The Watertown news. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1917-1919, 1918-03-25
HUGE GUN STILL
SHELLING PARIS.
IS 76 MILES AWAY
Monster German Cannon Located
in the Forest of st.
G0bain.
MANY PERSONS DEFY ENEMY
People Appear in Streets on Way to
Church and Refuse to Become
AIarmed-CapitaI Confident of
Battle Ending FavorabIy.

Paris, March 25.-The German
monster cannon" which has been
bombarding Paris has been located in
the forest Of st. Gobain, west Of Laon
and exactly 122 kilometers (approM-
mately 76 miles) from the Paris city
hall.
The gun bombarded Paris during the
greater part of Sunday.
The day was ushered in by loud
explosions from the ten-inch shells
and Immediately the alarm to take
cover was sounded.
Many Defy Cannon.
This came at 6 :55 o'clock and many
persons sought shelter, but greater
numbers Of them appeared In the
streets on their way to the churches,
which were almost as well filled as
usual. The women who sell palm
leaves on Palm Sundays did their
usual thriving business.
At first the shells began arriving at
intervals Of 20 minutes and the de-
donations, considering the Sunday
calm, seemed louder than those of
Saturday.
Their power to disturb the equanim-
ity of the populace, however, seemed
less, the people refusing to be dis
tracted from their Sunday habits to
any great extent.
French Front Intact.
For the benefit of that portion of
the populace which had been led to
believe the Germans had broken
through the line and were bombarding
Paris from nearby positions, a semi
official note was issued during the
day.
This warned the people against be-
lteving pessimistic reports.
"The French front is intact" said
the note. "Any assertion to the con-
trary is lie"
Fired Every Twenty Minutes.
The bombardment of the capital
as three o'clock no explosions had
been heard for more than an hour.
The "clear" signal was sounded at
8 80 o'clock.
Although during the earlier hours
of the bombardment the shells arrived
on Commute intervals, later in the
day they began arriving every Is min
utes on the average, and some of them
even fell II minutes apart
Distinctive Warning.
The government has decided that in
the future the bombardment of Paris
by long distance guns shall not inter-
rupt the normal life Of the capital, but
that the population shall be warned Of
a bombardment by distinctive means,
differing from the usual warnings sent
out In cases of air raids Drums will
be beaten and the police will sound
whistles.
Capital Is Confident of Victory.
The comment Of the French press
was about evenly divided between the
big gun which Is bombarding the city
from back of the German lines, and the
terrific battle raging on the British
front.
The tone or the comment on the
bombardment was of astonishment at
the feasibility Of the performance.
AS to the battle, favorable ending
of It Is confidently expected.
The newspapers do not conceal their
admiration for the mechanical feat of
the Germans in constructing their new
weapon, but speak passiorstely of the
useless barbarity of the bombardment.
Paper Asks for Reprisals.
The Matin says 1t Is consoling to
note that the number of victims Is
small, but it asks for reprisals on Ger
man cities.
The ordnance experts were not
ready to commit themselves as to
whether the shell was sort of aerial
torpedo driven by propellers, whether
an inner projectile contained in the
original shell Is released by an ex-
plosive after the shell has travelled a
certain distance from the gun or
whether the original projectile itself
reaches its destination, propelled per-
haps by an explosive of force hither-
to unknown.