September 6, 1917 
LAND & WATER 
II 
31 journal from a legation 
By Hugh Gibson (First Secretary of the American Legation in Brussels) 
Mr. Gibson had carried the ^lory of his dangerous visit to 
Antwerp from Brussels after that citv had been occupied 
by the Germans to the second morning of his slay in Anticerp. 
On the previous night there occurred Ihc historic first Zeppelin 
raid by nigtU. He mentions that though much damage itas 
done, it was a failure front a military point of vieit\ in- 
furiating the peofiJc instead of frightening them. He is still 
in A ntwerp wlien he takes up the story : 
T~yRUS.SEr.S. August 2jth,jqi4.-.-ln tin; mornint; I railed 
/ jat the Foreign Office, established in a liandsomc building 
-' — ^tliat belonged to ojie of the municipal administrations. 
The Minister for Foreign Affairs took mc into his office and 
summoned all hands to hear any news I could give them of 
heir families and friends, I also took notes of names and 
addresses of people in Brussels who were to be told that their 
Avn people in Antwerp were safe and well. I had been doing 
that steadily from the minute we set foot in the hotel the 
night before, and when I got back later I had my pockets 
bulging with innocent messages. Now comes the merry task of 
getting them around. 
The .Minister showed me a lot of things that he wanted 
reported to Washington, so I went back to the Consulate 
( ieneral and got ort some mcire telegrams. The trip wa.s worth 
while. 
* Blount and I were lunching alone, but would 
not hear of it and insisted that we should sit at their table 
as long as we stayed on in Antwerp and whenever we came 
back. They were not only glad to see somebody from the out- 
side world, but could not get over the sporting side of our trip, 
and patted us on the back luitil they made us uncomfortable. " 
Ivverybody in Antwerp looked upon the trip as a great exploit 
and exuded admiration. I fully expected to get a Carnegie 
medal before I got away. And it sounded so funny coming 
from a lot of Belgian officers who had for the last few weeks 
been going through the most harrbwing experiences, with their 
lives in danger every minute, and even now with a perfectly 
good chance,of being killed before the war is over. They seem 
to take that as a matter of course, but look upon our perform- 
ance as in some way different and superior. People are 
funny tln'ngs. 
The Queen of the Belgians 
I .-.topped at the Palace to sign the King's book and ran into 
General Vunbhith, who was just starting off with the ()ueen. 
She came down the stairs and stopped just long enough 
to greet me and then went her way ; she is a brave little woman 
anr? deserves a better fate than she has had. IngUbleek, 
the King's Secretary, heard I was there signing the book 
and came out to see me. He said the Oueen was anxious 
I should see what had been done by the bombs of the night 
before. He wanted me to go right into the houses and see 
the horrid details. I did not want to do this, but there was 
no getting out of it under the circumstances. 
VVe drove first to the Place du Poids Publique and went 
into one of the houses which had been partially wrecked 
byontof the smaller bombs. Everything in the place had been 
left as it was until the police magistrate could make his 
examination and report. We climbed to the first floor, and I 
never shall forget the horrible sight that awaited us. A ]>oor 
policeman and his wife had btfen blown to* fragments, and the 
])ieces were all over the walls and ceiling. Blood was every- 
where. Other details are too terrible even to think of. I 
could not stand any more than this one room. There were 
others which Inglebleek wanted to show me, but I could not 
think of it. And this was only one of a number of houses 
where peaceful men and woYnen had been so brutally killed 
while they slept. 
And where is the military advantage ? If the bombs were 
dro])jMjd near the f(jrtifications it would be easy to understand, 
but in this instance it is hard to explain upon any ground except 
the hope of terrifying the population to the point where they 
will demand that the ^iovernment surrender the town and the 
fortifications. Judging from the temper they were in yester- 
day at Antwerp they are more likely to demand that the place 
Ix: held at all costs rather than risk falling under the rule of a 
coniiueror brutal enough to murder innocent peoi)le in their 
beds. 
The Prime Minister told me that lie had four sons in llie 
army- all the children he has— and that he was prepared to 
give everyone of them and his own life and fortune into 
the bargain, but that he was not prepared^aild here he 
>'uBiirialil in ikf Vniird Slaitt 0/ Amfhta by 'The Wurld't Hurt." ' 
banged his fist ciown on the table and his eyes flashed — to 
admit for a minute the possibility of yielding to Germany. 
Everybody else is in the same state of mind. It is not hys- 
terical. The war has been going on long enough, and they lia\e 
had so rhan}' hard blows that the glamour and fictitious 
attractiveness of the thing has gone, and they have settled 
down in deadly earnest to tight to the bitter end. There may 
not be one stone left npon another in Belgium u'hen the Germans 
get through, but if thes: people keep up to their present level 
they wilt come through — ichaf there »s left of them. 
German Atrocities 
Later in the afternoon I went to the Foreign Office, and let 
them read to me the records of the commissicm which is 
investigating the alleged German atrocities. They are work- 
ing in a calm and sane way and seem to be making the'most 
earnest attempt to get at the true facts, no matter whether 
they pro\e or disprove the charges that have been made. 
It is wonderful to see the judicial way they can sit down 
in the midst of war and carnage and try to make a fair en- 
quiry on a matter of this sort. If one one thousandth part 
of the charges are povcn to be true . . . 
The rest of the aiiernoon was spent in seeing people who 
came in for news of Brussels and who 'had messages to send 
home. I had had to tell the hotel people that 1 would be 
there from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. to see pef)pic and that the rest of the 
time 1 must have free for my own work. They came in 
swarms, all the diplomats, the Cabinet Ministers, and the 
Ministers of State, army officers, and other officials — a per- 
fect mob. I had a package of cards on which I noted names 
and addresses and the messages which were to be delivered. 
These messages have been sent out to-day, after being sub- 
mitted to the military authorities, some of them in writing 
and some by word of mouth, and if they have afforded one- 
tenth the comfort that I hope, the sum total of misery in this 
town has been reduced a good deal this day. 
Colonel Fairholme left for the front with the King early 
in the morning atid was with h.im during the battle at Malines. 
He thought we were going back during the day, as I had told 
him the evening before. About noon he called up on the 
telephone and told Sir Francis that under no circumstances 
was I to be allowed to start, as the town was being bombarded 
with heavy siege- pieces and all traffic was absolutely stopped ; 
that we could not only not get by. but that any part of the trip 
by the regular road was extremely dangerous. I was just as 
glad tliat we had decided to stay over. The Colonel stayed out 
all that night and had not returned to Antwerp when we left 
yesterday. During the morning he called up again and asked 
about us, again advising against our starting. Pretty decent 
of a man who has as much to think of as he had, to be worry- 
ing abf)Ut us enough to take time out and telephone us as to 
the dangers of the road. 
To make sure of offering no unnecessary chances for Mr. 
Zeppelin the authorities had ordered all the lights on the streets 
put out at eight o'clock. It was dark as midnight and there 
was no use in thinking* of venturing out into tiie town. The 
Cathedral clock was stopped and the carillon turned off for 
the first time in Ivaven only knows how many years. It 
was a city of the dead. Guns were posted in the streets ready 
for instant use in case the airship should put in another 
appearance. As a rcs\ilt of this and the searchlights that 
played upon the sky all night our friend tlv.> enemy did not \ 
appear. Some people know when the}' have had enough. 
Yesterday morning I looked out of my window at the 
Cathedral clock and saw that it was twenty-five minutes to 
ten. I tumbled through my tub and rushed downstairs 
to get through my morning's work only to find that it was 
half-past six. 1 had forgotten that the Cathedral clock had 
been stopped. 
It was just as well that I was up early, howr^ver, for there 
was plenty to be done. I found a lot of telegram:, waiting 
for me at the Consulate and had to get off another string of 
them. Then an Orderly held me up (m the street to tell me that 
the King's Secretary was hunting for me all over the place 
and that I was wanted at the Palace. When I got there he had 
starteil off on qnother hunt for me. He finally got me at the 
hotel and kept mc for half an hour. 
By the time that I got through with him there was word 
that the Minister for Foreign Altairs wanted to see me, so I 
made a bee-line over there ; then there was another call to the 
Ci^nsulate to answer some more telegrams. After attending 
to various matters at the Palace, ttie Ministry for Foreign 
Affairs, the Consulate General, and seeing a lew more people 
