Evening star., 1939-09-10
Paris A. P. Staff
Of Nine Leadinq
Eventfu| Life
One Tours City on Bike
During Air Roid Alarm;
Another Nearly 'Drofted'
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
PARIS, Sept. 9.-Associated Press
stan correspondents in Paris, work.
ing tirelessly since a week or more
before war actually broke out, have
had many varied experiences while
making the rounds gathering news
in bomb shelters, ministries and
other information centers.
Working during air raid alarms.
charting the progress OF armies on
elaborate system maps. weaving
news into comprehensive whole,
the staff Of nine men Is supplying
American newspaper readers con-
stantly with quick, accurate ac-
count Of events.
Despite the fact France Is at war,
authorities left radio channel open
for the rapid transmission OF news
dispatches. The Associated Press
copy from France reaches New York
headquarters in Rockefeller Center
to 10 minutes after 1t is written
in Paris.
Henry a West Point Graduate.
On the Associated Press staff in
Paris are two--Henry Cassidy and
John Lloyd-who had experience in
the Spanish Civil War. Roy Porter
was in Prague during the crisis last
September and in Memel when 1t
was taken over by the Germans.
West Point Graduate Taylor Henry
charts military movements and
explains them graphically to Ameri-
can readers.
Veteran staff members John Mar
tin and William McGafiin, who
specialize in feature writing, also
are constantly following develop
ments and filing stories.
The war started for Mr.. Henry
while he was watching the foreign
ministry draft. and saw an issue OF
the Official communique formally
announcing to the world France had
decided on armed action. He was
the only newspaperman present,
French or foreign, and while the
chief of the information section
picked up one phone in his private
Office to inform the official Havas
news agency of the action, Mr..
Henry flashed the news on another
phone to the Associated Press.
Mr.. Cassidy got a bicycle when
the first air raid alarm sounded and
pedalled around the city talking to
people in doorWays, watching quick
evacuation of the streets and pro-
cessions to bomb shelters, He got
back to the ONCE in time to write
his story before the alarm had been
lifted.
False Accusation.
Coming in from an assignment on
a train filled with recently mobilized
soldiers still in civilian clothes, Mr.,
McGaffin was caught in the mob
at the railroad station and herded
along with the reservists.
When he tried to get out of line
while being rushed to the military
reception Office he was told sternly
by guards to get back In his place
1t was some time before he could
explain the situation and get himself
separated from the soldiers.
Mr.. McGaffin went to LIE Havre
to see the lie de France sail with
thousand Americans aboard, flee
ing the European war. Standing on
the shore and shading his eyes with
his hand, he experienced an en-
barrassing moment when a taxi
driver loudly accused him Of being
a German. When he explained he
was an American, the driver and
others who had gathered took him
into their confidence as a friend.
Roy Porter was on the Riviera
when the war broke and covered
the mobilization In Southern France.
He has kept in constant contact
with the American Mediterranean
fleet there