The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-08-31
Red Cross Inspector Tells Thrill
ing Story of Desperate
Moments.
NOISE ACCOMPANIES ATTACK
Yank Engineers Go About Unperturbed
While Rescuing lnjured-victims
Are Sent to the Sisters
Of the Poor.

tOas III IA q 0OAA atA
air raid on Paris, one of the American
Red Cross inspectors gives a thrilling
account of how American troops and
Red Cross workers give aid to the city
In such desperate moments. He de-
scribes an air raid in this fashion:
Nowhere is there any sound but the
echoes of footsteps. Not a street light
is to be seen, not a single ray of light
nothing but the inkiest and most inn
penetrable darkness. Then all of the
noise in the world seems to break loose.
Clang-clang-clang booms the tocsin-
like a gigantic pneumatic riveter work
ing on a colossal 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 ghostly figures hurrying to-
ward the caves, where the inhabit-
ants have fitted up cots and hunks.
They get up now to make a sitting
place for the newcomers. The chill
dren go to sleep with their heads on
thCAl hlOlLClo ShOulQCIos dhu q SI1l
in the uniform Of a street car conduc-
tor swaps yarns with a Poilu in dingy
blue. In the last raid the front trucks
of her car were thrown from the rails
by the displacement Of air caused by
an exploding torpedo. The car and
its inmates were unhurt. The Poilu
looks a mite incredulous and MUIR
murs: I can we'll believe you, made
moiselle.'
Arches Barrage Sky.
"Outside the noise continues for
about three or four minutes and then
subsidies as a new noise starts-the
Arches, or antiaircrft guns, which
commence to bark ~furiously from half
a dozen different points. Searchlights
rake the sky. The Arches continue
their clamor, but they are not firing
at anything, merely keeping up a bar
rage fire to prevent the Boches flying
v the city.
Suddenly there is an earthrock-
ing whom. No doubt as to where the
Boches are. Whom, whom, whom !!
One involuntarily ducks and tries
turtlewise to cover his head with his
shoulders. A hideous noise resounds
up and down the deserted street
falling walls, and the tinkling and
crash of showers of broken glass and
roofing tiles.
Through the glass and litter of the
street an American Red Cross camoi-
nette comes blowing it's way. One of
the city firemen stands on the running
board.
"tAnybody here from numbers 40
to SIP he calls. A half dozen voices
yell out that there is.
ais everybody here from those
numbersf 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 answeri
Send Victims to Poor Sisters.
"Goodi Not much left of those two
buildings. Don't enter the ruins I'M
til they have been inspected by the
engineering department. Go to the
Sisters of the Poor if you want food
or a place to sleep.
"a half-mile away a bright red glow
gets larger and larger and lights the
sky. A fire has broken out in the
railroad yards and is making great
Roadway. Several cars of oil are burn
ing fiercely and spreading to cars Of
merchandise.
1.-TWO railroaders have got hold of a
switch engine and are shunting out
whole strings of cars.
"Do you know anything about
these French engines, sirT asks the
impromptu engineer. I can't find the
d brake
"The fire is eating its way toward
a pier on which stands a line OF
drums of gasoline.
"'Come on, boysl roll these kegs o.
gas outa here yells the corporal, and
the line of drums starts trundling
down the pier. 1t is Internally hot,
and the average mar knows just how
hot gasoline a get before it begins
to misbehave; but the line eve wa
vers.
"Roll 'em along, boys! Keep 'em
going. Everybody has got to die some
tine
little by little things become quiet
er. The fires die down. The Arches
stop. Now the tocsin sounds again,
this time with slow, stately measured
beats. This is the 'all's clear signal"