El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-04-22

! were rot good air raid manners. "A
! mousse" she screamed The rodent,
which nobody else had seen. was al
] legged 10 be in a dark corner Inc
children were in action at once, there
were more screams. this time from
I several Of the women as the fright
ened animal scampered out the door
I into the darkness. An explosion made
the air Jremble. even in our deep
/ shelter, the women sighed with re-
lief
The raid had started. and my anx-
/ iety TO see what was going on led me
TO bid the party goodbye / climbed
into the street The firing was
heavy. and the steady drone of en-
Gines overhead showed that several
Gothas were roaming about There
were French machines. too, in plenty.
above the capital: but there is no diff
ficulty in distinguishing the tremen-
dOus racket set I'D by the huge twin
engined GOthas from the noise made
by the small fighting machines that
attack them.
walked. as fast as 7 could. upto
the Opera. and then climbed through
tangie Of streets to MOntmartre- 40
is a good two miles from the Palais
Royale to the unrivalled ooservatio
post that I had chosen. but I made IL
in half an hour The trip was I'M
eventful. except for an encounter with
some American soldiers standing in
front Of the cafe de Ia PaiX. who in
formed me that they had been train
ing 81 year. hadn't seen anything Of
the war. and weren't going TO miss
this show unless an a p. II came
along and ran them in for disobeying
orders.
I did not meet dozen people in
the streets The barrage was heavy,
but few bombs were falling in the
city.
The hill OF AIontmartre. on the top
Of which is perched the white dome
Of the Church of Sacre Occur, Is So
steep that the last coo or 500 feer are
negotiated by flights of steps. There
is a funicular railway. built for tour
lists. but not now running The view
from the top, on clear day, Is one
of the most wonderful panOramas in
the world, familiar TO thousands Of
tourists. and 20 millions of Americans
who have never been In Paris. but
have heard Mary Garden in the opera
OF Louise The famous Prayer TO
Paris" sung by the two kueeling low
ers who look out over the myriad
twinklinE lights Of the city Of pleas (
ure, came back to me as ] stood. I
7reathless on the very top. on the spot
where the scene in the opera is laid F.
Scene Of Wonderful Beauty.
1t was a clear night no moon. but
the stars shining. and 7 saw. as I had f.
expected 10 see. a sight more Won J
derful and more terribly beautiful f.
than ever Moutmartre had looked .
down upon before All Paris lay I
spread at my feet Not the miles upon .
miles Of little rows Of street lights
that Louise and Julien saw before +
them. but a forbidding blaclluess. out +
Of which now and again sprouted red. .
yellow and violet flames They were .
the bursting bombs. and as each bomb ]
went off. the houses nearby were 7
lighted I'D for an instant and stood F.
out distinctly even de 1rlS sWirling .
the air could be seen. though .
the explosions were miles away
SquadrOnS Attack in Waves.
In the air. all around the horizon
the barraEe was bursting. sent up
from the forts that surround Paris,
and from the mobile batteries The
continual thuddinE Of the distant
shells in the air. the deeper shock Of
the exploding bombs. and the over
whelming noise Of the airplane mo-
tors, which almost drowned out the
commandment, made an awe inspiring
volume Of sound that ] have heard
exceeded only during the drum fire
Of great battles. BY the time I D.
climbed 20 the top of MOntmartre. the
raid had already lasted - minutes.
but il had not yet reached its height
The enemy squadrOns were attacking
the city in waves As fast as one
set OF machines discharged their
lolnos ana sped BACK 20 their own
lines. others arrived
Many Enemy Raiders Fail.
reached the top OF the hill at five
of 10. The last raiders de- ,
parted and the harrage ceased AT 20
minutes Of T. During that hour and
three quarters, 7 saw more than 200
bombs explode Not more than half
p these were actually in Paris. from
Aontmartre I commanded a view Of
The country for 90 miles about the
city, and many raiders. turned back
by the intense barrage dumped their
cargo Of explosives into empty fields
pr small villages far beyond the outer
Licences.
II was easy to see then that this
had happened Far away. evidently
outside any possible objective. q
whole series Of tremendous explosions
would take place. following each other fl
u intervals Of less thai r second.
Lhis phenomena meant that a scared l.
alder had JettisOned his cargo. Many
INVADERS, however, ran through the
1arrage TO the city itself / calcu- I
ated, during the time when 7 had the
s. hole show spread before me. that Is
y 20 Gothas actually crossed Paris
-his estimate, Of course. is guess
york. for there was no way TO tell
low many bombs each machine
.ropped
The most terrifying feature of the
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