The Prussian Ministry of War replies:
"The inquiry does not furnish proof in support of the alleged acts."
The Berliner Tageblatt, for September 10, has a lively story:
"It was the curé who had organized the resistance of the people, who had them enter the church, and who had planned the conspiracy against our troops."
The Prussian Minister of War makes answer: "The curé did not organize the resistance of inhabitants; he did not have them enter the church, and he had not planned the conspiracy against our troops."
The dashing German war correspondent, Paul Schweder, writes in Landesbote an article, "Under the Shrapnel in Front of Verdun." He says that he saw:
"A convoy of francs-tireurs, at their head a priest with his hands bound."
The German investigator pauses to wonder why every prisoner and every suspect is a franc-tireur, and then he goes on with his inquiry, which results in a statement from the Prussian War Minister:
"Deiber (the priest) had nothing charged against him, was set at liberty, and, at his own request, has been authorized to live at Oberhaslach."
The Frankfurter Zeitung, September 8, has a spirited account of a combat with francs-tireurs in Andenne, written by Dr. Alex Berg, of Frankfort: