September 6, 1917 
LAND & V/ATER 
11 
S journal from a Jtegatton 
,By Hugh Gibson (First Secretary of the American Legation in Brussels) 
Mr. Gibson had carried the story of his dangerous visit. Jo 
Antwerp from Brussels after that city had been occupied 
by the Germans to the second morning of his stay in Antwerp. 
On the previous night there occurred the historic first Zeppelin 
raid by niglit. He mentions that though much damage icas 
done, it was a failure from a militarv point of -ciew, in- 
furiating the people instead of frightening them. He is still 
■in Antwerp ivlien he takes up the story : 
ryRVSSEI.S, August zjth. iqi4.- In tlir morning I called- 
A~jat the Foreign Office, established in a handsome building 
-*-^that belonged to one of the municipal administrations. 
The Minister for Foreign Affairs took me into his office and 
anmnoned all hands to hear any news I could give them of 
heir families and friends. I also took notes of names and 
iddresses of people in Brussels who were to be told that their 
j\\T\ 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 merrv 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 
General and got off some more telegrams. The trip wa.s worth 
while. 
•I Blount and I were lunching alone, but would 
not h«ar 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 until they made us uncomfortable. 
Ks-erybody 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. Ajul it sounded so funny coming 
from a lot of Belgian officers who had for the last few weeks 
beengoing through the most harrowing experiences,with their 
liv(!S in danger every minute, and even now with a perfectly 
good ch.ance of being killed before the war is over. They seem 
to take that as a mattihr of course, but look upon our perform- 
ance as in some way different and superior. People are 
funny things. 
The Queen of the Belgians 
I stopped at the Palace to sign the King's book and ran into 
General Vunbluth. who was just starting off with the Queen. 
She came down' the stairs and stopped just long enough 
to^eet mc and then went her way ; she is a brave little woman 
and deserves a better fate than she has had. Inglebleek, 
the King's Secretary, heard I was there signing the book 
and came out to see me. He said the Queen 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. 
We drove first to the Place du Poids Publique and went 
into one of the houses which had been partially wrecked 
by onf; of the smaller bombs. Kvery thing in the jilace 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 poor 
policeman and his wife had been blown to fragments, and the 
j)ieces were all over the walls and ceiling. Blood was every- 
where. Other details are too terrible even to think of. I 
could nch 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 women had been so brutally killed 
while they slept. , 
.\nd where is the military advantage ? If the bombs were 
dropped near the fortifications it would be easy to understand, 
l)ut in this instance it is hard to explain upon any groUnd except 
the hope of terrifying the population to the point where they 
will tlemand that the Government surrender the town and the 
fortifications. Judging from the temper they were in yester- 
day at Antwerp they are more likely to demand (hat (he place 
be held at all costs rather than risk falling under the rule of a 
conqueror brutal enough to murder innocent people in their 
beds. 
The Prime Minister told me that he had four .sons in the 
army — all the children he has — and that he was prepared to 
give everyone of them and his own life and fortime into 
the bargain, but that he was not prepared — and here he 
CoonriQhl (n lfc« tlnlUi ftattt ol Amenia by 'Tht Wnrld't Work.'' 
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 have 
had so many hard blows that the glamour and. fictitious 
attractiveness of the thing has gone, and they have settled 
down in deadly earnest to fight to the bitter end. Tliere may 
not be um' stone left upon another in Belgium when the Germans 
get through, b:it if these people keep up to their present level 
they will come through — n'hat there is 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 commission which is 
investigating the alleged (ierman 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 prove 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. \i one one thousandth part 
of the charges are poven to be true . . . 
The rest of the auernoon 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 people and that the rest^f the 
time I mu^t 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 1 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 and was with liim 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 that 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 about 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 thestreets 
put out at eight o'clock. It was dark as midnight and there 
was no use in thinking of venturing out into the town. The 
Cathedral clock was stopped and the carillon turned off for 
the first time in heaven 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 result of this and the searchlights that 
played upon the sky all night our friend the enemy did not 
appear. Some people know when they have had enough. 
Yesterday morning 1 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 Catii-dral cloi.k had 
been stoppetl. 
It was just as well that I was up early. l-,ow?ver, for there 
was plenty to be done. I found a lot of telegram:, v.aiting 
for me at the Consulate and had to get off another string of 
them. Then an Orderly held me up on the street to tell nve that 
th(! 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 
started off on another hunt for me. He finally got mc at the 
hotel and kept me for half an hour. 
By the time that I got through with him there was word , 
that the Minister for F'oreign Affairs wanted to see me. so I 
madt- a bee-line over there ; then there was another call to the 
Consulate to answer some more telegrams. After attending 
to various matttTs at the Palace, tlie Ministry for horeign 
Affairs, the Consulate General, and seeing a few more people 
