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Show FAST CRUISERS V DISAPPEAR IN MIST-EVADING MIST-EVADING BATTLE Shells Cause Much Property Damage and Some Loss of Life In Three East Coast Cities London, Doc. 10. r0r the first, time since 1708 England lias been struck by n foreign foe. A squadron squad-ron of swift German cruisers crept through tho fog last night to the una, tern coast and turned their guns against tho Brltona. When day broko thoy began the bombardment of threo Important towns Hartlepool at tho mouth of tho Teoa; Whitby, thirty-flve miles southward, and Scarborough, Scar-borough, noted aa a pleasure resort, fifteen miles bojond. Men, women and children of the civilian population wore left dead or wounded struck without warniiin while nt breakfast or at work. In nil the casualtj list totals 110, according ac-cording to the olllclal estimates, of whom thirty-one are known to be dead Three churches were damaged; the pas works and lumber ards at Hartlepool Har-tlepool were set afire and tho abby at Whitby wns struck. Tho Ilalmor nl hotel at Scarborough received the full effects of a shell A number of houses and shops were shattered and parti) burned In each of tho towns. Tho hostile squadron escaped in the mist after an encounter with coast gua"d essels patrollug tile neighborhood, neigh-borhood, which were reinforced lis poon as tho presence of the Germans was signalled. The official press bureau Mato tonight to-night issued the following statement regarding the German raid: "At 8 -a. m. today threo enemv ships were sighted off Hartlepool P and at S 15 the commenced n bom bardment These ships appeared to be two battlo cruisers and ono armored ar-mored cruiser. The land batteries-replied batteries-replied and are reported to have hit and damaged the enemy Some Soldiers Killed At S 50 the llrfng ceased and the enemj steamed away. Nono of our guns were touched Ono shell fell In tho roal engineers' lines and sev oral In tho lines of tho eighteenth service battalllon of the Durham light infantr). Tho casualties among tho troops amounted to seven killed and fourteen wounded. "Some damage was dono to tho town and tho gas works wero set on firo. "During tho bombardment, especially especial-ly In West Hartlepool, tbo people crowded In the streets and approximately approx-imately twenty-two wero killed and, fifty wounded. , At Two Other Towns "At tho same tlmo a battlo cruiser and an armored cruiser appeared off Scarborough and fired about fifty shots, which caused considerable dam age, and fifteen casualties aro ro ported. "At Whitby two battlo crulsors, llrcd shots, doing damago to buildings nnd tho casualties reported uro tvvc-Mllcd, tvvc-Mllcd, two woundod. "At all three places tbcro was an entlro absenco of panic and tho do-meanor do-meanor of the people was overj thing, that could bo desired." Earlier tonight tho olllclal press bureau Issued tho following: Fast Warships Used "This morning a Gorman cruiser forco niado a demonstration upon tho Korkshlro coast, In the course of which they ahellod Hartlepool, Whitby Whit-by and Scarborough. A number ot their faotest ships woro employed for this purposo, and they rcmalnod about an hour on tho coast. "They wero. engaged by patrol ves- nr sels on the spot As ooon as the " Presence of the cnomy was reported British patrollinfc squadron endeav-orod endeav-orod to cut thorn off On being sight cd by tho British vessols tho Oer-mans Oer-mans retired at fujll spood and tax ored by tho mist, inado their escape Losses Aro Slight, "Tho losses on Both sides aro very small, but full rojporta havo mot yot been rooolvcd. ' "Tho admiralty Hakes tho opportunity opportun-ity of pointing cut that domonatro-I domonatro-I tlona of this chap-actor against unfor I titled towns or Jommorclnl ports, tho I k not difficult to accomplish, provided a certain amount of rish Is nccepted, nro doold of mllltarj significance "They ma cause some loss of llfo unions the civil population and some damage to private p operty, which Is much to bo regretted; uut they must not In any clicumstances bo ullowed to modifj the general tiav-ul tiav-ul policy which Is being pursued." brltlsh Are Angry A wave ot Intense uuger has spread, over England bceaubo of tuo attack and bitter denunciation la Heard over ov-er w hero of a policy which penults tne shelling oi uiiueiendud towns Hie loiueob ui Uiu luuuin oi the 'lues Is biipposcd to the some pro tecum to tno uiiio.iuut bhlppuib base of liuriitipool, bui whitu and bcaiuoioufjii are ua open to tuo enu my lib Atlantic fit) on the Now Jor soy coast. Scarborough, with its old cabtle on a high bill, the big casino with a high tower and tho row of pretentious pretenti-ous hotels on the water flout, pies cuts a Binning mark for target practice prac-tice Fow visitors were at the ho tels because of tile cold weather, b,ut ono Invalid Is kuowu to iiuvo been wounded, and was taken awaj on u stretcher. 350 Miles From Base In a direct line tho mouth of the Tees Is about 3jU miles from Ilelgo laud tho German naval basa lu the N'oith sea. Tho Ilrltish udmlraltj sa)s tho German ships vveto among their fastest. 'Jhey chose a. night, when a thick mist prevailed to reach tho English coast and uuibt have left their bubo at least two hours beforo daik. As they started to return ubout 'J o clock there still remained about seven hours of da) light for the pursuit, which, howevei, was render ed almobt Impossible b) the fog. How the Geimans evaded all the mines and patiols lemains somuwh.ii of a iii)ster), although experts recall that In maneuvers lliltlsh slilpg pei-foriucd pei-foriucd the bamu feat hi the compnr-utivel) compnr-utivel) small space between Kngland Kng-land and Scill) Islands, which ,how over, were not mined. Many at Breakfast Except for the working people, tho English are apt to bo late risers during the short winter days. Tho bombardment by tho German cruisers cruis-ers occurred between 8 and ! o'clock un hour when many persons wero at breakfast while others wero on their way to work or wero opening tbolr shops. The booming of heavy guns oft tho three towns drow hundreds to tho beaches. They had no thought of a German raid, but when shells camo crushing over their heads and into the quiet streets, tho pcoplo mado a dash for shelter. Off shoro tho Ger man guns did rapid work, tho Hashes, coming Incessantly and tho shells finding a murk among tho buildings. Many of tho residents took rcfugo In tho collurs; others rushed from tnelr houses, among them women nnd children chil-dren in their night clothes, und not a few sought tho rallwuy stations, leaving on the first trains out. Disappointed at Outcome Rumors of various kinds wore spread broadcast from mouth to mouth. The first was that two German Ger-man crulsera had been sunk. Many thought that the long expected gen oral naval engagement between tbo HrltiBh and German fleets was progressing pro-gressing and that tho shelling of the, coaBt towns waB merely Incidental to this. Tho admiralty's report Issued at 9:30 o'clock tonight giving tho nows that tho German Bhlps had eluded pursuit and woro roturnlng safely to their home waters, caused keen disappointment dis-appointment Naval wrltors o press tho opinion that six or eight ships woro engaged Tho Germans havo avullablo for such n,i attack tho armored crulsors Much-or Much-or Hoon, Frlnz Adalbert, Prlnz Horn-rich Horn-rich and l'rlnz rrledrlch Karl, and moro than twenty crulsors of small or class |
