The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1915-09-29
FEAR SWEPT London
BOMBS DESTROY WAREHOUSE
In HEART OF LONDON
AIR ATTACK Confirmed

Story of Passengers Arriving in New
York are That Huge Airships Cir.
cled Over Business District and
Rains Down Incendiary Explo-
siyes.
A handful of persons from the mil
lions who saw the first Zeppelin raid
over the heart of London on the night
Of September 9 reached New York
aboard the steamer Orduna, with
thrilling stories of the fight in the
sky between the invaders and British
aircraft
There were said to have been three
zeppelins in the fleet, although those
who told the story to-day had seen
only one. They circled over the the
atre and hotel district Of London,
| dropping explosive and incendiary
bombs One of the latter. it was said,
| destroyed by fire an entire block Of
warehouses within five minutes walk
| Of st. Paul's church. An explosive
bomb ripped through a siX-story ten
snent in the centre OF the city, shat
tering the building from top to bot
TOM and killing dozen or more men,
men and children as they slept
Several bombs, according to the
eyewitness, fell near three hospi-
.als in a cluster, the central one Of
which was the Opthalmic hospital,
full of wounded soldiers. All three
buildings were rocked to their foun-
1ations and not pane of glass was,
| eft intact. The patients had to be
moved into the streets, where they
,ay for hours, on their cots, while,
The damage was repaired.
Pieced together from accounts
given by the Orduna's passengers, the
story Of the cir raid was as follows:
"The raid occurred between 1915
ind 11:15 o'clock on the night of
September 8, raid the previous
night having reached the eastern sec
ton Of the city, but not the heart.
Persons asleep in the Metropole, the
Victoria and other hotels were awak-
ened by the incessant Whirr Of aero
! plane engines as the British air fleet
look wing to repel the invaders. Just
Is the Zeppelins appeared over the
Strand, most of the theatres were,
| pouring their crowds into the street.
According to some panic im-
pended when the first word of the
approaching aircraft was passed from
mouth to mouth. The lights were
.urned off and men ard women in
evening clothes fought for taxicabs
and other vehicles to take them
home. Others said there was no
panic, but that great wave Of fear
seemed to engulf this section Of the
iarkened city before the anti-aircraft
guns began to pop.
Suddenly, from every section Of.
london, the sky was swept by long
white beams from scores of search
flights. The tops of these beams were
/ not long in resting upon what they
sought. When the Zeppelin was found
dozen or more searchlights focused
:heir rays upon it, stretching back
20 scattered points in the city like the
ong white ribs Of fancy fan.
1.-TWO searchlights finally centred
On a Zeppelin while the others con-
.inued to search the sky. Already the
air was dotted with aeropianes which
could be seen frequently us they
crossed the scarchlight beams, cir
cling upward. The roar of guns from
he city was unctuated at intervals
by the explosion of bombs which fell
q Newgate street, not was from st.
Paul's Cathedral in Holborn, in
Cheap Side, in Bloomfield street; near
the Liverpool street station and near
he water front, in that section in
which st. Paul's is located.
THE Zeppelin seemed to float lazi-
~ above u.s. said Miss 4. s: latham,
If Sydney, Australia, who was stay
| ng at the Victoric. hctel, near Charm
Cross. "It reminded mo of nothing
so much SIS a great. long sausage.
My wife End watched the Zeppe-
lin from o balcony of or hctcI, the
Metrorole," sale Alexander McNcb, Of
Bridgeport, Conn. at went directly
over the hotel end dropped bombs
around uS.
There was hardly space of five
seconds during the ten minutes or
more that the searchlight beams rest
I'd on the raider, eye-witneSses said,
hat the sky was not frightened by
flashes of exploding shells. AS the
| noise of cannonading grew louder
hose who had fled to cellars came
nto the streets Thousands walked
he streets or stood in groups, gazing
| Upward, dressed only in their night
| clothes.
The bursting shells lighting the
ky like meteors, shattered into sud-
len fire all around the Zeppelin. The
| spits of flame seemed to be finding
| heir target Meantime the Zeppelin
| nanoeuvered over the Holborn Sec
ion, circling at least twice. These
napoeuvers ended when a she'll burst
| almost directly under the aircraft's
bow.
A swerve, a sudden dip and the
5earchlights lost the Zeppelin. Then
I! they were on her a moment after and
! it was seen that she appeared to be
| going down by the head. For few
seconds she hovered as if uncertain
| what to do, then righted herself,
| pointed her nose slightly upward and
ascended so rapidly that within a
| minute or two the searchlights could
not find her There were no more
bomb explosions thereafter.
Back to the cathedral, where there
are many warehouses near the river
'ront, was the first visible effect of
the raid. An entire block was in
ashes with only the smudged shells OF
buildings standing. The burned build
ngs had bee- big warehouses filled
with clothing and other supplies for
the army. There were no munitions
n the buildings, however, it was said.
At the Opthalmic hospital they
found that considerable damage had
been done by bomb which lad fall
len about block away. This build
ing and two others converted into
hospitals for wounded soldiers, had
felt the force of the explosion almost
as if it had be n at their doors. - -
In Bloomfield street. two and one
10 fo1