Passions Aroused By Nancy Affair.

New York Times 100 years ago today, April 17, 1913:
German Anger Is Increased by Another Insult, at Grenoble.
WHOLE FRONTIER EXCITED
One Report of Nancy Incident Is That German Women Were Insulted and Men Attacked with Sticks.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
    BERLIN, April 16.— The "Nancy Incident" continues to occupy many columns in the newspapers.
    Foreign Secretary von Jagow made another statement in the Reichstag to-day. It amounted to little more than that the French Government was making an inquiry, but had not yet completed it, that the Germans concerned had made depositions before the proper authorities, and that their sworn statements would be forwarded to Paris. The statement was received with general approval.
    It is clear from to-night's reports that feeling along the whole frontier runs very high, and, as Baron von Schön is reported to have said, the Nancy incident dangerously resembles a spark in an already explosive atmosphere.

Asks Germans to Keep Calm.
    The Vossische Zeitung to-night appeals to the public to avoid demonstrative excitement.
    The Kölnische Zeitung naturally points out that these incidents confirm its statement of some weeks ago that France was the real disturber of the peace, but the Rhenish organ apparently does not perceive that its own untimely observations served in no small measure to excite French feeling across the frontier.
    According to to-day's reports from witnesses the German women at Nancy were insulted in an indescribable manner and the men of the German party were belabored with sticks until they consented to make Oriental obeisances to the students and allow dry bread and black sausage to be stuffed down their throats.

Conflicting Reports in Paris.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
    PARIS, April 16.— Until the report resulting from the official inquiry into the "Nancy incident" is made public it will be impossible to know exactly what happened. Many conflicting accounts of it are current.
    The incident as related in the French press appears only as a regrettable ebullition of feeling on the part of some students, and the view the newspapers take of the affair is that it will soon be satisfactorily arranged. It is pointed out that hundreds of thousands of Germans are constantly visiting France and are never molested or treated discourteously.
    The director of the Nancy Casino says the incident there passed unnoticed. The proprietor of the Brasserie Lorraine says the attitude of the Germans there was entirely correct. At a neighboring table a group of six students made jokes at their expense. Presently one of the students went up to the table at which the Germans were sitting and laid on it a sheet of paper on which was written a sentence in German. One of the Germans read the paper and pushed it aside, saying ironically. "What bad German!"
    The proprietor, seeing that the Germans were not pleased, requested the students to leave the strangers alone. He made excuses for the students, who, he said, had not meant any offense. One of the Germans replied:
    "I know Nancy, and, being myself a student, know how turbulent students are. I shall soon come here for a year's study at one of your Faculties. Still, I cannot help regretting the remarks of which my friends and myself have been the object."

French Account of Station Incident
    The incident ended there. What happened at the railway station is less clear. Two of the station officials say that four or five young men surrounded the Germans, singing "You shall not have Alsace-Lorraine." One of the Germans went up to an official and said: " I am insulted. Protect me!" The Germans finally appealed to the assistant stationmaster, who says one of them was bareheaded, his hat being on the platform a few yards away.
    Finally the Germans were taken to the Metz train, still followed by the manifestants, who also sprang on the train. The Stationmaster appears to have had some difficulty in clearing out the disturbers. He says one of the latter had his hand raised. The Stationmaster seized him by the arm and made him get out of the carriage. In view of the pacific statements that are made it is all the more deplorable that another incident is reported from Grenoble, where at a performance in the Casino actors appearing in German uniforms on the stage were greeted with hisses. Three German students at the University of Grenoble promptly quit the hall.
    A member of the German party that was molested at Nancy says in describing the affair: "The ladies as well as the gentlemen were kicked, struck, and spat upon. Railway officials, policemen, officers, and soldiers looked on laughing as the Germans were insulted and mishandled in the lowest manner at the station. Soldiers who were finally ordered to protect us while we were in the railway carriage joined in the excesses. The crowd forced a way with the soldiers into the carriage, and for an hour, until the departure of the train, most incredible things took place.
    "The behavior of this crowd of over 200 persons can only be described as that of a mob suddenly gone mad.
    "Suddenly loud hooting was heard on the platform, and the crowd flung itself on two fresh victims, merchants from Thuringia. Every one shouted 'Those are German officers, who derided our army!'"