Evening star., 1914-11-10
Private Letters to Washing
tonians Also Describe Cap
ture of German Samoa.
LATER TWO BIG TEUT0NIC
CRUISERS CAUSE FRIGHT
Projeetiles Fired at French Island
Possessions Were Made in the
United States.

Z, uiirmation and description OF tue
bonn bardmeut of rapcetc, III Tahiti.
and the first official word concerning
the occupation of the samoan Islands
by the British scizinG tn" strong stra-
tegic position in the Pacific adjacent TO
the United States holdings are contain
ed in letters received by Mr.. and Mrs.
Frederick s. Hyde, 1901 18th street.
These letters are from officers in serv-
ice at Rarotonga, Cook Islands, In the
eastern Pacific. near Tahiti, and from
Apia, Samoa Mr.. and Mrs. Hyde, VINO
have spent much time in both these
places, received these letters giving
very intimate and unneutral details OF
both important events, much OF which
they have seen lit to suppress, but they
have allowed The Star to print here
with excerpts from these letters.
An interesting feature of the letter
from Tahiti is that ii says fapeete was
bombarded with shells made in l. >
A." and that before going to Papeete
the warshipS had purchased stores at
Bora-B Bora. paying for them in Eng
lish money These letters follow:
Rarotonga, Cook Islands, Eastern
Pacific, near Tahiti:
" | have not dated my letter,
because do not know when boat Will
come here. Up to now our mails have
Deen 1dlrlN TeSul3r. nut d1teT tue CA
perience of the Natal, which had to
make bolt for San Diego and run up
in the three-mile limit, and of the
Talune, which only got away from the
Germans by luck on her last trip, we
can hardly expect II regular service
until the enemys vessels have been ac-
counted for. We have not been with
out our exciting moments here.
September 25 we saw a strange YES
sci coming here, painted white, and
until
colors to be seen there We're many anx-
ious hearts.
French Opened Fire.
TT turned out to be the St. Francois.
a steamer from Tahiti, bringing US i
message from the governor there about
the bombardment of Papeete on the ed
1t is hard to get the facts, but one
thing seems certain, and that is that
the French fired the first shot The
Germans (two) showed no colorS; a
blank was fired, and as there was no
response live shell was fired. Then
the ball opened. j inclose a sketch
showing the part affected. All within
the irregular linked line was destroyed,
about S1,0oo,ooo damage, and only two
lives lost.
Your country supplied the ammuni-
tlon-at any rate, some of lt-for
pieces of shell were picked up marked
was made in private yards, not govern
ment stuff. Before going to Papeete
they visited Bora, where they
purchased stores, paying for them in
English money, but at their own price.
They were all well supplied with in
formation. for they appear to have had
a list of the people on the island and
of what they had They also appeared
to know some of the movements of the
steamers, for they had the names of
those now running in these waters and
made very careful inquiries after them.
So far we have had no visits, though
searchlights have been seen and
strange vessels have been seen OFF
here. One without any lights, came
fairly close in one night, but sheered
off again. l wish it was all over, but
| am afraid there is a long row 10
hoe yet"
The sketch alluded to above shows
that the French warship Zelee was
sunk and the wharves. custom house
and two large city blocks were de-
stroyed, including the very picturesque
market place. All this damage was
done not over 200 yards from the
American consulate and the fire must
have been from distance of at least
1000 yards or one and one-Quarter
miles.
Capture of Samoa.
"APIA, Somoa.
My Dear Estelie:
no not KNOW "hether l owe you a
letter or not, but such events have
taken place in this little isle / must
let you know. First, let US thank you
FOR the newspapers. They have been
the only ones received that have given
any definite news of the war
AS soon as war was declared. that
we learned through the wireless which
was thrown open on the 4th. All mail,
papers and ma gaZines included were
censored by the German authorities
Great excitement prevailed as to what
would happen here. AS you know we
have no standing army or fortification
so the greatest precautions were taken
All went serenely on until the 29th of
August On that morning English war
ships steamed into the harbor They
Immediately landed 1,400 men with
Maxim guns. hauled down the German
Tag and raised the British. They have