Rocky Ford enterprise., 1916-06-16
German Government Warts
"Corsair Of the Air." Dead
or Alive.
LEADER OF BOMBING RAIDS
Has Caused Damage Of Grievous Kind
and With Persistency That Seems
to Know No Limit-Reward Of
$6,25O is Offered.

PariS-On the head OF one man In
the French army the German govern
ment has put price. This man has
caused them damage Of a grievcds
kind and with persistency which seems
to know no limit.
The sum of $4,000 marks (s6.250)
will be paid for Captain X. of the
French aviation service dead or alive.
careful to avoid giving his name, and
it is believed the Germans know him
only by description.
It was Captain X. who three succes-
sive times went to lombard the Ger
man powder and ammunition factory
at Rottweil, in Wuerttemberg. On each
occasion he performed an extraordi-
nary feat.
The sobriquet of "corsair of the air"
has been given to him. Some of his ex-
ploits partake of the ruthless yigor
of the true pirate.
Captain X. is the principal leader
of the French bombing expeditions
and he seems like hero who has
dropped out of a romantic novel. Dan
ger is his very life, and he plays with
it so that his adventures during the
war have been almost fantastic.
He began by being made prisoner
as a result of an injury to his riotor
which obliged him to descend in neu-
tral country, but he succeeded in Cb-
tanning his release. When he returned
to France he was sent to the eastern
frontier for active service.
fI-t,, do h
subordinates, he sets a good example
himself When he goes out with them
for bombardment each OF the ma
chimes carries special sign. He takes
his position about eight thousand feet
above the object to be destroyed, while
his companions are discharging their
missiles.
Through his glasses he watches the
results and notes the points which
have been struck and the actual dam.
age done and makes record of it all
in his notebook. When the others
have completed their work the captain
descends in spiral. aims with preci'
sion and delivers the final, and gem
orally the most fatal. blows to the
enemy property.
Guards His Flock.
He waits to Judge the effects of his
work. and then he starts for i.ome,
escorting his men and acting as a
faithful dog does to the flock, hurryirg
to the assistance of those who may
need it. 1t is not without having run
the most serious kinds of risks that he
mas become the terror Of the GeTmaiIs.
During one bombardmert he fousnt
with large German aviatilI armed
with two machine guns. His whole
machine was seriously damaged by
shots, u number of important parts
of the apparatus being cut and torn,
but he continued On ilto German ter
ritory and went direct to a railway sta
ton and factory which he had set out
to lombard, carried out his mission
and returned safely to his base.
The first time he went to attack the
powder factory of Rottweil was on
March 8. 1915. The journey lasted
five hours and twenty minutes. Ten
minutes after he began the attack on
the plant a conflagration was noticed
beneath him. and he realized tnat he
had destroyed at least an important
part of it. He had brought four large
shells with him and he descended very
low in order to deliver his attack so
that each of the shells struck home,
One of them landed in the mixing
basin of nitric acid and giycerine and
the others fell on the buildings.
Flames at once arose and the smoke
made column forty-fiye hundred feet
high.
His next important bombardment
was at the railway station which the
French authorities indicated as v. To
accomplish his task here he dropped
down almost to the station roof
Then came the second bombardment
at Rottweil, on April 16, 1915. Ten
four-inch shells were dropped on the
powder factory and caused a fire and
an intense black smoke which entirely
hid the building frCm view. Captain
\. remained for quarter of an hour
above his object at an altitude of five
thousand feet, tantalizing the two YER
tical batteries which the Germans
were aiming at him and the section
of n millimeter guns which had been
placed around the factory for its de-
fense after the first bombardment.
Damaged TWO zeppelins.
The French officer returned to his
camp with eleven shrapnel fragments
in his machine. In the sane month
he dropped six shells in the great shed
vIeich harbored two Zeppelins, both
of which were seriously damaged. The
three special batteries placed for the
protection of the sheds fired at him
constantly. but failed to injure him,
though they damaged his machine to
some extent.
A few months later ne bombarded