The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1915-09-23
London Maddened by Beautiful,
Horrible, Thrilling Spec
taCIe of Air Battle
Above City.
SPECTATORS IN AMERICA
Eye Witnesses Describe Sensa-
tional Attack by Zeppelins
Recruiting Increases
Much Damage Done.

New York. Sent. 21.-A handful OF
persons of the millions who saw the
| first Zeppelin raid over the heart OF
London on the night of September 9
reached New York today aboard the
steamer Orduna with thrilling stories
Of the fight in the sky between the
invaders and British aircraft. and
other details Of the damage inflicted,
| which had hitherto been suppressed
by the British censor.
There were said to be three Yep
pelins in the fleet although those who
| told the story today had seen but one.
| They circled over the theater and
hotel district Of London, dropping ex-
| plosives and incendiary bombs. One
| of the latter 1t was said, destroyed by
fire an entire block Of warehouses
| within five minutes walk of st. Paurs
| church. An explosive bomb ripped
through six story tenement in the
city and shattered the building from
top to bottom and killed q dozen Of
men, women and children as they
slept. Several bombs, according to
eye witnesses, fell near the hospitals
in a cluster, the central one Of which
was the Opthalmic hospital, full Of
wounded soldiers. All three buildings
were rocked to their foundations, and
not pane of glass was left intact.
The patients had to be moved into
the street, where they lay for hours
on their cots, while the damage was re-
paired.
Pieced together from accounts given
by the Orduna's passengers, the story
of the air raid was as follows:
The raid occurred between 10:45 and
11:15 o'clock on the night of September
8, raid the previous night having
reached the eastern section of the city,
| but not the heart. Persons asleep In
the Metropole, the Victoria and other
hotels in the center of the city were
| awakened by the incessant whirr Of
aeroplane engines as the British air
| fleet took wing to repel the invaders.
| Just as the Zeppelins appeared over the
| strand, most of the theaters were pour
Ing their crowds into the street.
There, according to some passengers,
| q panic impended when the first word
Of the approaching aircraft was passed
| from mouth to mouth in whispers. The
| lights were turned off and men and
| women in evening clothes fought for
| taXicabs and other vehicles to take
| them home. Other passengers say
there was no panic. but that a great
| wave of fear seemed to engulf this Sec
| ton Of the darkened city before the
| anti-aircraft guns began to pop away.
Suddenly from every section of Lon
| beams from scores Of searChlights. The
| tops of these beams were not long in
| resting upon what they sought. When
! the Zeppelin was found a dozen or
| more searchlights focused their rays
| upon 1t stretching back to scattered
| points in the city like the long white
| ribs of fancy fan.
Birdmen Take Flight.
Two searchlights finally conferred on
TIyhi hn
to search the sky for more aircraft. AL
ready the air was dotted with aero
planes which could be seen frequently
as they crossed the searchlights' beam,
cirCling upward The roar of guns from
the city was punctuated at intervals by
the explosions of bombs which fell in
Newgate street, not far from ST. Paul'S
cathedral, in Holborn, in Cheapside, in
Bloomfield street not far from the
| Liverpool street station, and near the
water front of the Thames river in
| that section OF the city in which st.
PauIs Is located.
1.-THE Zeppelin seemed to float lazily
above US" said Miss A. s. Satham, of
Sydney, Australia, who was staying at
| the Victoria hotel. near Charing Cross.
1T reminded me of nothing so much
| as a great fat sausage"
my wife and I watched the Zeppelin
from balcony Of our hotel, the Metro
pole" (Which Is near the National gal
lery and the Strand). said Alexander
| McNabb, of BRIDGEPORT, Conn. It went
directly over the hotel and dropped
bombs around u.s."
There was hardly a space Of five Sec
onds during the 10 minutes or more
that the searchlight beams rested on
the raider. eye witnesses said, that the
sky was not lightened by flashes of ex-
ploding shells. AS the noise of can
nonading grew louder those who had
fled at first to cellars gained courage
and came out into the streets. They
were in almost every stage of undress,
and thousands of men. women and chill
dren walked the streets or stood in
groups, gazing upward, dressed only in
their night clothes
ShrapneI Changed Course.
The bursting shells lighting the sky
Hike meteors shattered into sudden fire
all around the Zeppelin. The splits Of
flames seemed to be finding their tar
get Meanwhile the Zeppelin maneu-
vered over the Holborn section of Lon
don, circling at least twice. These man
euvers ended when shell burst almost
directly under the aircrafts bow.
The Zeppelin appeared to be going
down by the head. For few seconds
she lowered as if uncertain what to do
then righted herself, pointed her nose
slightly upward and assembled so
rapidly that within a minute or two the
Bearchlights could find her no more.
There were NO further bomb explosions
thereafter.
COIN NOPE Gil WE'D