“The body of M. Gravis was propped up against a wall for forty-eight hours as an example to the town. Men were billeted in all the houses, and although in the better houses the officers behaved with some restraint, in the peasants’ cottages unbridled licence was the rule. “Women were treated infamously, indescribable scenes of debauchery taking place, while all the possessions of the unfortunates were wilfully wasted and destroyed. The fiery-tempered people were being driven to reprisals, so that an excuse for further cruelty might be found.” What General von Boehn said. I take the following extract from a long dispatch in the _Daily Chronicle_, from Mr. E. Alexander Powell, the Special Correspondent of the _New York World_:-- “Three weeks ago the Government of Belgium requested me to place before the American people, through the medium of the _New York World_, a list of specific and authenticated atrocities committed by German armies upon Belgian non-combatants. “To-day General von Boehn, commanding the Ninth Imperial Field Army, and acting as mouthpiece of the German General Staff, has asked me to place before the American people the German version of the incidents in question.... “General von Boehn began by asserting that the accounts of the atrocities perpetrated on Belgian non-combatants were a tissue of lies. “‘Look at these officers about you,’ he said; ‘they are gentlemen like yourselves. Look at the soldiers marching past in the road out there. They are most of them the fathers of families. Surely you do not believe that they would do the things they have been accused of.’ “‘Three days ago, General,’ I said, ‘I was in Aerschot. The whole town is now but a ghastly, blackened, bloodstained ruin!’ “‘When we entered Aerschot,’ he replied, ‘the son of the Burgomaster came into the room, drew a revolver, and assassinated my Chief of Staff. What followed was only retribution. The townspeople only got what they deserved!’ “‘But why wreak your vengeance on women and children?’ “‘None have been killed,’ the General asserted positively. “‘I’m sorry to contradict you, General,’ I asserted, with equal positiveness, ‘but I have myself seen their mutilated bodies. So has Mr. Gibson, Secretary of the American Legation at Brussels, who was present during the destruction of Louvain.’ “It is War!” “‘Of course, there is always danger of women and children being killed during street fighting,’ said the General, ‘if they insist on coming into the street. It is unfortunate, but it is war.’