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A BLAZING ZEPPELIN FALLING TO THE EARTH AFTER BEING STRUCK
BY ENGLISH MISSILES

This picture was made by an artist who witnessed the destruction of a Zeppelin during a recent raid

GAINING EXPERTNESS

AN AMERICAN CARTOON ON THE DESTRUCTION OF ZEPPELINS BY ENGLAND

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fully nailed over the windows. Talk was resumed, but there was little fun the remainder of that evening. The gathering broke up early; soon only four of us were left.

About a quarter before eleven Ames and Burrows announced that they were going over to the Conservative Club to see if there was any news of the raid. The club house was about four minutes' walk away, across the square and down by the bridge. "Goodnight, cheer o' men," they said. The door slammed, and Bones and I were left alone in front of the fire.

Four minutes later the heavens burst ! An explosion that blasts and ridicules description was followed by an instant of tearing and crashing-the sound of falling walls and shattering windows.

Then ensued a succession of explosionspowerful, but as nothing after that first appalling cataclysm. In the brief seconds between them the hiss of roaring flames filled the air.

Finally it seemed a long time, but was probably not more than two minutes-the explosions ceased; there were a few final crashes of falling walls, and then only shrieks and moans above the rapidly dying roar of the flames.

The inn had rocked, the bottles and glasses had fallen off their shelves, but Bones and I had sat in our chairs like ghosts through it all. For a long time after it was over neither one of us spoke or moved. Then Bones tottered over to the bar to pour himself a stiff glass of whisky from one of the few remaining bottles, and we ventured forth.

There can be no use in describing the sights which met our eyes. Briefly, this is what had happened:

Three miles away there is a little village called Ware, located much as Hertford is on a bend in the river. Ware has some important military stores. A Zeppelin, perhaps the same one which had passed over earlier in the evening, evidently mistook Hertford for Ware.

At least that is the consensus of opinion to-day among the inhabitants of the region.

The Zeppelin opened fire with a “TNT” bomb, which must have been tremendous. Landing directly by the gate of the Conservative Club, it demolished the wall of that building and cut away cleanly the fronts of

three brick houses on the opposite side of the street.

This bomb alone killed twelve men. Ames and Burrows were among the number. They must have arrived at the gate of the club just as the bomb struck. No trace of them was ever found.

Then followed Zeppelin "drum fire." The trap door of the raider's munition compartment was opened and alternate explosive and incendiary bombs poured forth in a continuous stream. As the ship was then moving rapidly, these missiles cut a straight swath right across the corner of the town from the Conservative Club past the Mill Head bridge, over St. Andrew's Street, through some gardens, across the corners of a few buildings, and out into the fields towards Bayfordbury.

By a curious but happy freak of fortune, this stream of destruction, while cutting cornices and playing terrific havoc with windows, walls, and gardens, missed hitting any buildings squarely. So, though about fifty people were wounded, the first terrible explosion was the only fatal one. The incendiary bombs for the most part burned themselves out harmlessly.

I visited Hertford again in May of this year. Arriving on the evening train from Liverpool Street, I found the town plunged in Stygian darkness; not even the faintest glow was visible from a single window.

Groping along the High Street in search of the Salisbury Arms, I stopped once to light a cigarette. Immediately a voice from somewhere ordered me to "put out that match and hurry up about it."

I found the tap-room assemblage at the Salisbury to all appearances as usual except for the two friends who were gone. But I had not been present long before I felt the difference in the air--the old light-heartedness had flown away.

The Conservative Club has been rebuilt, and men frequent it again—almost without hesitation. But the houses opposite still stand with fronts demolished. And every evening about nine o'clock a silent band of inhabitants wends its way one mile westward to the tunnel of the uncompleted Great Northern Railway extension. They go there to sleep the night-still haunted by the memory of that tragic October evening.

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T

UNCLE SAM'S NEWEST NEWEST TOWN

BY H. H. LUMPKIN

HE Government of the United States will soon have the record of attempting about everything in the line of constructive planning and building that any nation can undertake. Following close on the heels of the completion of that largest of tasks, the Panama Canal, and remembering also the numerous works of reclamation which can be credited to this same energetic personage, now comes that newest of efforts of Uncle Sam's towards upbuilding a country, the construction of the Alaskan Railway.

While of course not in the same class with the Canal, considered as a herculean task, it is yet no mean thing that is being wrought out in this little-known part of our country's possessions. Starting at Seward, on the coast, thence up by the new town of Anchorage and the Matanuska coal-fields, through the Broad Pass country, in full view of that wonder of Alaskan mountains, and indeed of American mountains, geographically known as Mount McKinley, but known among the natives by the more euphonious and meaningful title of Denali, straight across to the Tanana River, and thence to Fairbanks, the metropolis of the interior, it will be a wonder road in more senses than one. Most wonderful, perhaps, in that it will open up for exploration and conquest country that has been indeed trod lightly by the foot of explorer and prospector, but which still holds out much for the man who wishes to search into

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the past or help make the present of this last of American frontiers.

But in constructing such a road it was necessary that the force constructing the road should also have to construct towns, and it is to tell of the beginning of the latest of these along the line of the new road that this article is written.

Situated at the confluence of the Tanana and Nenana Rivers, in Alaska, this, the latest effort in town building, had its real natal day when, on August 24, the auctioneer's hammer in the hand of Mr. Christensen, of the Government Land Office, fell, and the opening sale of lots was announced.

But

Previous to this the town of Anchorage, on Knik Arm of Cook Inlet, had been laid out, and a sale of lots had been held there; and now there is on the coast a thriving town of some four or five thousand inhabitants. Nenana was, as it were, only a lodge in the wilderness until in the summer of 1916 there arose a town of tents, and the Government buildings, under the sound of saw and hammer and plane, began to take form and shape.

Nenana will be the first point in the interior where this latest big job of our Government will reach the navigable waters of the interior. While it follows the canyon of the Nenana River for some distance, this is but a small stream, navigable for very small boats. But the Tanana River is a large stream, and at

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Nenana one that is capable of bearing the largest river packets. So that from this point, when reached by the railway, the lower Tanana River can be supplied, and much of the Yukon. It is probable that coal-bunkers will be built, so that it will be a distributing point for the coal mines of Alaska for the interior. Here also will be a large steel drawbridge, where the railway will cross on its way to the main town of the interior, Fairbanks. Around Fairbanks, within a comparatively few miles, lie almost unlimited quantities of ground that, while not bearing sufficient gold dust to pay to work under present prices, both as regards fuel and food supplies, yet very probably will be worked at a profit when the cheaper fuel reaches the district via the new railway.

The location of the new town is excellent. The river affords plenty of water at all stages, so that there will always be a place for the largest or smallest river boats to discharge cargo without the necessity of lightering. Across the river rise high hills, thus giving it shelter from storm or wind. Much of Alaska's interior winter weather is almost windless, making it possible to endure the severest cold without too great physical discomfort. The town has been well surveyed and laid out. Provision has been made under the Government officials for parks, a school reservation with plenty of room for a large playground, a baseball park, a Federal Build

ing reserve, and wide, well-arranged streets. On one side of the town, along one of the principal streets, is the row of Government buildings-office, mess-room, hospital, and official residences. Back of this is the Government reserve, where all of the Government works will be located. Thus, in its infancy, the town starts right, without having to wonder in future years where a breathing-space can be made or a playground located.

Another provision is that no liquor can be sold in the town while under Federal supervision, and to this end no one who bid on the lots was allowed to pay more than one-third of the total amount bid, the balance to be paid in yearly installments for five years, and the lot to be declared forfeited to the Government should the clause forbidding the sale of intoxicating liquors be violated by any owner of any lot. Prostitution is also banned, and, so far as the knowledge of the Government officials goes, will not be tolerated within the corporate limits of the town. During the five years in which the Government will retain charge of the town an official will be placed in charge of its affairs, who is to all intents the Mayor. He will direct all the corporate activities of the town, see to it that sanitary regulations are observed, that streets are kept in repair, new streets laid out as needed, that regulations regarding prevention of fire are well cared for, and all other things pertaining to a well-regulated town.

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anywhere. The man who has been thus placed at the head of this newest town of Uncle Sam's creating is Mr. Frederick Ryus, qualified by many years' experience in engineering and civic work to handle municipal affairs in an orderly and systematic manner.

It was not the expectation of the Government officials that the lots placed on sale in Nenana should bring any large prices. In view of this, the appraisal value had been placed at a comparatively low figure. Judging by the sale at Anchorage, where the highest-priced lot had been somewhere around eleven hundred dollars, the sale was not expected to be so brisk in the interior, where there was really less to fall back on at this stage of the work. But the people of the interior of Alaska believe in their country, and when the first lot was placed on sale and the bids jumped up from four hundred for the first bid to one thousand for the second, and ended at sixteen hundred, the auctioneer, after misunderstanding a bid for several hundred, took off his hat, mopped his brow, and remarked to the crowd: 'You must pardon me. I am not used to dealing in such large figures."

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Many believed that with the sale of the business lots or those which were suggested for business use for the regulations will not permit the water-front to be used for retail houses -the prices would take a large drop. That idea was probably in the mind of the officials,

for after a while they changed and put residence lots on sale, but these also were maintained at a price commensurate with the higher-priced lots.

For two days the sale went on, with unflagging interest on the part of those who attended, and with everything conducted in. an orderly and systematic manner. At the close of the second day's sale, just as the announcement was about to be made that the sale was closed, some wag in the back of the crowd shouted, "What will you take for the Tanana River ?" "This sale is now off until next spring," declared the auctioneer, and with that closing remark and the general laugh at the sally of the unknown in the crowd, the sale was ended.

It is amazing how a crowd can gather for such a sale. Where they had all come from it is hard to say, yet there they were, some thousand or fifteen hundred. They lived in tents, boats, or hastily constructed lodginghouses. Already restaurants, barber-shops, billiard-rooms, and other familiar things of the town had made their appearance and were doing a thriving business. Here and there in the crowd one could hear old-timers reminiscencing: "Makes me think of Dawson," or "Reminds one of Circle," or some other place that dates back to the early days. of the gold fever and rushes in the interior of Alaska and the Yukon Territory.

Under the guidance of Mr. Thomas Riggs,

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