Ministry--not a private rumor, be it
noted, but an official communication. It says:

A young Frenchman reports under oath that he was arrested, along
with several other Frenchmen, at the railway station in Loerrach
while on the homeward journey from Baden; and they were led through
the whole city under a military escort. One of the Frenchmen
shouted, "Hurrah for France," and was at once shot down. Three
others who protested against this suffered the same fate; and so
did a fifth man who thereupon had called the Germans murderers. The
rest of the Frenchmen, proceeding to Switzerland by rail, heard
shots fired in the adjoining compartment; they discovered that two
Italians had been shot by Germans because one had protested against
the opening of the window, and another had jostled a German.

Does such stuff call for any refutation at all?

A typical example of how it is sought to work upon public opinion by
means of systematic lying is afforded by the capture of Liege.

The fact is that this Belgian stronghold, along with its forts, which
contained a garrison of 20,000 men, was taken by storm on Aug. 7 by the
German troops, who fought with unparalleled bravery, and that 3,000 to
4,000 Belgian prisoners of war are already on their way to Germany.

Yet on Aug. 9--two days after the fall of Liege--a dispatch was still
sent to the Dutch press, saying: "The Liege forts are still in Belgian
hands."

And on Aug. 8, thirty-six hours after the fall of Liege--a dispatch was
sent from Paris to the newspapers of Rome, saying:

The Germans lost 20,000 men at Liege and asked for an armistice of
twenty-four hours. Liege has not yet fallen. The English landed
100,000 men at Antwerp, who were received with jubilation by the
population. President Poincare, upon the proposal of Doumergue, the
Minister of War, conferred on the City of Liege the cross of the
Legion of Honor.

Another newspaper reported as follows: "The King of England sent a
congratulatory dispatch to the King of Belgium upon his victory at
Liege; seven German regiments were slain."

At Paris itself a note of the French War Ministry--published on the
evening of Aug. 7, Liege having fallen in the early morning of that
day--mentions the resistance of Liege and says that the forts are still
holding out; that the Germans who had entered the city on Thursday by
passing between the forts