On the Salisbury Review site, Dalrymple discusses the implications of a recently discovered change of wording in a famous anti-war poem. Which is preferable, “do them in” or “murder” in the below?

You told me, in your drunken-boasting mood,
How once you butchered prisoners. That was good!
I’m sure you felt no pity while they stood
Patient and cowed and scared, as prisoners should.
How did you do them in? Come, don’t be shy:
You know I love to hear how Germans die…