The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1914-08-29
LONDON FEARS
GREAT DAMAGE
BY zEPPELINS
Bombardment From Air and Huge
Ransom Is Talk of City

| SoidHu hoiui WHAT HlSudNti Nho'
| threat?
VIII it send down fleet of dying
Zeppelins, dropping its bombs of an
Inhalation, bringing destruction to the
! greatest city i'm the world?
| Is there chance of an aerial inva-
a defenseless city?
Military officials scoff at such Il pos
sibility. Few of the people have any
| fears. But the memory of dying ships
over England few years back has
| turned speculation towards the skies.
London is the most vulnerable of all
| European cities to an attack from the
sky and it is the richest prize in the
| world
\ ransom of billions as a guarantee
| against attack would be cheap.
Has Many Priceless treasures.
The Bank of England alone has
millions OF pounds in gold reserve i'm
its vaults. The money guarantees the
| English bank note issue and insures
| the credit of the nation In addition
| there are 800 lesser banks in the city,
all carrying large reserves in gold and
silver.
London is the biggest and the riclI-
est city in the world. outside of val
ues which can be measured in money,
| London is the home of priceless treas
! ures Of art, archaeology and science.
The British museum IS the greatest
| in the world. The famous Elgn mar
bles were stripped from Greek tenn
pies. The Rosetta stone, which en-
| abled savants to decipher the inscrip-
tons on the monuments Of ancient
Egypt, was taken from the khedive,
The British crown jewels, valued at
$1O,OO0,000. and priceless from his
torical standpoint. are inadeqUately
guarded in the Tower of London.
The Kohinor the largest diamond
in the world, is part of the treasure
within the tower.
Most important of all, to an Eng
lishman's eyes, are the historic land
marks of the city, st. Paul's cathedral,
the houses Of parliament, the 1000
year-old Tower of London and the
equally ancient Westminster Abbey.
If an attack from the sky comes
the base of German operations will
be the little Island of Hcligoland, in
the North Sea, lying miles east of
the mouths Of the ,Elbe and Weser and
less than Ave hours distant from
London by the big German dirigibles
In making an attack, the Germans
would give notice of their intention
through neutral power. They would
demand a RANSOM be paid within "A
hours. -combatants would be
warned to leave the city and city
dwellers given plenty of time to es-
cape into the suburbs.
Menace From the Clouds.
Then a fleet of Zeppelins, painted
sky color To make detection difficult
and with munled motors, would leave
the island at dusk and before 10
o'clock the same evening be above
London. The huge sky cruisers, 4S5
feet long and As feet in diameter, are
inflated with 671,0OO feet of hydrogen
gas carried i'm Is reservoirs within
rigid aluminium frame. Their en-
gines develop $40 horsepower and can
drive the ships at the rate of 30 miles
per hour.
The English have never prepared
| for an attack on the city, believing
their navy capable of preventing all
attempts at invasion. There are no
forts around London as there are
l. Do
lately thwartcd "a German attack from
the air by blazing searchlights from
the Eiffel tower ana other points of
vantage by getting aerial cannon in
readiness in it's forts and by sending
swarms of aeroplane scouts buzzing
over the city
But England is unprepared At Al
dershot 20 miles out of London, are
two dirigibles. There are few aero
planes at AldeTshot and few private
machines at Hendon. OF all European
nations England has been backward
in developing the fourth arm of the
service which. in comparison with
Germany and France, is negligible.
With n few searchlights hastily
mounted on the towers OF the city
sweeping the sky and with all other
lights out, London would await it's
doom.
Tempting Targets for Bombs.
The huge Woolwich arsenal, which
supplies England with arms and am
munition. is in direct line of attack.
| The houses of parliament and the ad-
jacent Westminster Abbey and Buck
| ingham palace, the residence of the
king, half mile away. are tempting
| targets and by their size impossible to
miss.
Even is a sweeping attack the Ger
mans would not destroy all the build
| ings in their power i'm one night, but
| would give the Londoners an object
lesson and, ransom failing, continue
the attack. Then the invaders would
turn their attention to Manchester,
Birmingham and Leeds, the great
manufacturing cities, Liverpool. Glas-
gov and Belfast
Winston Churchill, first lord of the
admiralty, has for years pointed out
the danger Of attack from the sky.
His efforts failed to arouse England
from it's compliment lethargy. Eng