The Kingdom of serbia : report upon the atrocities committed by the Austro-Hungarian Army during the first invasion of Serbia

MASSACRES OF CIVILIANS 63

front door broken down. He hid in his own house till the Austrians had left. After their departure Simon Kostich found 6 persons hanged in the garden belonging to Nikola Trifunovitch. They were all old people, one of them being Marko Alexitch, aged 65.

Stevan Peritch, aged 75, of Leshnitza, was taken by the Austrians; after they had robbed him of all his property they killed his son, Ivan, aged 19, because he tried to escape. They interrogated Peritch concerning the positions of the Serbs and the comitadjis. Then they knocked him down and threatened him with their bayonets and revolvers.

Savka Velimirovitch, aged 66, of Leshnitza. The Austrians pillaged all her property. She was at home in her house with her blind husband when the detachment arrived. Searching about, the soldiers found a cartridge-clip, which had belonged to her son who was killed in the Serbo-Bulgarian war. In consequence of this discovery her husband was threatened with execution. She, seized with terror, fled and hid in a barn. A soldier who discovered her, fired at her and wounded her in the foot. She was seized by the legs, pinioned, and the soldiers then struck her three times with their fists, so violently that she fainted. She was then led to the station where she witnessed the execution of a whole crowd including several children. Everybody present at the massacre was compelled to shout “Long live Francis Joseph ! ” I verified the wounds.

This statement is borne out by the fact that near the railway station at Leshnitza, the undersigned saw a ditch 20 metres long, by 8 metres wide. It