The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1889-03-28
SIFTIGE THIRD.

In about half an hour after the dis
charge of the motor bomb, when the sea
had resumed its usual quiet, boat car
rying white flag left Repeller No. /,
rOvycd directly over the submerged net
and made fer the harbCr. Nhe, the ap-
proach of this nag of truce was perceived
from the fort nearest the mouth Of the
harbor, it occasioncd much surmisc.
Had the earthquake brought these syn
dica:e Enavcs to their senses? Or W"re
they about to make further absurd and
outrageous demands: 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 tc fred upon. But the COM
saaneilEt Of the fort paid no attention to
such counscl.', and sent !. detachment
with a white flag down to the beach to
meet the approaching boat and learn its
errand.
The men in the boat had nothing to GO
bat to deliver a letter from the director
in-cl:ef to the commandment Of the fort
and then row back ag;:in. No answer
was required.
When the commandment read the brief
note he made no remark, In fact, he
could think of no appropriate remark to
make. The rnissive simply informed
him that at ten O'Clock and eighteen
minutes a. H., of that day, the first
boom from the marine forces of the syn
dicate had been discharged into the
waters Of the llarbor. At, or about two
O'Clock p. M, the second bomb would be
discharged at Fort Pitcher. That was all.
What this extraordinary message
meant could not be imagined by any
officer of the garrison. If the people on
board the slips were taking advantage
of the earthquake, and supposed s}sat
they could induce British soldiers to be-
their bombs. then were they idiots in
deed. They would fire their second shot
at Fort Pitcher! This was impossible,
for they had not yet fred their first shot.
These syndicate people were evidently
very tricky, and the defenders Of the
port must therefore be very cautious.
Fort Pitcher was very large and un-
finished fortification, on a bluff on the
opposite side of the harbor. Work had
been discontinued on it as soon as the
syndicates vessels had appeared off the
port, for it was not desired to expose the
builders and workmen to a possible
bombarIment. The place was now,
therefore, almost deserted; but after the
receipt of the syndicate's message, the
coa,mandant feared that the enemy
might throw an ordinary shel! into the
unfinished works, and he sent boat
across the bay to order away any work
men or others who might be lingering
/ about the place.
A little after o'clock p. M. an instan-
taneous motor bomb was discharged
from Repeller No. into Fort Pitcher.
1t was set to act five seconds after I'M
pact with the object aimed at. 1t struck
in a central portion of the unfinished
fort, and having described high curve
in the air, descended not only with its
| own motive power, but with the force Of
gravitation, and penetrated deep into the
earth.
! Five seconds later q vast brown cloud
appeared on the Fort Pitcher promon-
tory. This cloud was nearly spherical
! in form, with an apparent diameter OF
about a thousand yards. At the same
! instant shock similar to that accom-
| panying the first motor bomb was felt in
! the city and surrounding country, but
/ this was not SC severe as the other, for
/ the second bomb did not exert its force
upon the underlying rocks of the region,
as the first one had done.
The great brown cloud quickly began
to lose its spherical form, part of it de-
/ scending heavily to the earth and part
/ floating away in vast dust clouds borne
inland by the breeze, settling downward
as they moved, and depositing on land,
water, ships, houses, domes and trees an
almost impalpable powder.
When the cloud had cleared away
there were no Notifications, and the bluff
on which they had stood had disappeared.
Part of this bluff had floatcd away on
the wind and part of it lay piled in great
heaps of sand on the spot where its rocks