f rifles. At Louvain,
at Liege, at Aerschot, at Malines, at Montigny, at Andenne, and
elsewhere, there is evidence that the troops were not restrained from
drunkenness, and drunken soldiers cannot be trusted to observe the rules
or decencies of war, least of all when they are called upon to execute a
preordained plan of arson and pillage. From the very first women were
not safe. At Liege women and children were chased about the streets by
soldiers.

"Witnesses recount how a great crowd of men, women and children from
Aerschot were marched to Louvain, and then suddenly exposed to a fire
from a mitrailleuse and rifles. 'We were all placed,' recounts a
sufferer, 'in Station Street, Louvain, and the German soldiers fired on
us. I saw the corpses of some women in the street. I fell down, and a
woman who had been shot fell on top of me.' Women and children suddenly
turned out into the streets, and, compelled to witness the destruction
of their homes by fire, provided a sad spectacle to such as were sober
enough to see.

"A humane German officer, witnessing the ruin of Aerschot, exclaimed in
disgust: 'I am a father myself, and I cannot bear this. It is not war
but butchery.' Officers as well as men succumbed to the temptation of
drink, with results which may be illustrated by an incident which
occurred at Campenhout. In this village there was a certain well-to-do
merchant (name given) who had a cellar of good champagne. On the
afternoon of the 14th or 15th of August three German cavalry officers
entered the house and demanded champagne. Having drunk ten bottles and
invited five or six officers and three or four private soldiers to join
them, they continued their carouse, and then called for the master and
mistress of the house.

"'Immediately my mistress came in,' says the valet de chambre, 'one of
the officers who was sitting on the floor got up, and, putting a
revolver to my mistress' temple, shot her dead. The officer was
obviously drunk. The other officers continued to drink and sing, and
they did not pay any great attention to the killing of my mistress. The
officer who shot my mistress then told my master to dig a grave and bury
my mistress. My master and the officer went into the garden, the officer
threatening my master with a pistol. My master was then forced to dig
the grave and to bury my mistress in it. I cannot say for what reason
they killed my mistress. The officer who did it was singing all the
time.'

"I