They carried her into an abandoned house, and while some of them kept
the father and mother off, others went into the house, the cellar of
which was open, and forced the young woman to drink. Afterward they
carried her out on the lawn in front of the house and attacked her
successively. She continued to resist, and they pierced her breast with
their bayonets. Having been abandoned by the soldiers after these
abominable attacks, the girl was carried off by her parents, and the
following day, owing to the gravity of her condition, she was
administered the last rites of the Church by the priest of the parish
and carried to the hospital at Louvain. At that time her life was in
danger.
On Aug. 24 and 25 Belgian troops, leaving the intrenched camp in
Antwerp, attacked the German Army which was outside of Malines.
The German troops were driven back as far as Louvain and Vilvorde.
Penetrating the towns which had been occupied by the enemy, the Belgian
Army found the whole country devastated. The Germans, while retiring,
had ravaged and set fire to the villages, taking with them all the male
inhabitants, driving them before them.
Old Woman Killed by Bayonets.
Upon entering Hofstade, on Aug. 25, the Belgian soldiers found there the
corpse of an old woman who had been killed by bayonet thrusts; she still
held in her hands the needle with which she was sewing when she was
attacked; one mother and her son, aged about 15 or 16 years, lay there,
pierced with bayonet wounds; one man was found hanging.
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