in the calf
by the ricochet. After my husband and son had gone I was
dragged all through the house by Germans, with their revolvers
leveled at my head. I was compelled to see their dead General.
Then my daughter and I were thrown into the street without
cloaks or anything. We were massed in the Grand Place,
surrounded by a cordon of soldiers, and compelled to witness
the destruction of our beloved town. And then, by the hideous
light of the fire, I saw them for the last time, about 1 in
the morning, my husband and my boy tied together. My
brother-in-law was behind them. They were being led out to
execution.]

The houses were set on fire with special apparatus, while people were
dragged from their houses, a