Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-07-31
PARIS STIRRED WHEN
AIR RAIDERS COME
Whoo-o-o Of the Siren Signal Sets
City in Rapid Motion as
Bombers Arrive.


German air raid on Paris. ono of the Amer
lean Red Cross inspectors gives thrilling
account of how American troops and Red
Cross workers gives aid to the city in such
desperate moments He describes an air
raid in this fashion,
Nowhere is there any sound but tho
echoes of footsteps. Not q street hight Is
to be seen, not single ray of light
nothing but the inkicst and most lmpene-
trable darkness Then all of the noise
of the world seems to break loose. Clang-
clang-clang booms the tocsln like gl-
gantic pneumatic rlveter working on a
collosal bell Whooo-o shrieks the siren,
running UP and down the scale IN an awful
wall
The streets come to life. Doors open
and slam shut. The sidewalks are full OF
ghostlv figures hurrying towards the caves,
where the inhabitants have fitted up cots
and hunks. They get up now to make
sitting place for the new comers. The place
fills up Everyone looks apathetic, sleepy
and bored. The children go To sleep with
their heads on their mothers shoulders,
and girl in the uniform OF a street car
conductor swaps war yarns with n poilu
in dingy blue In the last raid, the front
trucks of her car were thrown from the
an exploding torpedo. The car and it's
inmates were unhurt. The poilu looks a
mite increiulous and m,nmurs, i can
well believe YOU, Mademoisele.'
Outside the noise continues for about
three or four minutes and then subsidies
as a new no,se starts the Arches, or
ant-craft guns, which commence To bark
flrio,lslv from half dozen different
points Searchlights rake the sky. The
Arches continue their clamer, but they
are not firing mt anything, merely keeping
up q barrage fire 10 prevent the Boche
from flying over the city.
Suddenly there is an carthrocking
whoom. No moro doubt as to where the
Bochcs are. Whoom, whoom, whoonl
One involntsrily ducks and tries turtle
wise 10 cover his head with his shoulders
A hideorls noise resounds UP and down tho
deserted street. falling walls, and tho
tinkling and era sh of showers of broken
glass and roofing tiles.
Through the glass and litter OF the
street, an American Red Cross camoinette
comes, ploughIng Its way. One OF the city
fremen stands on the running board
They stop and the fireman flashes an
electric lamp into the ruins, makes
hastv inspection, and then rTns up the
SlTfpL ana gives lntp titt tthG-
ANYBODY here from numbers AZ 10
out that there is.
bers? Was there anyone left in either OF
those buildings
There is an anxious calling back and
forth and a rapid counting of noses.
All here is the answer.
"Goodl Not much left Of those two
buildings. Don't enter the ruins until
they have been Inspected by the engineer
ing department Go to the Sisters of the
Poor il YOU want food or place to sleep
"a wall and several curses compete, but
the fireman is gone.
The Arches have stopped and there
are no more whooms, but people stay IN
their cellars. II Is only nine o clock, and
experience has shown that the industri-
Gus and mcthodical Boches will keep
coming back again and again until after
midnight.
"A half mile away q bright ned glow
gets larger and larger and lights the sky.
A fire has broken out In the railroad yards
and is making great headway. Several
cars of oil are burning fercely and spread
ing to cars of merchandise. Half dozen
American soldiers are working feverlshly
trying TO get the untouched cars away
from the FIRE.
Two of them have got hold of switch
engine and are shunting out whole strings
of cars.
''Do you know anything about these
French engines, Sir? asks the impromptu
engineer, ! can't find the damn brake
The fire is eating its way towards
pier on which stands q line of drums of
gasoline.
Come on, boys roll them kegs o gas
outa here yells the corporal, and the line
of drums starts trunding down the pier.
1t is Internally hot, and the average man
does not know just how hot gasoline can
get before it begins to misbehave, but
the line never wavers.
Roll EN- along, boys Keep EN- going.
Everybody has got TO die sometime
Little by little things become quieter.
The fires die down The Arches stop
Here and there a working party still con
tinues its labors in the ruins Someone is
missing, and they want To get him out of
cellar. Now the tocsin sounds again,
this time with slow, stately measured
beats. This is the 'AlPs clear signal
No more enemy planes are flying between
here and the fighting lines People come
out Of their cellars and go home. A few
cautious souls are busily putting sheets Of