Omaha daily bee., 1918-03-13
American Girl
Describes Air
+ Raids Over Paris

Raids Over Paris
Confined From Page One.)
Britisher if they had right to lock
us up and he saide'No.' So he called
the chasseur and ordered him to open
the door. The man did, but repeated
that we must not go out. Who says
| can't go out?' says the gentleman
opening the door and walking
through, with me after him.
"We went only to the corner and
two more men followed us. / sug-
gested going to the Rue de Rivoli and
standing under the>arcade, but no one
seemed enthusiastic. Meantime Ethel
had followed me and | said l was 60
ing on to see what | could see oyer
the TuHleries garden. She said she
would go and young American IN
the signal corps joined us. Another
went back for his steel helmet, but
we didn't wait.
1T was the most beautiful moon
light | have ever seen; we are only a
step from the Tuilleries and there the
sky was ablaze from moon that was
surely all for the Boches. 1t was CIV
ing them full daylight opportunities
We could see constant procession oi
French planes in the sky, their red
lights toward us, as they passed over
the Place de Ia Concord, and the
center light, if they were high enough,
could not be distinguished from star,
We had to watch very closely some
Ntimes to know whether we were see
ing one or not. s. .s
Planes Flew Low.
"But those that flew low would cir
Gle over the Seine and as they, re-
turned toward -Montmarte they
showed their blue light on the right
wing. A little French boy was SO ex-
cited whenever the blue appeared that
l asked him why. He explained that
the red, white and blue was for
France, Bravot waving his hat naadly.
He then told me. of machine that
had flown very low, searching every
where with big light. i
"He had nd sooner said it then one
appeared-it flew very low over the
Seine, circled back over the Tuilleries,
almost touching the tops of the trees,
and started for the Place, evidently to
make landing. We followed on the
run and saw it catch in the. round ball
on top of a lamp post just at the en-
trance to the Champs Elysees.- The
machine crashed to earth and one man
jumped. He fell5ust as though dead;
the other landed the machine and
leaped odt, ran few feet and
crumpled up.
"The gendarmes cleared space i'm
mediately. We were surprised to see
that large crowd appeared out of an
apparently empty square. They were
largely Americans, am sorry tossay,
rebellious like ourselves. Everyone
in uniform. We all jabbered and
talked and found that no one knew
anything except what we had, seen.
Next day we learned that neither of
the men died.
Meantime we could Alhear the
bombs dropping very short dis
,tance away; they do not sound like
the anti-aircraft guns, but make a
popping noise. sort of crackle as they
fall, or as they burst. We were not
near enough to see. Over the Made
leine an enemy ship fell in flames.
We did not know at the time, Of
course, what ship it was, nor how far
away. A red streak of fire appeared
in the sky, disappeared and shortly
afterwards lurid red lit up. the sky
line in that direction. 1t was back of
the Madeleine and the column of the
Vendome stood out in incompatible
majesty against the glare. 1t was an
onlinous sight and sinister indeed. |
was awed as / have never been in my
young life.
Scattered for Safety.
"It suddenly came over me that we
were in very exposed position and
| found everyone else of the same
mind, so we ran to the Red Cross
building and stood under the arcade.
We could still see the planes circling
the quarter and one as it came toward
us suddenly mounted straight up. on
and on. The men were wild with ad-
miration of the feat. Ifelt humble
wonder at the men at those wheels,
especially after seeing the wreck lying
near us-a beautiful French ma
chine. only coming down for a little
adjustment, but the dim light did not
show Them the pillars.
ut was now 2 o'clock and | began
to feel bit weak in the knees after
all the excitement and suggested 60
ing home, finding the others in the
same state. We were silent trio
going along, bombs still bursting and
cracking and our anti-crafts re-
spending. Two mounted on truck
came through the place. They are
small but powerful.
'When we entered the lobby of the
hotel we were beset for news, but /
tried to slip off without saying any,
thing. We hardly knew what we had
seen; they were only signs after all.
was so surprised to hear Ethel
glibly telling how she had seen this
and that, a man killed, etc. was