The Washington herald., 1918-04-21
Scene of Splendor When
Hun Planes Raid Paris
From Famous Hill of Montmartre Core
spondent Watches Hundreds of Bombs
Bursting in and About City.

I We all looked up surprised. These
were not good air-raid manners.
"A mouser" she screamed. The ro-
dent, which nobody else had seen,
was alleged TO be in a dark corner.
The children were in action at
once; there were more screams,
this time from several of the la
dies. as the frightened animal scam
pered out the door into the dark
ness. An explosion made the air
tremble. even in our deep shelter;
the women sighed with relief.
Went Ont In the Open.
The raid had started. and my
anxiety to see what was going on
! led me to bid the party good-by.
climbed into the street. The firing
was heavy, and the steady drone of
engines overhead showed that sew
eral Gothas were roaming about.
There were French machines, too,
in plenty. above the capital; but
| there is no difficulty in distin-
gushing the tremendous racket set
up by the huge twin-engined Gothas
| from the noise made by the small
fighting machines that attack them.
walked as fast as could. up to
the Opera. and then climbed through
tangle of streets to Montmartre.
1t is a good two miles from the
Palais Royale to the unrivalled OBJ
servation post that ] had chosen,
but made IT in half an hour. The
trip was uneventful. except for an
encounter with some American SOL
diers standing in front OF the Cafe
de Ia Paix. who Informed me that
they had been training a year.
hadn't seen anything of the war.
and weren't going to miss this show
unless an A. p. NJ. came along and
ran them in for disobeying orders.
| / did not meet a dozen people in
the streets. The barrsge was heavy,
and but few bombs were falling in
the city.
| On Montmartre.
The hill Of Montmartre, on top OF
which is perched the white dome Of
the Church OF Sacre Coeur, is so steep
that the last 600 or 500 feet are nego-
tiated by flights of steps. There is a
funicular railway, built for tourists,
but not now running. The view from
the top, on a clear day, is one of the
most wonderful panoramas in the
world, familiar to thousands OF
tourists. and to millions Of Ameri-
cans who have never been in Paris,
but have heard Mary Garden in the
opera Louise" The famous Prayer
to Paris" sung by the kneeling lovers
who look out over the myriad tWinkling
lights Of the city OF pleasure. came
back to me as stood, breathless. on
1 fHa g. a..
scene in the opera is laid
1t was a clear night, no moon, but
the stars were shining, and saw, as
I had expected 10 see, a sight more
wonderful and more terribly beauti-
full than ever Montmartre had looked
down upon before. All Paris lay
spread at my feet. Not the miles
upon miles OF little rows Of street
lights that Louise and Julien saw be-
fore them, but a forbidding blackness,
out Of which now and again spouted
red, yellow and violet flames They
were the bursting bombs, and as each
bomb went of the houses nearby were
lighted up for an instant and stood
out distinctly: even debris whirlinE
through the air could be seen. though
the explosions were miles away.
Forts Send Up BarraGe.
In the air. all around the horizon
the barrage was bursting, sent uE
from the forts that surround Paris
and from the mobile batteries. The
continual thudding of the distant
shells In the air. the deeper shock
Of the exploding bombs. and the
overwhelming noise of the aero.
plane motors, which almost drown.
ed out the bombardment, made ar
! awe-inspiring volume of sound that
have heard exceeded only during
the drum fire OF great battles.
BY the time I climbed to the tor
of Montmartre, the raid had al.
ready lasted forty-five minutes, but
IT had not yet reached its height
The enemy sQuadrons were attack
ing the city in waves. As fast as
one set of machines DISCHARGED
their bombs and sped back TO theil
own lines. others arrived.
Suddenly my attention was dis
tracted by a shadowy form beside
me. felt my sleeve plucked rough
ly. and recognized a Eendarme. He
told me peremptorily to go into a
| shelter. I did not say. as / should
have done to an American police
man. that 1 was a newspaperman
looking for copy. made a long
and fowery speech. to the effect
/ that the vile and eNeCrable Boches
were committing hateful atrocities
below in the city. that I had the
honor to represent. ih my capacity
as Journalist. the American people,
and how could I inform the Ameri-
can public of the deeds Of the as
sassins II a French officer Of police
prevented me from seeing them?
BrIbed with Cigarette.
My interlocutor was doubtful. but
not convinced. He remarked that he
understood the attitude Of NJ Ie
correspondent. but that he did not
want me to get hurt Not, he said,
that he cared anything about my
carcass, but If were hit, that would
score one point for the Boche. He
did not want the Boche to score
points. This argument. I felt was
hard to answer. So gave the
worthy gendarme q cigarette, and he
retreated to his shelter. leaving me
to watch the end Of the performance.
| reached the top Of the hill at
five minutes Of ten. The last raiders
departed and the barrage ceased at
twenty minutes Of twelve. During
that hour and three quarters, 1 saw
more than 800 bombs explode. Not
more than half of these were actual
ly in Paris: from Montnartre !
commanded a view OF the country for
twenty miles about the city, and
many raiders, turned back by intense