After the importance of the oath had been pointed out to the witness, he was duly sworn.
Signed: Stempel. Signed: Stemper.
D. App. 19.
Louvain, December 16th, 1914.
Stationsstrasse, 118.
Court of the General Belgian Government.
Present:
President, Stempel.
Secretary, Stemper.
There appears on citation as witness Musketeer Robert Dreher, and is examined as follows:
As to Person: My name is Robert Dreher, aged 23; musketeer, 11th Company, Infantry Regiment No. 48, at present engaged at the Commander's office at Louvain.
As to Case: I arrived here on August 20th, and have remained here since that date. I was in the infantry barracks here, suffering with bad feet. On the evening of August 25th, at about 9 o'clock, I heard shots in the street. I therefore marched with several men under the command of a non-commissioned officer. In the Rue de Tirlemont shots were fired upon us from right and left of the houses of this street, and, as I could clearly see in the illuminating flashes of the firing, by people dressed as civilians. The shots came from the windows and roofs; the bullets struck the street. It was clear from the sound of the shots that they did not come from German weapons. We entered the houses from which the shots had come and brought out five to six civilians, all of whom still held revolvers in their hands. These persons were later on shot at the railway station. I did not notice any previous signal lights; riderless horses galloped past us, as well as baggage-carts and horses, without drivers. On the morning of August 26th I saw on the railway-station square many civilians shot, more than 100, among whom were five clergymen, because they had shot upon German soldiers, or because arms had been found with them. On August 27th I was in the town with a comrade. I was shot at, without being injured, from behind the hedges of a garden. It was in the afternoon; I was unable to see the person who had fired the shot. On civilians who had been shot we subsequently found distinguishing marks, from which I conclude that they were Belgian soldiers.
Read over, approved, signed.