Alexander Heingartner served as U.S. Consul to Liege during World War I.

Alexander Heingartner, was born on July 24, 1857 in New York City, but spent most of his youth in Ohio where his father owned a paper mill. On December 6, 1898, when Alexander was forty-one years old, President William McKinley nominated him to be U.S. Consul to Catania, Italy, where he served until 1905. After Catania, he served for five years in the Russian Empire ; first two years in Riga, then three years in Batum. On August 19, 1911, Alexander received his commission to serve as consul at Liege, with an annual salary of $3,000. He remained at this post until he died of a heart attack in March of 1917.
The first is a book called, «In the Claws of the German Eagle,» by Albert Rhys Williams, an American adventurer who was drawn to visit Belgium early in the war. («To myself, out of these insights into the Great Calamity, there has come reinforcement to my belief in the essential greatness of the human stuff in all nations. » pg. 8)
Shortly after he entered Liege, in fall of 1914 (?), Rhys Williams recounts the following episode ; «The American consul, Heingartner, threw up his hands in astonishment as I presented myself. No one else had come through since the beginning of hostilities. He begged for newspapers but, unfortunately, I had thrown my lot away, not realizing how completely Liege had been cut off from the outer world. He related the incidents of that first night entry of German troops into Liege. The clatter of machine gun bullets sweeping by the consulate had scarcely ceased when the sounds of gun-butts battering on the doors accompanied by hoarse shouts of «Auf Steigen» (get up) reverberated through the street. As the doors unbolted and swung back, officers peremptorily demanded quarters for their troops, receiving with contempt the protests of Heingartner that they were violating precincts under protection of the American flag.
On the following day, however, a wholehearted apology was tendered along with an invitation to witness the first firing of the big guns. » pg. 131.
The second comes from page 8 of the December 23, 1914 edition of the Auckland Star Newspaper ; A Thrilling Rescue by Californians « From the War Zone of Europe, where he went to rescue his mother, aunt, and niece from the perilous position in which they were placed by the outbreak of hostilities, Police Constable Elmer J. Esperence has returned safely to San Francisco with the members of his family and a thrilling narrative of his experiences... » « From Vise we went to Liege, which we reached on September 22. As we entered the wrecked city a crowd of excited townsmen and women gathered about us pointing to the little American flags on the front of our bicycles, and shouting in French, « We salute you, but principally your flag ! » « The German soldiers pressed the crowd back with the butts of their rifles, but without roughness. The American Consul at Liege, Alexander Heingartner, took us under his care and showed us the town̶ what was left of it. He showed us a great gap in one of the huge fortresses, through which the third shell from a German 42-centimeter gun placed in front of Heingartner’s office in the heart of the city, has passed killing 540 men within the fort. » « In the beautiful Hotel de Ville we found horses stabled. The polished floors were scarred by the spikes of the German Uhlans’ boots. Nails had been driven into the walls, marring the fine frescoes. Consul Heingartner took us to the comandant’s office, and obtained for us passports permitting us to go with our bicycles anywhere in Belgium. We left Liege at eight o’clock in the evening of September 23. We passed through Bonal, Marche, Marloie, and Libremont. We were stopped frequently, but our new passports and the story of our errand got us through. » ****** *
The second book is approximately 24 inches tall and 12 inches wide. Its cover is of hand-painted silk with the words, « Glory and Gratitude to the United States » written on it. It contains a collection of hand-written and hand-illustrated letters expressing the gratitude of Liege schoolgirls to the American people for the Belgian Aid campaign. The letters, all of which are from 1915, talk of the food and clothing sent by Americans that helped them survive the winter. Some of the girls included photos of themselves ; several of them painted beautiful pictures of flowers ; at least one of them said that she could not believe that her letter was going to go across the ocean. Some of the letters are signed by an entire class as a specific school (« the little girls of the third grade at l’ecole St. Victor »), others are signed by individual girls (« Jeanne Colin, 9 years, » « Leopoldine Graf, 12 years, » « Josee Leclercq, 8 years, » « une petite Liegoise, » « une petite Belge »). All of the letters but one are written in French. They are heartfelt and very touching. The book was presented to my great grandfather, as the highest-ranking American official in Liege at the time. The book is a work of art and it needs to be shared. I brought the book along with me. A number of the letters are displayed on a table for you to see. I hope you enjoy them. Before I turn the floor back over to our hosts, I would like to read to you the one letter that is written in English. It is from Andree Loppens, a pupil of the upper form, section B, at the professional middle school of Liege. It was written on February 22, 1915 to the American Committee for Relief in Liege : « May I, in the name of all the schoolgirls and our families, express our heartiest thanks to our American benefactors, who with touching solicitude have used every endeavor to relieve us from the horrors of a cruel war. With exquisite delicacy the valiant and generous nation turned towards her suffering and dejected sister-nation. You have addressed us admirable words of esteem and sympathy which inflamed our hearts, soothed our despondency and strengthened our confidence.
You have supplied us with bread and freed us from the heart-rending fear of starvation. But amongst all the proofs of your kindness, what moved the children of unfortunate Belgium most, was the fraternal outburst which, from one continent to another, united us to the children of free America. We received their gifts with unspeakable emotion, we read their lovely letters, we answered them, but we could not express the gratitude which filled our hearts. May we hope, Gentlemen, that you will accept to be our interpreters. Will you tell them that, though we shall most probably never meet with them, we shall always love them, for we shall never forget, and our hearts overflowing with gratitude we exclaim : Thank you ! Hurrah for the Children of America ! Three Cheers for the Stars and Stripes ! »

Source Dr. Nancy Heingartner Internet Site: https://www.globalminnesota.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Letters-of-Gratitude_small.pdf