But the burgomaster of
Louvain had no son and no officer was shot at Louvain. The story of a
general shot by the son of a burgomaster was a repetition of a tragedy
that had occurred at Aerschot, on the 19th, where the fifteen-year-old
son of the burgomaster had been killed by a firing squad, not because he
had shot a general, but because an officer had been shot, probably by
Belgian soldiers retreating through the town. The story of this tragedy
is told by the boy's mother, under oath, before the Belgian Commission,
and is so simple, so touching, so convincing in its verisimilitude, that
I attach a copy of it in extenso to this report. It seems to afford an
altogether typical example of what went on all over the stricken land
during those days of terror. (In other places it was the daughter of the
burgomaster who was said to have shot a general.)
"The following facts may be noted: From the avowal of Prussian officers
themselves, there was not one single victim, among their men at the
barracks of St. Martin, Louvain, where it was claimed that the first
shot had been fired from a house situated in front of the Caserne. This
would appear to be impossible had the civilians fired upon them point
blank from across the street. It was said that when certain houses near
the barracks were burning, numerous explosions occurred, revealing the
presence of cartridges; but these houses were drinking houses much
frequented by German soldiers.
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