South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-01-06
cot COMMANDMENT
STORY BY RIDING
T HOURS To SCENES
Correspondent Makes Public
How News Service Was En-
abled to Get First Accurate
1aCOunt of German Step.
BY Hayden Talbot.

Ddllle cruisers can get TO the
United states only through the me
dunn OF the British postoffice-the
censorship as yet allowing mail mat
ter 10 pass between the two countries
without interference. That there is
an inside" story behind the bald facts
OF that remarkable raid is patent
enough from the facts gathered by all
the newspaper men on the spot
From the moment the ticker fash
ed. the Press Bureaus official an
nOuncement that 1.-The German fleet
is bonn barding Scarborough and The
HartlepoOls" at 11:25 Wednesday
morning until many hours later Fleet
st, (L0ndon's Park Row was prob
/. ably buster and more nearly excited
\ than at any time since the war be-
gan.
Hurried consultation of the railway
guide showed that the first available
train did not leave until 1:40. an ex-
asperating wait Of more than two
hours. Two London newspapers. one
so-called picture paper" each
chartered special trains and sent off
10 the scene a small army OF special
writer's and PHOTOGRAPHERS. Fully
half hundred other writer's and pho
tOgrapners were waiting at Kings
Cross station when the 1:4G pulled in.
Among these were six moving picture
and still photographers represent
ing the international News Service
Party is Divided.
! In the course Of the five hours
4 journey to York-during which no.
(body knew whether the bOmbardment
NAad ceased or whether il was cover
the landing OF German trooPs-it
Vas decided among correspondents
and photographers of the Interna-
tonal News Service TO divide the party
into equal parts, one-half going to
scarborough, the other half 10 West
Hartlepool Scarborough is an hour
nearer London than West HartlepOol
and as much more important from a
picturesque standpoint Git is the most
popular seaside resort on the east
COAST as Atlantic City compared with
HObOken. And there was nothing in
the news received up TO the time Of
our departure 10 indicate where the
greatest damage was being wrought.
The wisdom Of dividing forces did
not appeal to any of the other news
paper men, every one OF whom went
TO Scarborough, excepting only a rep
resentative OF a news gathering or
~ 2ization which operates in the
United States and of & London eve
nirg paper. Both these men were ar
rested within 10 minutes after they
arrived in West HartlepoOl. One of
them succeeded in getting out at l
O'Clock Thursday morning but the
other remained in a cell all night.
The mayor OF West Har.lepoOl had is
sued a proclamation ordering all cit
liens TO remain indoors after d. m,
and the two newspaper men, wander
ing aimlessly about through the
debris-littered streets, were quickly
seized by policemen and conveyed to
the station house.
With three International News pho
tographers, / left the train at Seaton-
Carew, having been informed by a
friendly official of the Great North
ern railway of the proclamation.
Seaton-Carew, a suburb of the Hartle-
pools, three miles away. was the
alghting place Of the trains passen-
gers. who realized there would be no
vehicles Or street cars at the West
Hartlepcol station. 1t is a mile near
or the HartlepoOls' residential district
than the main station.
Luck With Them.
Luck was with US all night There
was exactly one public automobile
that had not been Communicated by
the military. This car had been used
all day by the railway official who had
been experimenting the repair of the
tracks each side of the West Hartle-
pool station where 12-inch shells had
A,n them up for 30 feet. 1 heard
telling a fellow passenger all
DSut IL. He offered to go on into
West HartlepoOl where the car was
SeatOn-Carew TO take his friend home
In the inky blackness on the sta
ton platform I made q diCker with
the lucky man 20 take over the car
after IL had deposited him at his
home and he agreed readily enough
The chauffeur of that car IL was who
enabled the readers of the Internal
tiOnal News Service newspapers the
following morning TO read the detail
ed account Of the damage done TO the
HartlepOOls. He knew every police
man in the place. As we flew along
through miles of shell-battered streets
for hours. we were halted time and
again by wrathy policemen But
each time the versatile chauffeur
who seemed 10 know the entire Har-
tlepoole uniformed force by its first
name. whispered some CHEEKY message
which never failed 10 satisfy the cop
per.
StOlid Passenger Helps.
The beginning Of my luck came
while we were still the London side
of York. The man who eventually
got the car. a typical north OF Eng
land persOnification of stOlidity. OCCu-
pied the same carriage with us. For
three hours he sat huddled up in the
corner OF the compartment silent.
Then. suddenly, he exploded in very
paroxysm Of hysterical rage Nothing
ne CALCULATED II RAAntdhltr hFt IL " do
absolutely plain that his intentions in
Guided a single handed humiliation OF
as many Germans as he could find il
was over in less than a minute and at
the finish he looked So embarrassed
at having displayed emotion he ac-
tually began 10 talk in an effort TO
conceal his chagrin. We quickly
learned he had reason FOR hysteria.
His home, two miles back from the
coast. had I'm II. besides his wife and
three young children. 100000 worth
Of stamps For the safety OF this
sItamp collection. said 20 be the most
aluable In England i'm private hands,
had built a bomb-proOf safe in the
Cliar ~ 5is house at the outbreak Of
the war
But you gentlemen know all about
bomb-proof safes" he added in a tone
OF voice that proved what his opinion
OF their value was
a married sister lived with her hus-
hand rfr officer in the I fphfhnuea Rat