The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1917-09-20

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16. - The first
eomplete detailed account of the Ger
man air attack on an American base
hospital No. 5, on the night of Tues
dav Sent. 4, has reached this country
In a report from Major Grayson M. r.
Murphy, head of the Red Cross com
mistee in France. ..
It was in this attack that Lieutenant
William T. Fitzsimmons of Kansas
City, the first American officer to give
his life in the war, was killed; three
other officers, six privates, a woman
nurse and % patients from the Brit
ish lines were wounded. An American
Red Cross interpreter returning to
Paris from the zone told the story as
follows:
1.-THE airplane attack occurred at IL
o'clock at night. Ten seconds sufticed
for the dropping of the bombs from
the fast flying plane, and within less
than minute afterward the surgeons
of the ship were at the task of collect.
ins and attending those who had been
struck down and for "a hours they
we're at work in the operating room,
one surgeon relieving another when
the latter from simple exhaustion
could work no longer. And the very
next day, just as if nothing had hap
pened, these same surgeons were call
ed upon the receive and care for 200
wounded sent in from the trenches of
the British expeditionary force.
Lieutenant Instantly Killed
THE hospital, which is on, the
French coast, has 1900 beds under
canvas, is in district in which there
are many similar institutions and is
unmistakable as hospital At the
time the German aviator flew over it
most of the surgical staff was engaged
in making rounds of the wards. Lieu
tenant Fitzsimmons, however, was
standing at the door of the tent. There
had been a brief warning of the pres
ence of bombing airplane in the
neighborhood, because quarter of a
minute before the sound of exploding
bombs was heard from point perhaps
400 yards from the hospital. This warn
ing sufficed to cause all light in the
tents to be extinquished Immediately
and those who had been under fire be-
fore threw themselves face downward
upon the ground. Then came five ex-
plosions in rapid succession in the
hospital itself. The first two were d.
rectly in front of Lieutenant Fitzsim-
mons tent-he probably never knew
what happened to him as his body was
sorn to shreds. The next two fell
100 feet beyond in ward in which
there were many patients, and the last
struck the reception tent.
Small Coins Dropped
sOverhead there was no sound. The
German aviator flew too high to be
Heard, but he left his identity behind
him not only in the bombs he dropped
But in the derisive handful of pfen-
Rigs he scattered upon the hospital as
he hurried away. "A number of these
we're found when light came
'Lieuteqant Mcclure, who was in a
tent adjoining that of Lieutenant Fitz-
simmons, was struck by three bomb
fragments, but was not seriously
wounded. His escape was narrow, as
there were more than 100 holes cut in
the tent.
Lieutenant Smith was struck in the
knee and Lieutenant Wheddon in the
chest The private soldiers injured
were on duty as orderlies in the re-
ception tent, and the bomb fell al
most upon them. So severely was
Private Mcleod injured that it was
necessary to amputate both his legs
that night.
Heroism Told
although the exploding bombs Gre
ated horror in the hospital there was
not the smallest sign of panic. and the
work of collecting the wounded was
immediately begun. This was made
cruelty difficult by darkness, but ev
eryone sprang to it with will. Many
of the injured had been blown from
their cots, some even outside theil
tents, where they were found tangled
up in the tent ropes. The American
nurse, although struck in the face by
fragment of steel from the bomb, re
fused to be relieved and remained a.
her task courageously to the end. A
hospital orderly who worked untiring
y was found later to have beer
struck in the head by a fragment ant
painfully injured. He had just tied VI
his head and worked on.
Worked All Night
I'm the operation room Captain
Horace Binney and Elliott, with thei
assistants, worked all night long. Sew
eral delicate operations were perform
ed and their task was made all tn,
harder by the fact that in numerous