The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-18
LONDON AIR RAIDS DESCRIBED BY AN
 ENGLISH OBSERVER
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suffered and in most cases this has beer of the small residential kind Almost al the unfortunate people who have been killed not only were noncombatants but noneombatants of class who hitherto, in the honorable practice of civilized war fare have been exempt from attack women, children, small shopkeepers, work ing men-the sacrifice of whose lives serves no military purpose, either mor- ally or materially.
 The folly and futility of the raids ast week may well be imagined when it Is remembered that the London district taken for convenience as the area ad- ministered by the metropolitan police,
 Is just short of TOO square miles in area. It was hastily dropping, at random, in the dark. explosive and incendiary ma terials somewhere on this enormous sur face that the enemy professed to have accomplished an important military pur- pose.
 The fact is that no public institutions or any kind was hit nor was any power station or arsenal No damage was done affecting the use of any building con- nected directly or indirectly with the con duct of the war.
 Hospitals Escape
 Tt Is true two hospitals narrowly es- caped damage, and it is only fair to say in behalf of the officers of an army which has done it's best to destroy the cathedrals of Belgium and France, that up to the present they have succeeded in hitting only one church
 So far IS the morale effect of the raid is concerned, it is feared that from the standpoint of Berlin it was complete failure. IT Count Zeppelin himself ac- oompanied the raiding aircraft, as has been reported from Holland, he will be disappointed to learn that only a minor ity of the vast population of London was aware of the presence of his airships; that among those who heard the gunfire and saw the Zeppelins the feelings every where aroused were interest and curios- ity rather than fear.
 That London and it's suburbs as con- munty faced calmly the murderous ef- forts of these raiders Is in no way a mitigation of the callous and purposeless brutality of their actions or the tragedies which have followed.
 Here are few pictures of the effects accomplished by the officers and crew of the last airship which visited the Lon don district: Somewhere In London there Is little street with a public house at the corner.
 Outside 1t Wednesday evening, after the place was closed a man and woman stood talking. While the woman went away to buy supper the man wited for her and there fell at his feet the first explosive bombs
 They killed the man outright and blew pieces of the paving stone onto surround ing roofs. They blew In the front of the public house. reducing the stock to a mass of broken glass.
 ''On the floor above they twisted an Iron bedstead, injuring woman who was sleeping there and reduced what had been the carefully kept living rooms of small family to mass of soot, dust plaster and broken glass In what conceivable respect did this contribute to the progress of the war?
 Bomb Thrown
 "1n another part of the area over which the airship passed there is a big block of workmens dwellings which are crowded day and night with children. A bomb dropped on the roof. <. Directly under the roof was lit tie flat in which four children had their sleeping quarters. After being put to bed two of them got mp secretly to make tea in an adjoining room.
 'The bed they left now is mass of charred and blackened sheets with the mattress torn to pieces They escaped | by miracle but in a small bedroom 1, adjoining the other two children were | killed.
 These buildings are strong and the | bomb did not penetrate far. You hardly | can notice the damage to the roof if | you pass in the street. That was all l that was happening when the captain of the German aircraft professed to think he was visiting docks and vitally the port of London.
 "At another place an incendiary bomb dropped through the roof of a stable and fired motor car into which 1t fell. The stableman and his wife, in spite of the fire which immediately became serious, turned loose II horses which were in the stable. A watch dog also was rescued as was a caged bird kept on the first floor above the fire. although while bringing it downstairs he stableman's wife was blown off Ter feet by the explosion of a bomb in neighboring courtyard.
 Bantam Rooster Killed
 "The only casualty in this case was antam rooster. In such a case as the ast the futility of the enemy's attack