ROUNDHOUSE FIRE
WORK OF INCENDIARY
After a thorough investigation,
United States Attorney R. F. Roth
announces that he is convinced that
the roundhouse fire at Nenana was of
an incendiary origin. He is also con
vinced that the night watchman was
not responsible for the fire.
The nature of the fire, the manner
in which the windows were blown out,
conditions about the building, every
thing, points to incendiarism.
The night watcshman, twenty min
utes before the fire broke out was in
the building, and. as he was hunting
for a leak in the steampipe, he was
clear around the interior of the room.
There was no blaze, or sign of fire.
There was no rubbish on the floor and
the fires in the two locomotives were
low. As he went out of the building
he closed the doors.
A few minutes before the fire was
discovered, two men walked past the
building and there was no sign of fire
Then, sdudenly, flames were seen
shooting from the building. The first
man upon the scene found the front
door open and the flames shooting up
from a solid three-inch floor, which,
when laid last summer, was of green
lumber. The flame was of the bluish
color which would indicate that it was
caused by either gasoline or coal oil.
tho U'indnws WOFfi blown
out by the fire, bluish flames sho
forward, and were so noticably blue
that several remarked at the time that
there “must be gasoline in the build
ing."
There are also some other circum
stances in connection with the fire
which lead the officials to believe that
the property destruction was no ac
cident, but intentional, showing that
the treacherous hand of the enemy of
the government reaches to all corners
of the earth over which is flying the
Stars and Stripes.
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RULES FOR ENLISTMENT
IN FLYING BRANCH
As many of the young men of Cor
dova have the idea of enlisting in
the aviation section as soon as they
get outside, the following regulations
from a late number of the Official
Bulletin may be of interest.
The aviation section of the signal
corps authorizes the following state
ment to clear up any misunderstand
ing which may exist as to the enlist
ment of men in or under the draft
age on account of the recent ruling
discontinuing voluntary enlistment as
a general practice.
Flyers and Balloonists
Flyers and balloonists may enlist as
heretofore upon passing the examina
tion at the nearest aviation examining
board. Their relationship to the draft
and to the drafting board is seen to
by the examining board. They them
selves are ordered into active service
as soon as possible and hold the
status of privates, first class, signal
enlisted reserve corps, with a salary
of $100 a month, 60 cents daily allow
ance for food, and quarters provided
by the government, until their com
missions are issued or they are dis
charged.
Nonflying officers of draft age or
below are not now being accepted
for service, except a limited number
of graduates of recognized engineer
ing colleges or others who can quali
fy as expert engineers; others may,
if they wish, have their names placed
on file at an examining board.
Aerial observers are not now being
accepted, whether of draft age or not.
Draft Age Enlisted Men
Enlisted men within the draft age
may now no longer volunteer at a
recruiting office, but may be inducted
voluntarily into service by their lo
cal board if they are physically fit,
sufficiently skilled, and not required
to fill the current draft quota. They
will be sent to Camp Kelly, Tex., for
distribution into trades, training and
formation into squadrons, with ranks
and salaries running from $30 a month
as private to $81 a month as master
signal electrician, food and quarters
provided by the government.
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TRAVEL AS IN DAYS OF YORE
EL PASO, Tex., Feb. 4.—The mid
dle aged may have their boyhood days
recalled next summer by the appear
ance of a long line of circus wagons
traveling overland along the dusty
pike roads with the elephants and
camels lumbering along behind the
springless cage and tableau wagons.
Because the government has taken
charge of the railroads and annulled
many of the trains, circus managers
predict that the big and small circus
organizations will have to travel from
town to town next season over the
paved roads instead of by railroad. A
local circus manager has already con
tracted for extra circus wagons and
teams to pull his shews from place tc
place next year instead of depending
upon the railroads which are over
crowded with war materials.
WRITTEN RECORD
OF ATROCITIES
Warie* of German Soldiers Tell
•f Murder and Pillage in
Belgian Cities.
CALLED “DISGRACE TO ARMY<f
No Discrimination Made Between In
nocent and Guilty—Infants Shot
In Dead Mothers' Arms—Tes
timony of Brand Whitlock.
Very many German soldiers who
have been taken prisoner had kept
diaries, and these have been confis
cated by the captors. Many have
been published, frequently with fac
simile reproductions to guarantee
their authenticity. The following
extracts, with the testimony of
Grand Whitlock, are made public by
the committee on public information
it Washington:
“Aug. 23. . . . Our men came hack
and said that at the point where the
valley joined the Meuse we could not
get any further, as the villagers were
shooting at us from every house. We
shot the whole lot—TO of them. They
were drawn up in three ranks; the
same shot did for three at a time.
. . . The men had already shown
their brutal instincts; . , .
“The sight of the bodies of all the
inhabitants who had been shot was
indescribable. Every house in the
whole village was destroyed. We*
dragged the villagers one after an
other out of the most unlikely corners.
The men were shot as well as the
women and children who were in the
convent, since shots had been tired
from the convent windows; and we
burnt it afterwards.
“The inhabitants might have es
caped the penalty by handing over the
mnu\ ituu i iiiim
“The inhabitants fired on our men
again. The division took drastic
steps to stop this, the villages being
burnt and the inhabitants being shot.
The pretty little village of Gue
d'Ossus, however, was apparently set
on fire without cause. A cyclist fell
off his machine and his rifle went off.
He immediately said he had been shot
1 at. All the inhabitants were burnt
in the houses. I hope there wrill be no
more such horrors.
"Disgrace to Our Army."
“At Leppe apparently 200 men were
shot. There must have been some in
nocent men among them. In future
we shall have to hold an inquiry as
: to their guilt instead of shooting
I them.
i “In the evening we marched tc
Maubert-Fontaine. Just as we were
having our meal the alarm was sound
ed—everyone is vPry jumpy.
“September 3. Still at Bethel, on
guard over prisoners. . . . The houses
are charming inside. The middle class
in France has magnificent furniture.
We found stylish pieces everywhere
and beautiful silk, but in what a state
. . . Good God! . . . Every bit of
furniture broken, mirrors smashed.
1 The Vandals themselves could not
have done more damage. This place
is a disgrace to our army. The in
habitants who fled could not have ex
| pected, of course, that all their goods
1 would have been left intact after so
many troops had passed. But the col
umn commanders are responsible for
, the greater purf of the damage, as
1 they could have prevented the looting
11 m{ HPho ilnmmrn amnm.tu
I to millions of marks; even the safes
have been nttacked.
“In a solicitor’s house, in which, as
luck would have it, all was In excel
lent taste, including a collection of
old lace and Eastern works of art,
everything was smashed to bits.
“I could not resist taking a little
memento myself here and there. . . .
One house was particularly elegant,
everything In the best taste. The hall
was of light oak; I found a splendid
raincoat under the staircase and a
camera for Felix." (From the diary
of an officer In the One Hundred
Seventy-eighth regiment, Twelfth Sax
on corps.)
But his horror apparently was not
shared by the German commander in
chief, as Is evident from the follow
ing:
“Order.
“To the People of Liege.
“The population of Andenne, after
making a display of peaceful inten
tions towurd our troops, attacked them
in the most treacherous manner. With
my authorization, the general com
manding these troops has reduced the
town to ashes and has had 110 persons
shot.
“I bring this fact to the knowledge
of the people of Liege iu order that
they may know what fate to expect
should they adopt a similar attitude.
“Liege, 2’2d August, 1914.
“GENERAL VON BUELOW.”
Brand Whitlock Writes of Massacres.
In his report of September 12, 1917,
to the secretary of state, Minister
Whitlock has much to tell of the pol
icy of frlghtfulness. The following
pussages refer to the subject of mas
sacres :
“Summary executions took place (at
Dinant) without the least semblance
of judgment. The names and number
of the victims are not known, but they
must be numerous. I have been un
able to obtain precise details In this
respect and the number of persons
who have fled Is unknown, Ajnoug the
persons vim were shot are; Mr. !*<'
foln, mayor of Dinnrit; Snssornth,
first alderman; Xiinnier, aged seven
ty; Consul for the Argentine Republic
\ ietor I’oncelot, who was executed in
tla* presence of Ids wife and seven
children; Wnsseige and Ids two sons;
Messrs. Gustave and Leon Nieaise, j
two very old men; Jules Monin and J
others all shot, in the cellar of their i
brewery; Mr. Camille L’istte and son. (
aged seventeen; I’liiilipniirt Piedfort, j
his wife ami daughter; Miss Slarsig- I
n.v. During the execution of about
forty inhabitants of Dimint tire Ger
mans placed before the condemned
tlieir wives and children. It is thus
that Madam Albin who hint Just given
birth to a child, three days previously. |
was brought on u mattress by German
soldiers to witness the execution of
her husband; her cries and supplica
tions were so pressing that her bus
hand's life was spared.”
‘‘On the 2fit h of August German sol
diers entered various streets (of Lou
vain) and ordered the Inhabitants of
tin* houses to proceed to the Place de
lu Station, where the bodies of nearly
a dozen assassinated persons were ly
ing. Women und children were sepa
rated from tlic men and forced to re
main on the Place de la Station dur
ing the whole day. They had to wit
ness the execution of many of tlieir
fellow citizens, who were for the most
part shot at the side of the square,
near the house of Mr. Hemaide. The
women and children, after having re
mained on the square for more tlnin
to lours, were allowed to depart. The
thirties Civiques of Louvain were also
taken prisoners ant! sent to Germany,
to Iht' camp of Munster, where the}
were held for several weeks.
“On Thursday, August ‘_’7, order wav
given to the inhabitants to leave Lou
vain because the city was to be bom
barded. Old men, women, children,
tlit* sick, priests, iititis, were driven on
tlie roads like cuttle. More tlmn 10,
000 of the inhabitants were driven as
far its Tirlentont, nearly 12 miles from
Louvain.
Infants Shot in Mothers’ Arms.
“One of tlie most sorely tried com
munities was that of tlie little village
of famines, down in what is known
as the Borinage, the coal fields near
Charleroi, famines is a mining vil
lage in the Saiiilire; it is a collection
■ if small cottages sheltering about 5,
000 inhabitants, mostly all poor labor
ers.
“The little graveyard in which the
church stands bears its mute testi
mony to the horror of the event. There
are hundreds of new-made graves, each
with its small wooden cross and its
hit of flowers; tlie crosses ure so close
ly huddled that there Is scarcely room
to walk between them. Tlie crosses
ure alike and all bear the same dute,
the sinister date of August 22, 1914.”
“But whether their hands were cut
off or not, whether they were impaled
on bayonets or not, children were shot
down, by military order, in cold blood.
In the awful crime of the Rock of Bay
ard, there overlooking the Meuse be
low Dlnant, infants in their mothers’
arms were shot down without mercy.
The deed, never surpassed in cruelty
by any band of savages, is described
by the bishop of Namur himself:
“ ‘One scene surpasses in horror all
others; it is the fusillade of tlie
Rpclier Bayard near Dinant. It ap
pears to have been ordered by Colonel
Meister. This fusillade made many
victims among tlie nearby parishes,
especially those of des Itivages and
Netfe. It caused tlie death of nearly
90 persons, without distinction of age
or sex. Among the victims were ba
bies in arms, boys and girls, fathers
and mothers of families, even old
men.
r-, _ —i u: IJ_; — r->. I _ _ * n . j:
“ ‘It was there that 12 children under
the age of six perished from the fire
of the executioners, six of them as
they lay In their mothers' arms:
“ ‘The child Fievet, three weeks old.
“ ‘Maurice Betems, eleven months
old.
“ ‘Nelly Pollet, eleven months old.
“ ‘Gilda Genoa, eighteen months old.
“ ‘Gilda Murchot, two years old.
“ ‘Clara Strilvay, two years and six
months.
“ ‘The pile of bodies comprised also
many children from six to fourteen
years. Eight large families have en
tirely disappeared. Four have but one
survivor. Those men that escaped
death—and many of whom were rld
'dled with bullets—were obliged to
bury in a summary and hasty fashion
their fathers, mothers, brothers or sis
ters; then after huving been relieved
of their money and being placed in
chains they were sent to Cassel (Prus
sia).”*
Mr. Hugh Gibson, the secretary of
our legation in Belgium, visited Lou
vain during its systematic destruction
by the Germans. In “A Journal From
Our Legation in Belgium," New York,
1917, pages 164-165, he relates what
the German officers told him:
“It was a story of clearing out civil
ians from a large part of the town, a
systematic routing out of men from
cellars and garrets, wholesale shoot*
; lngs, the generous use of machine
guns, and the free application of the
torch—the whole story enough to
make one see red. And for our guid
ance it was impressed on us that this
svould make people respect Germany
and think twice about resisting her.”
German pastors and professors far
from the excitement of the firing have
defended this policy of frightfulness,
e. g.:
“We are not only compelled to ac
cept the war that is forced upon us
, . . but are even compelled to carry
on this wur with u cruelty, a ruthless
ness, an employment of every imagin
able device, unknown in any previous
war.”—Pastor D. Baumg irten, in
Deutsche Beden in Schwerer Zelt,
“German Speeches in Difficult Days."
t
MADE FROM OLD LEATHER
Member of the stage women’s war
relief committee showing one of the
warm vests for soldiers that the com
mittee la making from old kid gloves,
pillow tops and table covers.
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I
j Special to Mothers
| WE WISH TO ANNOUNCE to the MOTHERS of J
Cordova and vicinity that we are adding
to our store an
Infants’ and Children’s Department f
And will give this department the same careful atten
tion and will carry only the most high class merchandise
that the market affords* Any suggestions from the
Mothers pertaining to this department, wouid be greatly
appreciated.
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*
“DO YOUR BEST>
For the
And Help
WIN THE WAR
I Alaskan Hotel
ROBERT GOTT8CHALK—Proprietor*
“The Houae of Comfort."
THE BEST EQUIPPED HOTEL IN
ALASKA |
;" BARBER SHOP IN CONNECTION.
Hot and Cold Water, Electric Bells,
Electric Lights, Steam Heat, Suites £
With Bath. |
CORDOVA . ALASKA |
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