Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-12-02


C&sn1NG was therefore selected q the
spot to b operated upon. No one could
| for moment imagine that the syndicate
had mined this place, and II it should be
destroyed by motor bombs it would prove
to the country that the government had
not been frightened by the tricks Of q
crafty enemy.
An hour after the receipt Of the note
in which it was stated that Caerdaff had
been selected, the syndicate's feet start
ed for that place. The crabs were ele-
waited to cruising height. the repeller
taken in tow. and by the afternoon of
the next day the fleet was lying off Caer-
daft. A note was sent on shore to the
officer in command, stating that the
bombardment would begin at 10 o'clock
in the morning of the next day but one,
and requesting that information Of the
hour appointed be instantly transmitted
to London. When this had been done,
the fleet steamed six or seven miles off
shore, where it lay to or cruised about
for two nights and day.
AS soon US the government had Sc
lected Caerdaff for bombardment imme-
date measures were taken to remove the
small garrisons and the inhabitants of
the fishing village from possible danger
When the syndicate's note was received
by the comnandant of the fort be was
already in receipt of orders from the war
office to evacuate the Notifications and
to superintend the removal of the fisher
men and their families to a point of
safety farther up the coast.
Caerdaff was place difficult Of access
by land, the nearest railroad stations be-
ing fifteen or twenty miles away, but on
the day after the arrival of the syndi-
Gates fleet in the offing thousands of
people made their way to this part of the
country. anxious to see-if perchance
they might find an opportunity to safely
see-what might happen at 10 o'clock
the next morning. Officers of the army
and navy. government officials, press
correspondents in great numbers, and
curious and anxious observers of all
classes, FASTENED to the Welsh coast
The little towns where the visitors left
the trains were crowded to OVERLOOKING,
and every possible conveyance by which
the mountains lying back of Cardiff
could be reached was eagerly secured,
many persons, however, being obliged
to depend upon their own legs. Soon
after sunrise of the appointed day the
forts, the village and the surrounding
lower country were entirely deserted;
and every point of vantage on the noun
tains lying some miles back from the
coast was occupied by excited spectators,
nearly every one armed with a field
glass.
A few Of the guns from the fortifica-
tons were transported to an overlooking
height, in order that they might be
brought into action in case the repeller,
instead of bombarding. should send men
in boats to take possession of the evacu-
ated Notifications, or should attempt any
mining operations. The gunners for this
battery were stationed at a safe place to
the rear, whence they could readily
reach their guns if necessary.
The next day was one of supreme i'm
portance to the syndicate. On this day
it must make plain to the world, not only
what the motor bomb could do, but that
the motor bomb did what was done.
Before leaving the English channel the
director of Repeller No. II had received
Geographic advices from both Europe
and America indicating the general drift
of public opinion in regard to the recent
sea fight; and, besides these, many Eng
lish and continental papers had been
brought to him from the French coast.
From all these the director perceived
that the cause Of the syndicate had in a
certain way suffered from the manner in
which the battle in the channel had been
conducted. Every newspaper urged that
if the repeller carried guns capable of
throwing the bombs which the syndicate
proposed to use there was no reason why
every ship in the British feet should not
have been destroyed. But us the repeller
had not fired a single shot at the fleet, and
as the battle had been fought entirely
by the crabs, there was every reason to
believe that if there were such things as
motor guns their range was very short,
not as great as that of the ordinary dyna-
mite cannon. The great risk run by one
of the crabs in order to disable a dyna-
mite gunboat seemed an additional proof
of this.
1t was urged that the explosions in the
water might have been produced by tor
pedoes; that the torpedo boat which had
been destroyed was so near the repeller
that an ordinary shell was sufficient to
accomplish the damage that had been
done.
To gainsay these assumptions was i'm
perative on the syndicate's forces. To
firmly establish the prestige of the in
Simultaneous motor was the object of the
war. Crabs were of but temporary SER
vice. Any nation could build vessels
like them, and there were many means
of destroying them. The spring armor
was complete defense against ordinary
artillery, but it was not defense against
submarine torpedoes. The claims of the
syndicate could be firmly based on moth
ing but the powers of absolute annihila-
ton possessed by the instantaneous mo-
tor bomb.
About 0 o'clock on the appointed morn
ing Repeller No. III much to the surprise
Of the spectators on the high grounds
with field glasses and telescopes, steamed
away from Caerdaff. What this meant
nobody knew, but the naval military OBJ
servers Immediately suspected that the
syndicate's vessel had concentrated atten-
ton upon Caerdaff in order to go over to
Ireland to do some sort of mischief there.
1t was presumed that the crabs accom-
panied her, but as they were now at their
fighting depth it was impossible to see
them at 80 great distance.
But it was soon perceived that Repel-
Ter No. II had no intention of running
away. nor of going over to Ireland.
From slowly cruising about four or five
miles off shore she had steamed west
ward until she had reached q point
which, according to the calculations of
her scientific corps, was nine marine
miles from Caerdaff. There she lay to
against strong breeze from the east.
1t was not yet 10oclock when the Off
Ger in charge of the starboard gun re-
marked 10 the director that he supposed
that it would not be necessary to give
the smoke signals, as had been done in
the channel, as now. all the crabs were
lying near them. The director reflected
moment, and then ordered that the
signal should be given at every discharge
OF the gun. and that the columns of black
smoke should be shot up to their Creates
height
At precisely 10 o'clock, up rose from
Repeller No. II two tall jets of black
smoke. Up rose from the promontory
of Caardnff a heavy gray cloud like an