The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-01


 date and they pushed the date of crea- tiOn as far back as they could. He also pointed out that the Jews were faced by the same problem and it was necessary to multiply the average length of human life by ten cracking noise. Tracer bullets. Then shrapnel was bursting around us with terrific detonations. Putting on full engine power and skipping the rudder clear across the ship, we swung sharply out of the zone of fire.
 Raider Hides In Clouds
 We disappeared in the clouds for few minutes and it was awesomely quiet below, but each time as we came into view there was again terrific belch of gunfire and roaring and cracking all about us. ss
 Suddenly out of the murky panorama the docks swan into view. Every man, keyed up for this long awaited instant, was tense and ready. At a sharp com mand, the release of the bombs began, The bombing mechanism clicked away like a typewriter. We shot upward as the release of the bombs lighted the ship. z.
 There was the impact of two sounds the roar of the engines of one of our own following ships, still in the me of fire, and then a series of reverberat- ing detonations from our bombs. There were 20 distinct thunder claps from below.
 The ship rocked from the air pres sure and we had for an instant a clear view below. A great pillar of flame belched forth and climbed skyward. We appeared to have struck large cotton warehouse, full of inflammable stuff.
 "Airship ahead to starboard !" sang out the elevator steersman. It was our companion ship, less than POO yards ahead. A collision seemed certain. w, veered sharply. The two ships passed almost within hands reach at express train speed. A. fraction of a seconI later and there would have been a blaz- ing smash. E Again we circler and saw the fir. spreading below us. We could hear thu sharp bark of guns and hear the bull lets whizzing and the shrapnel explod- ing about us. We could see one of our comrade ships in the center of the ar tillery fire, held fast in the glare of many searchlights. A small flame shoots up from the ship. She has been hit by an incendiary bullet. In an in- stant the fam has spread over the whole back of the Zepp. The search lights die down and we see the hull glowing in the sky. In a gentle arc it falls toward the earth, faster and faster.
 Where wood is planed, shavings fall,' said the captain Iaconically, as he gives the orders for retreat.
 Flying before the wind, the coast was soon reached. Below us the guard ing aircraft searched zealously while searchlights played in the sky. Now and then a salvo of guns thundered alOft. We were, however, high above the clouds and believed ourselves safe.
 Det0nation Stops Engine
 Orders were given for the inspection of the entire ship to learn whether we had received hits of any importance. The hull and cells were searched for bullet holes and small rents were re- paired with emergency patches. An of- ficer reported that one shot of shrapnel burst so close the engine was stopped for a second by the detonation.
 Over the sea the sky became more and more overcast and ahead lay black clouds, with lightning. To dodge the thunderstorm we veered to the north ward, but we were surrounded by the storm. We were turned back to the English coast to find that the storm was raging far inland. We realized that here was a danger perhaps greater than that from which we had just escaped. We must fight our way home against the storm.
 We dropped 5000 feet and dove straight into the teeth of the gale. A great gust seized us and tossed us 1,500 feet alOft, and then hurled us downward, like a child playing with ball. What followed was the nights real test of nerves, alertness and skill. It was a desperate battle. The ship rolled and pitched wildly; we grasped anything we could seize. The lightning kept up a steady battery of blinding flashes, so rapid that they resolved in a dazzling, continuous hellish splendor. Under us the radio antennae hung in long arc, glowing like the aurora horealis. The rain. driven with wild swish by the wind, deluged the control cabin and decks.
 Zep a Flying Dutchman
 We passed directly over a flotilla of fishing vessels, and I learned later that the fishermen swOre they saw the Fly ing Dutchman, so phantOmlike did our ship appear.
 When the storm was fiercest, from the top guns platform the lookout called, ''The machine gun is on fire Y The captain ordered me alOft. The climb up the narrow shaft, with the ship rolling and lurching, was not easy, but N made. it. The sailmaker, on lookout dAty, came toward me with a clearly defined halo about his head. It was the beautiful St. Elmo's fire. From the barrel of the machine gun shot A blue flame a foot long. At first was astounded; then realized the cause. I placed my hand in the flame, but quickly withdrew it. St. Elmo's fire leaped from each finger.
 There was a great uneasiness among all of us, with the terrific and continu ous lightning flashes in the black night Many ischarges-thunder bolts they might be called-hit the ship, and we waited for the flames to break out.
 For hours the ship tackled about. We marveled that it stood the strain. It seemed but frail thing to be pitted