Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1914-12-23
Germans Shell British Towns.

tilla was damaged.
The Evening Standards Hartle-
pool correspondent says of the Ger
man raid on the English coast:
1.-TWO German warships are belie,-
ed to have been sunk The CAPTAIN
of a ketch lying off Saltburn says he
saw three German ships engaged One
of these was blown up, another bolt
ed and the third was still fghting."
First Time to Suffer.
London, Dec. 16.-For the first
time in modern history, English
towns have suffered from the attack
of foreign enemy.
A German squadron, the size of
which Is not yet known, crept upon
the northeast coast Of England dur
ing the darkness Of misty night.
When the fogs cleared between and
O'Clock this morning the vessels
opened fire on the towns of Scarbor-
ough, Whitby and Hartlepool. A
distance of about 40 miles separate
the first named port from the last.
This stretch of coast is about 200
miles long.
British 1otillas engaged the invad-
ers, and the fortress of West Hartle-
pool, off the mouth Of the River Tees,
fired upon the enemy
Official reports do not reveal the
hnr Of 40 OF n1y IN
do they say whether the seacoast
towns were fired upon simultaneously
or one after another.
Fifty Shells Landed.
An eyewitness at the seaside re-
sort Of Scarborough estimates so
shells landed in the town, enveloDed
it in smoke, and destroyed the Bal
moral hotel, a number of houses and
tho railroad station. One of the OBJ
jectives Of the attack was st. Mar
tins church, which was damaged. A
woman behind the counter Of a shop
was killed, and her husband was
wounded.
Messages from Hartlepool say the
local gas works and the lumber yards
were set afire by the shells Of the
German ships. The estimate of the
casualties at Hartlepool-ninep people
killed-probably is guess work and
greatly exaggerated.
Two German ships threw 80 shells
into Whitby and wrecked several
houses, according to a message from
that place, and one civilian resident
OF Whitby died Of a wound. The
sound Of the German guns was heard
at towns as far inland as 20 miles,
according to some reports.
People Fled in Droves.
People from Scarborough hurried
in droves to the railroad station and
boarded the first train for Hull,
where they circulated alarmist stories
as to what was happening on the
coast.
Thousands of people witnessed the
hring from Redcar, across Tees Bay
from Hartlepool, according to a mes
sage from that watering place. Seve-
raj German ships were engaged and
the fort north Of the mouth of the
River Tees replied.
Scarborough is wholly unfortified,
except for a small battery, popularity
believed to be obsolete. Whitby also
Is unfortified, and Hartlepool has
only small fort, but it is large
shipping center and tempting to an
invading fleet.
The ruined castle on the cliff 800
feet above the sea, together with the
Grand Hotel and the tower of the
municipal amusement hall, make
Scarborough an easy target. One re-
port says the old castle was shelled.
Russians on Retreat.
Vienna, Dec. 17.-An official an
nouncement says the Russians are re-
treating along the entire front in Ga
lacia and Poland.
A great battle is in progress at
Sochaczow, 80 miles west of Warsaw.
The German wedge, which is pro-
ceeding in southeasterly direction
from How, has managed, after heavy
fighting, in which serious losses are
reported to have been inflicted, to es-
tablish itself a quarter Of a mile west
OF Sochaczow. The Polish campaign
now centers at that point.
Sochaczow by fierce resistance by the
Russians. Fighting was extremely
severe. sometimes hand-to-hand en-