Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-01-31

through the streets trumpeting the call
known as stand to arms" of the prep
ence of the raider. The electric street
lights went out and policemen caution
ed careless householders to close their
shutters and darken their windows
Immediately. 1t was still early in the
night close to 10 o'clock and many
persons were in the streets, the cafes
were open and the moving picture
theaters~and the play houses still en-
PERTAINING their audiences.
Then in all parts of the city could
be heard the whir of numerous aero
plane propellers, while everywhere peo-
pie went upon the balconies to watch
for Zeppelins.
Citizens Warned
Few Parisians appeared to believe
the raiders were likely to come as they
had been turned back many times pre-
viously. But suddenly in the northeast
OF Paris there was a great flare in the
sky as the Zeppelin dropped an illu-
minant SO that those in the airship
might see when they were over the
city. Then bomb fell into a street,
crushing through into the subway and
tearing big hole, although injuring
nobody. Suddenly other explosions fol-
lowed sounding duly throughout the
city.
A House Struck
One of the missiles fell upon an iso-
lated house occupied by single family.
The building was dissected, one end be-
ing demolished and it's occupants hurled
far out into an open lot and killed. The
other end of the house was cut off sharp
ly, and a bedroom on the second floor
was left intact with it's occupants unin-
jured. The floor was carried away un-
der the head of the bed, leaving the bed
balanced on the jagged edges Of the ruins
with a nine-year-old boy in it unframed
The Zeppelin must have been going at
top speed in that neighborhood, for the
nearst trace of it beyond was a quarter
of a mile away, where a bomb fell full
into the center of a thick stone wall and
cutting big hole out of it as clearly
as if it had been done by knife dug
through the pavement deep into the
earth, causing bar cavern.
Hit Apartment Building
In a more populous quarter a bomb
struck six-story apartment building oc
cupied from the families Of -workingmen,
cutting it in two from garnet to cellar,
burying 10 victims under the debris Of
| the central part of the structure The
street front was untouched and on the
other side of the gap the six kitchens of
the building, one atop the other, were
left open to the weather with the range
and utensils in plain view and apparently
undisturbed. This quarter was besieged
all the morning by dense crowds which
were held at the street corners by the
police. none by the city authorities, repre-
sentatives of the government and news
papermen with identification papers being
allowed near the ruins The greatest
throng was in the street where men from
the municipal chemical laboratory were
carefully examining a bomb Weighing
nearly GOO pounds that had fallen into the
courtyard of factory and failed to ex-
plode The crowd at one time broke
through the police line and elbowed up to
the footboard of the official motor car to
get near view Of the monster.
Altogether dozen bombs weighing
about 600 pounds each were dropped.
None of the fatalities occurred in the
open streets, the majority of the victims
being killed in their beds.
A fog Of considerable density hung over
Paris at the time of the raid.
President Visits Scene
President Poincare, who, in company
with the military governor of Paris and
the project Of police, visited the scene of
wreckage. seemed greatly moved by what
he saw. One of the houses that he view
ed was that Of Police Sergeant Bidault.
| who had just reached home and who was
killed by a bomb which at the same time
seriously injured his sister-in-law.