Omaha daily bee., 1916-07-31
Nebraska
ENEMY" AVIATOR
RAZES STATE HOUSE
Nebraska's Ancient Building
Blown Up by Bombs Of
McMillen.
WORKS OUT WAR PROBLEM

Lincoln, July 30.-(Special)- Me
braska's ancient old structure known
to most people as a state house was
blown to smithereens and the demo-
|. cratic Waterman blown to atoms, when
the enemy" flew over the capital city
in an aeroplane last night and drop
ped "bums" in several places, one of
them exploding directly over the
building afore mentioned.
A least that was the way it worked
out in the estimation of army officials
who watched the work of Captain
Ralph McMillen, Nebraska's nervy
war flyer, as he in an effort to work
out war problem engineered by
General Phil Hall for the edifcation
of Lieutenant Palmer, representing
the war department, unanswered over
the city dropping bombs over the
state arsenal and other places.
The problem to be worked out COW
cred the invasion of an army which
had captured Omaha after a mighty
battle in which Arthur Mullen, Mayor
Jim Dahlman and other heroes had
poured out their hearts blood in de-
tense of the city, and had invaded
Lincoln where it had stored ammunition
in the armory at the state fair grounds
and at the state house. The problem
for Captain Mcmillan to work out
was to soar above these places and
destroy the buildings with bombs
dropped from an aeroplane.
To Try New Bomb.
The problem was also for the pur-
pose Of trying out some new bombs
invented BY Major A. E. Haysel, as
sistant adjutant general. Major Hay
sci has invented "a fuse which can be
lit in the highest wind without the
aid of matches, and which is perfectly
harmless to other explosives carried
, by the aviator. The aeroplane has
been. equipped with a strong auto
mobile light with the planes strung
with rows of electric bulbs which can
be turned on or off at the pleasure
of the aviator.
Captain Mcmillan left the fair
grounds in the presence of Governor
Morehead, General Hall, Lieutenant
Palmer, Major Haysel and bunch
of newspapermen about $40 after it
had become very dark. His machine
arose gracefully, but had reached a
height of about 5000 feet before cir
cling back over the arsenal where he
dropped the first bomb. The calcula-
ton was good, for despite the forty
mile breeze which Captain Mcmillan
encountered high in the air, the bomb
exploded close enough to the arsenal
to have blown the building up had
the bomb been one Of the blood
thirsty kind. The next one was
dropped over the city, exploding just
above a street car, the force Of the
explosion knocking the trolley off the
wire and causing commotion among
the passengers.
Fear Of Jar.
The third dropped nicely over the
capitol grounds and could have been
made to hit the building had the
captain not been instructed to be
careful and not hit the east wing
for fear the jar of the explosion
might cause the old wing to fall
down.
Captain Mcmillan made the return
trip to the fair grounds where he
landed in the wheat field east Of the
new agricultural hall nicely, although
the night was dark and he had to
make his calculations from red lights
burned where he was supposed to
alight.
A large crowd watched the flight
from the fair grounds while thou
sands of people in the city watched
the spectacular flight from the
streets. Lieutenant Palmer was much
impressed with the work of the Ne
braska aviator and said that the army
needed just such experienced men as
Captain Mcmillan, who not only had
the nerve but the brains to work out
intricate and dangerous problems in
an intelligent manner.