The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-04-23
(Speciai Correspondence to The
 Times.

1 German Governments, and almost brought Holland into the struggle | has been solved by esta ablfshing the l identity of an airman who, as 1t were. ran amok in the air.
 | COnsternation was caused through | out Germany by the sudden appear i ance of a mysterious aeroplane. ob- viously the latest type of Gotha, which dropped bombs on the crowd. | ed streets of different towns while the | excited populace were gazing up at 1 this great engine for strafing the hat | ed Britishers
 1 This machine seems to have cross l ed the whole of German territory, for 1 bombs were dropped from Mannheim | to DanZig. It was also reported over i Dutch territory at two points, and l bombs were dropped in open country without much damage being done. The | suggestion of the Germans was that
 this was an Allied atrman, treacher-
 ously disguised as a Gotha raider in | order to make trouble between HoI- land and Germany in the first place
 and secondly to kill innocent civilians i in German towns.
 During the armistice nexotiations l the matter was raised by the German representatives, and, in view of the denials of the Allies that any airman had acted in this way, full inquiry
 was made by a. Commission of Ger
 man and Allied officers. The Com
 mission has just published it's find
 ings, and the explanation they offer
 is an amazing one.
 It transpires that the raiding ma
 chine was piIoted by Capt. Otto Er-
 schauer, one of the most daring of
 the Hun raiders of London. It was
 .
 taken part in every Gotha raid on the
 British Isles, and in particular he
 claimed the credit of organizing and
 carrying through the deadly daylight
 raid over London in July of 1917.
 Erschauer's daring as a raider was
 only equalled by his skill a. s a pilot
 and, according to men who wens
 with him, he excelIed in riding the
 barratge which was put up between
 him and his London objective.
 Fighting the Mailman.
 One night in March of last year
 Erschauer made his last trip to the
 British Isles. Just outside of London
 he ran into a barrage more fierce
 than anything he had yet encounter
 de, and even he was forced to turn
 back. In a lulI when the engines
 had been silenced for the time being some of the men on the other ma
 chine shouted something in the nat ure of a taunt to Erschauer, who had always boasted that the barrage that could stop him had not yet been in vented.
 1 He circled about for a while, and then went straight towards London again. Some of the other machines followed, but were turned back by the defences around Buckhurst Hill.
 What happened after that is told in the evidence offreed by Lieut.. Hans Weitmann. q was one of the last to give up the attempt. When I was passing over the town of Clo- chester on my way back I heard the noise of Gotha engines, and, looking back, I saw one of our machines com 1 ing towards me at high speed. It l came alongside. and my attention was suddenly riveted on it by seeing | the figure of a man rise up from the ] pilots seat and lean towards the ob- 1 server.
 The man who stood up had g. look of madness on his face, and his ac- tions were those of 8 madman. He seized hold of the observer, and the two men struggled violently with the machine high up in the air. The mad man got the better of his victim and, to my horror, l saw him hurl the observer out of the machine. The body fell somewhere in the neighbor- bod of Colchester, but I would not be sure where, because of the height at which we were flying.
 'The mad pilot then resumed his seat, and altered the course of his machine until he had it in position to turn his machine gun on me. Without the least warning he opened fire on me, and a shower of bullets came spluttering against my machine.
 Hit!
 T put on speed with the intention ofg citing away as quickly as pos sibIe from such ap unpleasant com panion. It was while manoeuvring that I recognized the pilot as Er schauer, whom knew very well, and with whom had made many flights over England.
 "He seemed to recognize me about the same time, and the recognition seemed to spur him on in his murder ous intentions, for he kept increasing the speed of his machine and trying every manoeuvre of which he was master to bring me within range of his deadly gun once more. At first he was successful, and once again felt the bullets around me.
 T really began to give myself up for lost, and I set myself to get the best speed out Of my macn1ne ouu- denly I felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder, and realized I had been hit.
 At first I was inclined to descend and surrender to the British, but I thought it might be more dangerous to attempt a landing in unknown ter ritory, especially as I was close to a heavy ibarrage: I therefore renewed my efforts to increase the speed of my machine, and to my great relief, [ was successful. though I began to feel weak and dazed from pain and loss of blood.
 q was now outdistancing my mur- derous pursuer, and soon had the joy of losing sight of him altogether, but my wound began to give me trouble, and I thought I would never get home in time. Fortunately, my fears were not realized, and I reached one of our aeroldromes near Ghent in safety"
 Mystery Cleared Up. The further adventures of this mad I. man are told in the report Of the Commissioners in the following terms: : There Is not now any doubt that Capt Erschauer went mad. as de- scribed by Lieut.. Weitman. The dead : body of his observer was found in a | errib1y mutilated condition by the IA