The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-02-14
HISTORY OF THE MARTIANS

When xere ascened the throne he i'm
mediately continued the preparations for
an expedition to the earth which had
been started by his august father and
had already been well advanced when
xore felt death approaching and set out
on his journey to the field of death.
Being a very energetic monarch xere
soon had everything in readiness for the
momentous voyage through space. One
hundred great vessels fully equipped with
atmospheric tanks, scientific apparatus,
chemical guns, and chemical food pro-
ducts, lay on the plain Just outside OF
HuiIpi waiting until the Martians were
ready to start As the day for departure
rapidly approached the Marian astron-
omers reported that they were puzzled
by phenomena which seemed to be taking
place on the earth's surface. Day and
night they kept their powerful instru-
ments trained upon the planet and eE-
deavored to discover what untoward
events were taking place. The Martians
had no idea that there was any life in
space save on their own planet until
their expedition to the moon and conse-
ouent struggle with the Tellurians. These
events had caused them to doubt wheth-
er their surmises in regard to all bodies
in space were correct and they even
hoped to find a race of beings similar to
themselves when they reached the earths
surface.
For these reasons the astronomers were
all the more Interested in vague changes
which they perceived to be taking place
on the earth. These phenomena center
ed about what the Martians rightly judg-
ed to be the equatorial regions or the
earth and took the form of uncertain radi-
ations Of light, which shone out brightly
and then died away. For several days
the light was observed and the astron-
omers became so absorbed in watching 1t
that the trip to the earth was postponed
in the hope that a solution of the mys-
terry might be obtained But none of the
scientists was wise enough to explain
the earth radiations and 1t was decided
to wait until the Marian expedition ar
rived near the planet to satisfy curiosity
on that point. Some fear was expressed
that the light flashes might be emanating
from great volcanoes, in which case the
Marian expedition might be fraught with
danger, but the courageous people were
not to be daunted and 1t was decided to
depart for the voyage into space imme-
diately.
Wnen the astronomers were uldppiilS
out the course and sweeping space for
wandering bodies that might prove dis
astrous to their vessels they were again
puzzled by discoveries which they could
not explain. At times they caught the
faintest impression of cloud of moving
bodies which seemed to be approaching
Mars with incredible rapidity and be-
came mode distinct as time passed. AS
these voyagers In space lay directly in
the proposed path of the Martians to
the earth 1t was proposed to again post
pone the journey until more satisfactory
observations could be made. The cosmic
fragments meteors, comets, or whatever
they were, rapidly drew near to Mars and
In the space of few weeks had increas-
ed to such size that the astronomers
could readily see that the bodies were all
similar in appearance and seemed to be
travelling at the same rate of speed.
At the end of three months the Mar
tain astronomers came to the conclusion
that the approaching system of tiny
worlds was coming directly toward Mars
and serious apprehension was aroused.
At length the instruments showed that
the strange visitors were not fragments
of demolished planet but vessels which
seemed of artificial manufacture and bore
some resemblance to the Marian aer-
shoots AS soon as this startling in
formation was given out there was great
excitement In all the Marian cities and
preparations were made to oppose the