The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-12-30

West HartEepoOl, Eng, Dec 30:-i English east coast towns are panic ; stricken since the German raid upon Scarborough Nhitby and the Hartle- pools Confidence in the power of the British navy to keep. Germans away from England has weakened and there is constant dread of the presence of the German ships, if not the landing of German troops
 The mayors of the Hartlepools and the other stricken towns have organ ized volunteer censtabularies and are
 making an effort to hold the excited pilblft, in check Proc1anations have been made that civilians must stay in doors should the bornbardment recur and yield to the orders of the con- stables but there is a. general fmpa- tience with all sorts of authority. Nearly all civilians are carrying arms , and they announce they will look af- ter themselves. Travel by automobile at night is hazardous as excited guards stop all motor cars frequently with a flourish of guns and revolvers.
 The patrol ships Patrol and Doon. which guard Hartlepool, were lying in the haEbor the morning of the Ger man raid but are said by civilians to have had no steam. It is also charg.- : ed they were partly dismantIed and had to be lowed out from the docks before they could get irHo action. Xt
  Germans had an opportunity toe shell f11e HartelpooIs for nearly minutes before the navy craft offered effec- tfve opposition Officers of the two patrol ships had a banquet at the leading hotel in West Hartlepool the night before the raid.
 An Investigation of the navy's ao-. fionhas been demanded by the mayors Of the ruined towns and the result of the prospective inqtiiry by the admir- a1ty is awaited irnpatiently along the fseast coast, which no longer goes to i sleep at night with 8 feeling of secur- ity
 Many Of the families living near the coast have moved back into the inter for. The large number of women and children killed during the recent bonn pardnnent has especially excited the dread of the inhabitaIts and when ever possible the heads of families are sending their wives and children be- Yond the possible range of German ! ships.
 At Hartlepool. the Germans fired i with amazing accuracy. The first she'll they directeds toward the town i knocked over twelve soldiers who were manning one of the coast guns. None Of them was killed but several ! were stunned.
 The Germans also managed to strike the gasometers, water tower sTnok estacks on big factories, te1e- graph poles and other objects which 1 stood above the level of the roofs in the two flat towns. The railway lines were hit in several places and traffic was temporarily suspended.
 Before the raid all telegraphic and ! telephone connection with the harbor is said to have been cut off suddenly I In fact, the two HartIepools are both said to have been cut off entirely from the outside world for 8 time before the shells wrecked many poles and f completed the supposed work of some spy. The military has now taken over all wires and communication with the coast towns is very difficult.
 The spy fear has now become so acute all along the coast that even civilians provided with credentials above dispute are subjected to arrest 1 lsx the civil officials. The govern sS--ent has refrained from issuing any sort of instrutions to the east coast themselves in case of raid or invasion, with the result that the populace is running wild.
 Should an invasion occur with the public in it's present panfcky condf- tfon. an attack would doubtless be made upon the invaders by excited civilians which would provoke the general destruction of towns and re-. slIts1u the death of large mum bers of civilians who are thoroughly disor- sgapized and without any means of of fering resistance even to a small land ing party.
 k1ny are stationed at various places RIone the east coast but these for the,