Semi-weekly herald., 1915-05-20

The French military authorities had
Iowa. Finally victory perched upon
my banner and l was notified of my
appointment to go with Mr.. c. L. Bar
nard of the New York Tribune, Mr..
Wythe Williams of the New York
Times, and two journalists from
Spain and another from Stockholm,
Sweden. Thus we had party of six,
three of them being Americans. Our
guide was to be a captain in the
French army, whom we all learned
to love, but whose name am not per-
mitetd to print.
Bombs Are Dropped.
| Our start from Paris for the French
trenches in the north of France was
by rail. Our first stop was at Amiens
and it so happened that the Ger
mans were dropping bombs from their
! aeroplanes at Amiens. When we were
getting ready for breakfast Friday
morning, a German aeroplane was
sailing over onr hotel. The machin-
cry could be distinctly heard. Later
there was crash like the noise of
a cannon, which meant that the bomb
had been dropped and had exploded.
In few minutes there was another
explosion. AS a result one or two
persons were killed and several were
wounded The first bomb DESTROYED
a cigar store. Those who were kill
ed were literally mutilated. The sec
ond bomb was farther away, but de-
stroyed lives and property.
Everyone said that the bombs were
intended for the cathedral, one of the
most beautiful and famous cathedraIs
of the world. In company with Mr.
Williams, whom / had adopted as a
running mate, l visited the cathedral
the evening before. Darkness was
coming on and the stately columns
and the dim light were most impress
sive. There were women and children
at prayer. | do not know what the
people of this Catholic country would
do without the shrines, where the wo-
men and children go to pray in an eff
fort to have strength to bear their
sorrows.
| A Mad Aviator.
| Giving up all thoughts in regard
to aeroplanes and bombs, we were
driven to the headquarters of the
French military aeroplane department
1t seemed a long way out, but when
once reached it was evident that a
right selection of the grounds had
been made. Not far away were the
German trenches and just as we ar
rived a French aeroplane had return
ed from an observation tour above
the German fighting lines. The ayia-
tor was made clear through. The
Germans had given his machine many
rifle bullets, and one ball had touch
ed his foot without damage. But his
own machine refused to drop the
bombs. Something was out of fix in
connection with the releasing of the
bombs. We saw numerous aeroplanes
sail away and come back again. The
aviators all wore heavy fur overcoats.
such as are seen in North Dakota.
The next day the German aeroplanes
took another look at the city of
Amiens and dropped bombs in four
places, killing number of non-com-
6atants.
rTI
Inc German aeroplanes were pro-
voked to activity by the Industrious
work OF the French aeroplanes in
dropping bombs ON the German
trenches. Hence it was matter of
revenge.
The Wright brothers, the inventors
OF the aeroplane, did not expect that
they would be used in war except for
observation purposes. This fact / am
given by Lord Northcliffe, principal
owner of the London Times, who got
his information from the Wr;obt
brothers in person.
How Bombs Are Carried.
| The French aeroplanes carry six
bombs in little framework under tho
forward end of the mainpart of the
lying machine. One of the machines
which we noticed had a small cannon
adjusted at the extreme forward
point. " u
The bombs used by the aeroplanes
are about three feet in length. One
END is pointed and in that end ;s ol,
the weight, as wei as all the COM
bustibles. The metal at the other end
is groozed out in order that the at
mosphere may assist in keeping the
heavy end down. The projectile some
what resembles an arrow. When the
heavy end, which is called the nose
strikes the ground or INV o+ho -,