Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-23
RAID Of zEPPE[|NS
/. SERv|cETo BRITISH:
James Van Allen Shields, Here
- From London, Tells of !
an Attack.
WAS AN EYEWITNESS OF
SKY VISITOR ON SEPT. 8
Former Member of The Star Staff
Says German Bomb Work Is Crowd
ing Recruiting Offices.

/ ~AA6 ~sSS~ ~S~~A6 S~~~SSS'
| The kaiser could not have done
Kitchener a greater service. if he had
| tried, than to have sent Zeppelins raid
Ling over London" declared James Van
Allen Shields. former Washington resi-
dent and once member of the staff of
| The Star, today. Mr.. Shields, who is
| the European representative of
| United States firm, resident in London
| for several years, is in Washington in
| the course of a short visit to the
United States. Describing the Zeppelin
| raid over London the night of Septem-
| Der 8, of which he was an eyewitness
| Mr.. Shields said:
! The raid occurred at about 1890
o'clock the night of September s. I was
| walking in Bayswater road of which
Oxford street is a continuance. when a
burst of sound shattered the night
| quiet. 1t seemed to me to be a ire
mendously loud sound from a spot
some distance away. Immediately fol-
lowing came another such noise, and
then others, and l knew at once the
| Ieppelins were back. They had raided
a section near London the previous
night. attempting to drop bombs on
| Woolwich arsenal, in which attempt
they failed.
| For a moment l stood on the pave
| ment, thinking rapidly, / can assure
you. l was filled with variety of
conflicting emotions-curiosity, dread,
desire to escape, a wish to see and
| know just what was going forward,
and most curious and inexplicahle
| feelihg-a sort of fear of the unknown.
| Up to that time. you see. I had not
| been able to locate the Zeppelin, and
| did not know if it was far away or If,
| perhaps at that very moment, it might
| not be exactly overhead. dropping a
bomb on the spot where 1 stood. /
| wanted to run into one of the houses
| nearby. and yet ! realized that should a
bomb fall on the house l would be in
as bad case as if l remained out of
| doors.
Searchlight Outlines Craft.
| Then the searchlights picked up the
Zeppelin, and from that time until it
withdrew from over the city the craft
could not escape their rays. The lights
| outlined the craft until it seemed to
stand out like silver against the black
of the night sky. Every detail of the
| huge airship was picked out as clean
and clear as if it were only a few yards
up. could make no estimate of the
| height of the Zeppelin. whether 1t was
| 500 feet, or 5000, but the big search
lights Illuminated every portion of its
outline. so that people watching from
| below could see every detail of its
| structure.
| And then the anti-aircraft guns be-
gan to boom. One sounded to my right,
| seeming to be only a few yards away
though in reality it was about 500
yards from where / stood in the Bays
air almost directly over oxford street,
and 1 estimated that it was in the near
vicinity of st. Paurs Cathedral, in
which estimate 1 found later that l
| The guns doomed all about, and
shells began to burst above, below, and
to all sides of the Zeppelin as it hung
| seemingly motionless up there in the
heart of the black sky. l remember
that at the time the thought occurred
to me that the men In that airship were
in little safer position than those in
the buildings on which they were drop
AT last the Zeppelin moved slowly
away, followed by the searchlights and
in the midst of the bursting shells and
| shrapnel until it vanished in the dark
ness.
Zeppelin's Destructive Work.
| The following morning when l went
down town to my ofice l saw the
havoc that had been wrought by the
Zeppelin's bombs. One had struck the
roof of a big warehouse and the build
ing, wrecked by the explosion. was en-
| tirely consumed by fire which broke
out at once. For a distance of perhaps
three blocks along oxford street build
ings were damaged or marred by the
/ bursting bombs. and the pavements
were literally covered with shattered
plate glass from the windows and with
| fragments of stone and bricks from the
buildings. l learned that 1906 lives had
immense.
Throughout the day following the
| raid the vicinity was thronged with
visitors coming to inspect the work Of
anger replaced the curiosity and Lon
don's recruiting offices Were crowded
! with men eager to enlist. This has
been the result of every Zeppelin raid
| terrorized England: they have aroused.
| first, curiosity. then anger that has
sent thousands of men into the army
and thence into the trenches. -
Plenty Of Work for Everybody.
the kaiser. early in the war. had re-
quested that Zeppelins should not be
sent to drop bombs on London. She
said that it was stated in Germany
that the kaiser gave as his reason his
respect for the memory of his grand
mother, the late Queen Victoria, and
the associations that clustered about
| his visits to her in London. whether
this is true or not l cannot say.
| LAS for everyday affairs in London,
business is excellent. and there are
few men seeking work who are unable
| to ind it. There is work for every
body who wants to work. and the
wages are good. British 1aboring men
have, to my knowledge. laid aside mat
tiers of principle for which they had
contended for more than generation.
and which they had established only
after prolonged effort and untold sac
riflce They have laid these aside
! until the end of the war Whether the
| labor unions will be able to re-estab-
lish these principles then is. to my
mind, open to serious question.
| Women Taking Mems Places.
| "A marked wartime development
which attracts the attention alike of
the native Britisher and the foreigner
sojourning in England is the extent
to which women are taking the places
of men in various lines if employment.
The railroads employ woman ticket
sellers and ticket collectors; one of the
big stores of London has woman chauf-
| feurs driving it's vans. The Gas and
Coke Company of London has replaced
l. it's man inspectors and collectors with
women: and a few days before / sailed
from England I saw in the shipping de-
I Of orr London hpan women