They Crucify - American Manhood - Enlist. [Caption title].

San Francisco: Louis Roesch Co, Lith., (n. d.), circa 1917. 27 x 41 inch broadside, backed with linen (29 x 43 inches). Color lithograph printed in green, blue, black and red. Three semicircles of loss to upper margin, not affecting image; pinholes to corners of linen backing. Very Good.

A gruesome WWI recruitment poster depicting German wartime atrocities in Belgium, specifically the crucifixion (and possible rape) of a woman and the killing of her husband and baby. Prominently displayed below this image is the address of San Francisco's Army recruitment office, located at 660 Market St.

According to the explanation printed in the upper corner, "'They Crucify' portrays an actual incident of the war, witnessed by Sergeant Albert Goad, formerly of the Seaforth Highlanders, but since stationed with the British recruiting Mission in San Francisco. The atrocity was perpetrated in Blegium, in a shell shattered cottage, where Sergeant Goad found a murdered husband, a mother nailed to the wall, and a babe mutilated by bayonet. The Sergeant told of this experience to the artist, M. Hoyle, of San Francisco, who in turn painted it for the San Francisco Army Recruiting District, adhering conscientiously to the facts."

We note holdings at UC Berkeley, the Imperial War Museum, the Hoover, and the Canadian War Museum.