The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-04-04
London Citizens All Have Ideas OF
Their Own as to the Best
Method Of Saving
Their Skins.
TUBES ARE DANGEROUS
Government Advice 10 to Take to the
Cellar, But English Houses
Usually Have no
Cellars.

by William G. Shepherd, United
Press Staff Correspondent
LONDON, March 23.-(By mail to
New York. London is persuaded
more than ever that the Zeppelins are
coming here some day-and how to
dodge them is a problem that every
citizen works out in his own way.
The first victim OF the Zeppelins In
London Is the wife of householder
in the suburbs who, while assisting
her husband to dig bomb proof
trench in the back yard, was killed by
a-cave-in. The Kansas cyclone cellar
idea is one that appeals to many
London householders and more than
one garden in London hides subter-
ranean shelter.
Public opinion shifts in regard to the
subway as a shelter In the early
days OF the Zeppelin menace London
ers settled back. confidently. and said,
Why there's the underground! You
can laugh at a Zeppelin from the un-
derground. They can't hurt you there"
At first blush it seemed to be sound
suggestion. Unlike the subways of
Paris. Berlin or Buda Pest, the Lon
don subways are not covered excava-
lions, but are tunnels dug deep under
the London streets. No New Yorker,
for instance, who know anything Of
Zeppelin bombs, would think Of find
ing safety from them in the New York
subway. but the Londoner naturally
turned to the tubes. For some weeks
the tube seemed to solve the problem.
but, as soon as the police found out
that the public was planning to take
to the tubes, they proved. beyond
doubt that the tubes would not be
safe. And soon you heard Londoners
talking like this:
mo tubes for me. Think OF all the
sewer and water pipes that lie under
the streets, above the tubes. Suppose
q bomb breaks one OF the great water
mains The tube would be flooded and
you'd drown like rat"
The police also foresaw the danger
of panics in the tube stations, Hun
dreds of men. women and children
rushing down the stairways, trampling
the fallen. scores Of them being push
ed of the station platforms onto the
live third rails; the subway blocked
Just at the time when It. might be
most needed to rush parties of SOL
diers, policemen aid doctors to some
corner Of the city where bombs had
fallen-all OF these possibilities were
taken into account by the police and
every means Of publicity has been
used to convince the public that the
tube is the wrong place for shelter
from Zeppelin bombs
In most of tine important subway sta
tons sentries have been established.
Their duties, in all probability, are to
shut the iron gates, leading to the sta
ton platforms, as soon as the first
signs OF a Zeppelin rush are seen.
These sentries are also supplied with
telephones, by means of which they
can call for aid. in case OF panic.
Lucky is the hotel guest in London
who can find a room on the lower
floors. Give me something on the
third Or fourth floors" is the usual
request of a newcomer to a London
hostelry.
The advice given by the police to
householders to seek their cellars can
be followed by only q small proper
ton of the London population. There
are half-cellars under the average
London house. and small coal cellars
under the sidewalks, but the deep
basement or stone-lined cellar in
which the American householder
feeds his furnaces and keeps the
vegetables with which he feeds his
family is unknown in London. The
half-cellar under London fat has
windows opening onto the street and
is usually occupied by servants and
many a householder is convinced that
both it and the coal cellars under the
sidewalk are the most dangerous
places in the house during a Zeppeli1
raid
ME for the open country is the
disposition of the average Londonar
'T want to be out on the street where
can see bombs and dodge them. It's
just like an earthquake. The safest
place is outside your house" This
open-air plan, however. is held only
to shallow Londoners who have no
given the problem careful thought
They do not take into consideration
the fact that. as soon as a Zeppelin
appears over London the sky nigh
be filed with bullets from aati-ai
craft guns and that these English
bullets will be as dangerous as thu
German air shells. 1t Is on accoun
VI THESE tiiot Ih0 puliC'
warn the public to stay indoors and
if possible. go to the cellars. AS
matter OF fact the average London
house would be demolished by a Ter
pelil shell and the man in the base
ment would stand as little chance o
escape from death or injuries as tn
man on the top floor. But. IL Londo
is kept indoors during Zeppelin rait
there will be far fewer deaths fror
flying anti-aircraft bullets than
london took to the open streets.