The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1941-02-07

ENT FIVE
soon took him into his confidence. Ben
ming was Joined In Mexico City by LII.
cetto Ducos, = French SPY. who told
him that Bromlitx had escaped. He re-
turned to Washington after learning Van
Hassek's plans for an invasion Of tho
United States. Acting on the basis Of
this Information the President sent an
ulnmatum to Mexico demanding an i'm.
mediate explanation OF the foreign
troops ON her soil.
Now continue with the story.
y q y \
hal together with concentration Of
transport fleets. Russia had drawn
off to herself behind an unbreakable
curtain Of censorship. Diplomacy ad-
mittedly had broken down the world
over, fretted capitals waited in the
grip Of fear for the next moves in
q world gone mad.
Only in the United States was
there tranquility left, lack of fear
and tension. ca reports gave the
same story from over the country.
There was lively interest but little
tension. War was something on re-
mote horizons, isolated by broad
seas. America wanted nothing to
do with it, wished only to be left
alone with her peaceful intentions.
Therefore no harm could come. The
war scare was jingoistic poppycock
promoted by militarists in their
quest of heavier appropriations for
ornaments. Just as though recent
millions pledged to them were in
sufficient. AS for those mercenary
troops in the Mexican army, our
own army could gobble them up in
a jiffy if they were senseless enough
to start anything.
During the day Benning saw little
Of Flagwill. Endless staff confer
ences were being held, the whole
War and Navy Departments a bee
hive of strained activity. A new
plan was hot in the making, a tor
tured, impossible plan, out of which
the best must be drawn.
1t was a plan to meet the one
emergency for which the United
States was wholly and utterly un-
prepared, the emergency Of sudden
invasion.
AT Fort Sam Houston, on the out
skirts of San Antonio, Lieutenant
Colonel Bart, Corps Area ca Chief,
received disturbing bit of informa-
ton late in the day. Shortly after
sunset a formation, identified as
bombers, had passed over the Rio
Grande at point west Of Browns
vile, headed north.
Bart had telephoned the villages
Of Kingsville, Gregory, Skidmore,
Beeville. and Kennedy to the north
OF the border, In Texas, without
picking up any further report of the
flight, from which he concluded that
the bombers must have taken out
across the Gulf Of Mexico.
He had alerted Galveston and New
Orleans, but az the evening passed
no reports came from those cities.
Neither Kelly Field nor Randolph
Field had any planes out. A query
to Washington brought the response
that no American bombers were
known to be In the lower Texas re-
gion or along the Gulf Of Mexico.
The reported bomber expedition
had followed a series Of reports dur
ing the afternoon that had put Gen.
eral Brill and the whole CORDS area
on the jagged edge. A Mexican had
brought into Laredo the report that
heavy motorized divisions we're
spending the day In screened biv-
ouacs in Coahuila and Nueva Leon.
Half an hour later came news
from Colonel DEM that was not to
be ignored.
-Four flights have passed over La
redo within the past fifteen min
utes, DEM said. "If my ears know
an American plane these were not
American. They were headed about
due north, and travelling high and
fast"
General Brill calmly made his own
estimate Of the situation. Parked in
the grounds OF Fort Sam Houston
were the sixteen hundred shining
new trucks of the Second Division.
together with the divisions materi-
al and supplies. The Second, alert
ed and with all leaves suspended.
was in barracks and camp ready
for emergency. At Kelly and Ran
dolph Fields, nearby, were the
planes and supplies used in training
q small new army OF pilots for an
expanded air service.
Have the Second Division get
their trucks out of here as soon as
possible" he directed his chief of
staff. They'll also dispense their
artillery. Notify the mayor Of San
Antonio and suggest that he have