The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-04-28
PUTS PRICE ON
HEAD OF DARING
FRENCH AVIATOR
German Government Wants
"Corsair of the. Air." Dead
or Alive.
OF BOMBING RAIDS
Has Caused Damage Of Grievous Kind
and With Persisteney That Seems
to Know No Limit-Reward Of
$6,250 10 Offered.

Paris.-On the head of one man in
the French army the German govern
ment has put a price, This map, las
caused them damage of a s:llevous
kind and with persjstency witch seems
to know Nc 2imit.
The sGm of $4,000 marks ($e,250)
viii be paid for Captain X. of the
french aviation service dead or alive.
The French government has been very
careful to avoid giving his name. and
it is believed the Germans know him
only by description.
It was Captain X. who three success.
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.
PLOTS partake OF the ruthless vigor
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 . 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 motor
which obliged him to descend in neu.
trail country, but he succeeded in OBJ.
tanning his release. When he returned
to France he was sent to the eastern
frontier for active service.
Though he demands much from his
subordinates, he sets a good example
himself When he goes out with them
for q 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 a record Of it all
in his notebook. When the others
have completed their work the captain
descends in a spiral, aims with preci.
sion and delivers the final, and gen.
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 home,
escorting his men and acting as a
faithful dog does to the flock. hurrying
to the assistance of those who may
need it. lis not without having run
the most serious kinds of risks that he
has become the terror of the Germans.
During one bombardment he fought
with a large German aviatik armed
with two machine guns. His whole
machine was seriously damaged by
shots, a number Of important parts
of the apparatus being cut and torn,
but he continued on into 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 3, 1915. The journey lasted
five hours and twenty minutes. Ten
minutes after he began the attack on
the plant a connagration was noticed
beneath him, and he realized that 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 glycerine and
the others fell on the buildings.
Flames at once arose and the smoke
made q column forty.five hundred feet
high.
Hi next important bombardment
was 1T the railway station which the
French authorities indicated "a v. To
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