“=We cannot doubt their (the Belgian Commission) competency for the task entrusted to them; nor can we mistrust their good faith. And of what nature is the story which their report, item by item, unrolls? They recount a series of acts committed by the German soldiery which, if even a half or a quarter be true, are enough to condemn them to everlasting shame as barbarians grosser and more criminal than Huns or Visigoths, or the hordes led by Yenghis Khan or Tamerlane the Great.=” --From the _Daily Telegraph_. X. Atrocities Around Liége. Belgian officials reported from Liége devilish atrocities committed in the town and suburbs. In the Place de l’Université, the Rue des Pitteurs, and the Quai des Pecheurs most of the houses were burned. The occupants, who had been awakened by the acrid smoke, fled in terror, and fifteen persons, men, women, and children, were killed as they ran, while in one instance a family were called together, and father and son were killed and then mutilated in front of them. Apparently many of the soldiers breaking into _cafés_ were drunk, and after firing accused the inhabitants of it, taking vengeance by burning and murders without restraint. This indeed appeared to be part of the German campaign, for not only in Belgium, but also in France, the same inhuman and dastardly excuses were resorted to in order to attempt to justify the awful crimes which these “cultured” barbarians committed. Road Strewn with Dead. Georges Just, a restaurant-keeper at Chenee, province of Liége, said: “When we heard of the German approach my wife and I fled across the river into Liége. It seems now like a dream. Just before they entered the town the Germans committed all kinds of outrages. Never shall I forget the terrible sights along the roadside. Mutilated corpses of people I knew, and many wounded and dying, lay strewn in our path. In some places we saw the dead piled in heaps fifteen feet high.” A letter written by a niece of Mr. John Redmond, M.P., who was living in a Belgian town occupied by the Germans, contained the following:-- “They are absolute barbarians, and treat the women like dogs. For the least thing the inhabitants are shot, and they all live in fear of their lives. The town’s most prominent men, in relays of three, guarded by soldiers, guarantee with their lives the good behaviour of the people. My husband is one of the guarantors. On Wednesday night he spent his hours of vigil in the town hall. Imagine my feelings. “The Germans take everything. No matter how well they are treated and received, they behave filthily and brutally, officers and men alike. Empty houses they smash from top to bottom.”