Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-03-15

possible this direction.
 The bow of the vessel now rose upon the swell of the sea. and the instant that the index upon the scale reached the de- sired point. tho director-in-chief touched the button.
 There was no report. no smoke. no visible sign that the motor had left the cannon; but at that instant there appeared. to those who were on the lookout. from a fort about a Cile away. a vast aperture in the waters of the bay which was variously described as from 100 yards to 500 yards in diameter At that same in stant, ill the neighboring headlands and islands far up the shores of the bay. and in every street and building of the city. there was felt a sharp shock us if the underlying rocks had been struck by gigantic trip hanmer,
 At the same instant the sky above the spot where the motor had descended was darkened by wide spreading cloud This was formed of that portion of the water of the bay which had been in stautaneous raised to the height of about thousand feet. The sudden appear ance of this cloud was even more terri Dle than the yawning chasm in the waters of the bay, or the startling shock, but it did not remain long in view. It had no sooner reached it's highest eleva- tion than it began to descend. There was d strong sea breeze blowing, and in its descent this vast mass of water was impelled toward the land.
 It came down, not as rain, but as the waters of vast cataract. as though mountain lake, by an earthquake shock, had been precipitated in body upon a valley. Only one edge of it reached the land. and here the seething flood tore away earth. trees and rocks. leaving be- hind it great chasms and gullies as it descended to the sea.
 The bay itself, into which this vast body of the water fell, became a scene Of surging madness The towering walls of water which had stood up all around the suddenly created aperture hurled themselves back into the abyss. and down into the great chasm at the bottom of the bay. which had been made when the motor sent it's shock along the great rock beds. Down upon. and into. this roar ing, boiling tumult fell the tremendous cataract from above, and the harbor be- came one wild expanse of lcaping, mad dened waves, hissing their whirling spray high into the air.
 During these few terrific moments other things happened which passed un- noticed in the general consternation. All along the shores of the bay and in front of the city the waters seemed to be sucked away. slowly returning as the sea forced them to their level, and at many points up and down the harbor there were submarine detonations and upheavals of the water.
 These were caused by the explosion, by concussion of every torpedo and subma- with this object in view that the instan- taneous motor bomb had been shot into the mouth of the bay.
 The effects of the discharge of the mo- tor bomb astonished and even startled those on board the repellers and the the crabs. At the instant of touching the button hydraulic shock was felt on Repeller No. 1. This was supposed to be occasioned by the discharge of the mo- tor, but it was also felt on the other ves- sels. It was the same shock that had been felt on shore, but less in degree. A few moments after there was a great heaving swell of the sea. which tossed and rolled the four vessels and lifted the steel protecting net so high that for an instant parts of it showed themselves above the surface like glistening sea ghosts.
 Experiments with motor bombs had been made in unsettled mountainous dis frlcfo hut fhia hE fSrSf E; ;o1, had ever exerted it's power under water.
 On shore, in the forts. and ill the city, no one for an instant supposed that the terrific phenomenon which had just oc- cured was in any way due to the yes sels of the syndicate. The repellers were in plain view, and it was evident that neither of them It'd fired gun. Besides. the firing of cannon did not pro- duce such effects. It was the general opinion that there had been an earth quake shock accompanied by q cloud burst, and extraordinary convulsions of tho sea. Such combination of elemen- tary disturbances had never been known in these parts, and q great many persons were much more frightened than if they had understood what had really hap pened.
 In about half an hour after the dis charge of the motor bomb. when the sea had resumed it's usual quiet. boat car rying a white flag left Repeller No. 1, rowed directly over the submerged net and made for the llarbor. When the ap- proach of this flag of truce was perceived from the fort nearest the mouth of the harbor, it occasioned much surmise. Had the earthquake brought these syn dicate knaves to their senses? Or were they about to make further absurd and outrageous demands9 Some irate officers were of the opinion that enemies like these should be considered no better than pirates, and that their flag of truce should be fired upon. But the com mandant of the fort paid no attention to such counsels, and sent detachment with a white flag down to the beach to meet the approaching boat and learn it's errand.
 The men in the boat had nothing to do but to deliver letter from the director in-chief to the commandant of the fort