Evening star., 1940-09-26
By DREW MIDDLETON.

BY DREW MIDDLETON.
Associated Press War Correspondent.
LONDON, Sept. 26.-We are still
doing business at the old stand.
The Associated Press London bu-
reau at 20 Tudor street felt the
knuckleS of war Tuesday night
when a nigh explosive bomb landed
at our front door. damaged our
building, demolished the Office
building opposite and started fire
which still was f1aring fitfully in the
entryway yesterday when l re-
entered the Office to write this.
Two other bombs fell within 20
yards.
Three and a half hours after the
bomb fell and sent us scurrying to
safety We were back in the Office.
All departments are functioning,
Tuesday night we all had kept
saying, we will have a sweet time
tonight"-like broadcasting before
going to the dentist. Up to then the
bombing had been lust usual
The Office was working smoothly
in the basement. English born
Staffman c. H. P. Anderson was up
on the roof getting eyewitness dope
on German air raiders.
Stafer Edwin Stout. from Winter
set. Iowa, was handling copy Three
Office boys slept under table. Stan
member Tom Yarbrough. an Okla
noman. walked home about midnight.
7 fro cna aG horp
Keeps Sending News.
Operator Anne Keefe was sending
news to New York
Then We felt the first bomb near
by. This explosion knocked me off
the cot and shook the building.
Stout said: That was big one"
Anderson reported from the roof
top observation post: They're
dropping goodish bit of stuff"
Miss Keefe kept right on at the
teletype.
On one went back to sleep. Even
down in our celler We could hear the
German raiders. I went up to the
door on the street. 1t was swell
night. Reverberations came from
plane motors, bearing death and
destruction
There were scattered blasts of
bombs for half an hour. Then We
heard the whiz-z-z-z-z-z of one fall
ing and the heavy "wham!' of an
explosion.
We crouched by the wall for
long moment.
George Angus. veteran A. P. traf-
f1c employe, dashed upstairs Fire
f1ared in the street next to us.
Bring a bucket of sand" he
bawled BY the time some one
brought up the sand it was too late.
Flames were leaping and lighting up
a crater l8 feet across in one direc-
ton and 80 feet in the other.
Tenement Disappears.
That three-story tenement across
the street was gone.
The farthest wall had 4 few bricks
standing, but that was all
'All out. Get to the shelter. All
OUT" hollered Stout.
In the shelter, water was staining
the wall nearest the explosion. Soon
it was inches deep on the floor.
There was a scurry of feet on the
stairs and before l turned around
every one was gone.
Stout set up temporary headquar-
tiers in another newspaper building
a quarter of a mile away.
Fifteen minutes after the bomb
ell he was sending messages through
to New York.
stumbled through streets lit
tered with broken glass to another
Office and duplicated Stout's mes
sage, although the duplication was
10 or Is minutes behind his orig
inals.
Photographer George Baverstock,
awakened by the bomb. went out
and took some shots of the fire and
the crater and the censor, with
usual British reverence for the let
ter of the law, refused for an hour
and a half to let us say every one
was safe, despite our pleas that
relatives would be worried.
oll. yes, OlQ UOy, SoAO IliC SCAlooi =
"but for security purposes we can't
give away information like that" I
went back to the Office, dodging
from building to building when anti
aircraft shells exploded overhead.
Those familiar rooms were thick
with smoke.
A broken gas main sent flames
leaping against the windows.
wanted only one thing-my coat,
and what is the Americans most
important possession in Europe. my
passport. The coat wasn't there.
Angus and Editor Edward Robin
son had had the foresight to grab
all the coats
Secondary Bureau Opened.
While all this was going on
Bureau Chief Milo M. Thompson
had made his way to the Associated
Press secondary bureau, prepared
for Just such an emergency. and
had it open and running by the time
the raid ended. Thus our bureau