On the 30th August, 1914, the Germans arrested the dean and vicar of a village in Brabant, under the pretext that they had made luminous signals from the church tower. Now the priests had been prisoners since 2.0 o'clock of the afternoon; how then could they have ascended the tower at 5.30 p.m.? Despite their protestations they were taken to Louvain, whence a so-called Council of War sent them to Germany. Arriving in a prisoners' camp, they were accommodated in the latrines, which consisted of a trench and a plank perforated with holes. Each time a German soldier had to satisfy his need, he took the opportunity of insulting the priests in the most filthy manner. A German major sent for them and informed them that they were about to be shot. The vicar asked that he might confess. "No," he was told, "hell is good enough for you." They were led away to die ... but were sent to a seminary, where they remained prisoners until January 1915. _Animosity toward Churches._ Against the churches their rage was unloosed with even greater fury. In the part of Brabant that lies north of Vilvorde there is hardly a belfry left erect: Beyghem, Capelle-au-Bois, Haecht, Humbeek, Pont-Brûlé, Sempst, Eppeghem, Houtem, Weerde, Hofstade, Elewijt, Werchter, Boortmeerbeek, etc., are all burned. At Termonde all the churches have been either burned or profaned. But in the midst of this city, where twelve hundred houses were burned out of fourteen hundred, the Béguinage remained intact, an oasis of calm isolated amid the calcined ruins. On the grassy plain that surrounds the bright little houses of the béguines stood the chapel. This did not find favour with the Germans, and its blackened walls attest that Kultur has passed that way. Were the béguines perhaps "francs-tireurs"? We have already stated that the peculiar irritation of the Germans against the clergy and their sanctuaries was due to the fact that they regarded the curés as the leaders of the "francs-tireurs." The falsity of this allegation was recognized by Dr. Julius Bachem, the editor of the _Kölnische Volkszeitung_, one of the most prominent Catholic newspapers in Germany. Dr. Bachem published, in the issue for April 1915 of the _Süddeutsche Monatshefte_, which was principally devoted to Belgium, an article on the religious problem in Belgium. He based his proofs on the authority of Baron von Bissing, Commandant of the 7th Army Corps, at present Governor-General in Belgium, and also on the special inquiry undertaken by the Union of the Catholic Priests of the Rhine, _Pax_. This inquiry, mostly conducted with the aid of the present military authorities in Belgium, proved that the clergy was absolutely innocent, and that all the accusations brought against it were purely imaginary.[16] The Emperor did not wait for the confirmation of the crimes attributed to the priests before making violent accusations against them in his telegram to the President of the United States. He has not retracted these.