| Show 1 k copyright 1915 by J W muller all rights righta reserved A narrative fact story based authoritatively on the inexorable mathematics of war what can be done to oppose an invading army with our actual present resource in regulars trained militia untrained citizens coast defenses fjald artillery and all other weapons of defense L 1 CHAPTER XII continued SYNOPSIS owing to impending war var against the th united states by a coalition of powers power of europe and asia ala the mobilization of 0 out our regular anil and volunteer forces Is ordered the national authorities find that the unit united e d 8 states 1 ates la Is woefully unprepared A huge foreign fleet of 0 invasion la Is reported miles in length lon etli the united sinks elates navy loses ships in battle tho the coalition fleet appears off the ne new v england horizon and america becomes become 8 panic stricken A volunteer aatos scouting along the coast discovers the coalition fleet on off new mass maso thirty of at the ali transports are seen near nan island lel antl standing in n toward bloc t island tho the invaders take deock island ann and Al arthas vineyard and warn waif the population not to resist they bambard with their the I 1 r warships the const coast of new england below cape cod foreign troops land on the american mainland in powerful numbers and transports protected by submarines and torpedo boat destroyers destro yera lie oft off shote with still more troops artillery and ho homer rites iha inbode island coatie Is held by the enemy the united states forts foks along the tha coast find themselves too short handed to effectively attack the invaders they enouch men our aviators are ara rendered almost uselma by tho the wu perlor number of 0 the enemas air men enemy aviators aviator a fly over eastern cities dropping warnings that the in forces oro aro about to advance and that civilians who resist will be dealt with our militia Is found to be in A sasto of disorganized the enemy gains gaina control ur the new york new haven and hartford railroad and places a force of at men in shape to make inroads along the atlantie Atlant antle lo seaboard minor engagements occur in a desperate attack begun began in a dense dens tos fog by the th coalition fleet the defenses of narragansett bay are shattered and they fall all the e fleet enters tho the bay and the tha nation la is literally stunned kha rh kilting killing of fourteen new england farmers by the soldiers sold lera further In flames publio public opinion the invaders are pressing onward through now new angland against fig alnet comparatively feeble opposition the new ew biow up bridges and tear up railroad tracks in frantic efforts to stop the progress of the enemy dynamiting occurs everywhere sterli stem is e are commanded by the chief of the foreigners city after city wo set in flames A terrific bombardment of cities about boston harbor occurs hull la Is destroyed by lire fire the enemy lands forces nt at no na hant after preparing the way by a heavy assault with big shells this action takes place at night walla alla our torte forts put up a gallant ance and mink various of the hostile war craft the pressure bee becomes dines too great and boston Is surrendered tho the enemy announces that boston Is in now to bo be ruled by the headquarters staff of 0 the tha foreign army tho council nodi ted next mornings newspapers had on their first binges nn an announcement that made baoy renders readers rub their eyes tind stare incredulously nt at the printed page inie for on oil it ans cuch fi a proclamation na as might have been md in ili boston town in the reign of charles 1 I it xang li bended ended LAW 1 every ever person resident real dent in the terri territory tor occupied by bv the pow r exercising sov soi ernig nty by right of conquest who shall ball titter litter seditious words or speeches or write r against the governing authority or who shall ahall conceal such practices that como come to his hi knowledge shall be punished ly and seve severely Bev nely jely I 1 evett person who jolna joins a secret society 0 o or attends a secret ecret meeting for or the purpose of 0 advocating sedition or rebellion shall hull be panl pird shed summarily and severely beverely again the citizens com committee cittee protested boston lawyers represented to tho the military council that american citizens could not dot be held guilty of sedition or rebellion if they adhered to their country the inhabitants of conquered territory answered the lie council are citizens of no country they are arc under the jurisdiction of the occupying army nut but they are not dot even entitled to tc the privileges of citizens of the country which controls that army dut but mero mere conquest does not entitle you to treat them as aa rebels urged the committee they are within rights to preserve their allegiance so sa long as they dr do bor violate the rules of war by opposing you with arnld arms ono one of the officers smiled ito oben opened a book once more I 1 must respectfully refer you to your own court decisions ci lit be said tind and rend react from a united stated supreme court verd verdict let conquest Is 18 a valid title while the victor maintains exclusive territory of tho the conquered country there Is lint fiat wo we can call do the committee report reported od to the people U fr refrain that sounded JU in nil the be arned states just juat then to the lie wild projects for desperate defene that heing being broached every day la in the city of new york to the frenz frenzied led demands that the volunteers in III ohp western camps be rushed into tho the flegal nf il to tho the curses directed at the afaf dean army because it refused to ferrit tho the same bame nit answer awer formulated itself bec because beckins tins there wits waa no other always from all quarters al nil demands and imprecations y answer that was possible was there la is nothing that we can do the phe city multitudes surrendered iven rily to the situation but there were men choin the helpless reply drove croie frantic there were mere bund hundreds reds of these men in new york brooklyn jersey city newark and nil the towns eastward from there them into connecticut they wore were militiamen who bad not been able to join their organizations when they went to the lie front or whoop organizations lind been merely paper onea there were no members of sports lucans buens dubs clubs accustomed to the use of henvy calber dreares and to the trull trall lind vero cro many lunny men who were kovl moved 3 simply bythe reckless recklessness nesti ot of foi iino Di detring tring the lie lays nys while there drifted through the states tin tho broken incomplete but evee cerow growing liiK story of vew new 1 uprising and ciul its lt fearful tb so men had begun to in ts country between ne acs haven and hartford urged by I 1 j settled bottled plan but moving to that lint district simply so it wa ws tho list american front between new york yol im I 1 the army the enemy was moving westward slowly no tind to hold out a mighty m creen nRal nit the army alint now lay beyond the berkshire hnis hills holding the baij laud id between western connecticut and A al bany that army intact find and out of i his roach rench ws was a constant acute danger it endangered ills his communion lions it endangered hn bin base it endangered his dirl divisions that occupied boson tan it forced him blin to advance only in continual readiness for tattle on blanka and rear lines hues its signal service and aviators kept constant watch of the invading legions its runge range fandt located the exact positions tiong of mir guns during the slow alow approach the men who jina bad gat gathered tiered between new haven iud aid hartford began to form some 11 ort of an organization almost it evolved itself from froin new haven arl hartford to t the h factory cities of wallingford and Nerl herlden den middletown and new britain along all al the factory if lined ed valleys 11 there a word vint that gattl gathered erml workers from shops and idle men from streets all one long day and all one evening they moved toward the two cities they seemed aimless enough but there were leaden who put themselves at their head secretly in the night suddenly they were angry determined fd witted united boblet of men men suddenly me like i ft suddenly awakened wind they stormed the great arms arma factories of the two towns they came with runs guns and pistols they came with crowbars anti and picks they came with stones and with nothing except their bare hands they A allied hilr dead aside and withered linder the tire of the guards and burst through and took the works lu in hartford they seized a whole trainload of rapid and machine guns that had been loaded tor for the america army in ili new haven they took almost 1000 sporting rifles tho the ant bever spread to bridgeport tho the mob arose and seized the cart factories jt it was a mad thing less nom purvise pur dose nan from aue insanity that invasion had bud laid on mens minda it could bine bilte lu lut t one and end yet tah chii army of madmen was moved and molded by a touch of the american ability to do things that very ability on which the people might indeed have depended depend cd with perfect assurance if only they had not depended on it wholly america did truly have men who would tight they were here hera alq and they were to fight sach auch a fight na as would he be remembered many a long day they took hold of men armed with magnificent rifles but of a score of different patterns for different linda ainas of sport and demanding it a score of different and calibers of cartridges they took hold of infantry militia fragments whose companies had had only two or three assemblies a year tor for target practice with average attendance of only eleven or twelve men young doctors took hold with noth tax but emergency kits without ambulances bu lances litters W without even helpers who would know bow bov to find a wound or apply a first aid bandage the army of landman went forward to the ho connecticut river to hold the west bank front hartford to middletown they did not know how bow to dig trenches they dug ditches they did not know how to IP make defenses for A A VW W L arv r C W M 91 I 1 MIN A S A 4 AT 11 1 1 1 t it AMERICAN SIGNAL SERVICE AND RANGE FINDERS WERE ACTIVE their machine guns they piled that would skewer them with aplin era under shell fire or heaped up rock H that would fly into fragments nud and kill like shrapnel that day along the connecticut river they showed what americas men could havo hare done had find they how to do it in advance and had find they been craod d for the work clapier CHAPTER XIV IV the massacre Mi acre american volunteers lay behind THE their pitiable defenses with their motley weapons commanded by men who did not know war they bore the shock of machine gun assaults from advance patrols they bore the shock of cavalry charges from scouting deta detachments cli at middletown they were attacked in force hy by heavy cavalry that crossed under cover ot im fIre and outflanked out flanked them and charged in ili mass they sent the charge back broken with many empty sad saddles dlen they lay under the tire ire of a tareo inch sun gun nt at cromwell for an hour and endured and died but they denied the river crossing to a bata bat tallon alien two long hours they held the iver along their whole line it seemed to that they were a great battle surely their dead testified to it and the hot fire that beat on testified to it and aarom the river or tion floating ting down with the were many enemy dead to testify to it they cheered and shouted to each other hoarsely bere were winning I 1 ever growing savage lust just bior for more assailants in ill the headquarters of the advancing army there was received this report from tho the brigade commander two tivo or three thousand thoua aud raw but determined americans disputing passage of connecticut river with our advance guarda they have machine guns evas no artillery am sending field guns forward shall have passage clear lu ili an bour use ube ample force answered the commander these americans American sl 1 ho he said to hla ald aid they arent to be underestimated A little more preparation and we te be herel berol laughed the did ald thirty minutes afterward from points wholly invisible to the americans there burst the shattering thunder of field artillery explosive shells gew flew over and into the trenches shrapnel gel screamed at them and burst like sentient things tight in their faces facea to drive rattling bullets in all directions ions lous at rocky hill a militia company of artillery tried to move its gun gull into better shelter the plow horses that had been seized to drag it wild with terror became entangled in the traces and fell cutting them away the men wheeled the cannon into position by baud dut but their armory never bad been fitted for practice as an it never had bad been fitted for mounted instruction none of the men had been qualified fled as first clasi or even as second class clasa gunners they fired and their shots went wild serving only to betray their situation to the enemy they did not know how to place themselves for protection from indirect fire so they died A troop of militia cavalry trying to move forward near hartford was cut off by an advance patrol of enemy cavalry that had crossed the river to outflank the defenders from the north the americans charged hut but they were mounted on horses never used before for or cavalry work the enemy riders were men trained to swordsmanship the american troop had bad averaged only thirteen men in mounted drill in a whole year because they had possessed neither horses nor armory the rho green brutes reared at the sight or of weapons they pitched into each ther other a as 03 tile the enemy cavalry dashed ut at them and added their iron hoofs to the melee for one brief moment eyes I 1 stared into eyes and it was hack and thrust then the enemy riders were through them and whirled like a gale and swept through them again and killed and killed annihilated reported the scout cavalry a ry a little later when its squadrons came up our loss one dead three slightly wounded wound pd annihilated I 1 yes gentlemen of congress sitting la in washington at that moment and passing resolutions and appropriations and ng fine se sentiments 1111 about mill ml r defense and not one cent for re e there were ugly things there on the connecticut shore that answered you more loudly in their eternal than if they had spoken on with a thousand angry tongues agues less thin than a thousand men it was said afterward escaped from ae the mas maa s acre they crawled away down gullies or swam down the river and hid bid under weeds weeda and printed panted and tied up their wounds with rags raga from their rag ged garments we have taught them their les lesseul soul paid the hostile commander we shall have no more trouble when the news of the battle of connecticut went through the united states there was waa a temporary end to all patience to nil all calculations of prudence there was waa an end to every thing except blind passion tho the united states was not a patient nation hut but no nation however patient could have remained so BO nt at such a time trusted leaders pointed in vain to tho the lit history tory of the united states to prove ovo that whenever its ita raw forces dorcet had hurrle d into battlo battle in obeale obedience nce to popular demand the result had been only to hurry burry disaster in vain they pointed to the civil war and the hideous death tolls paid by both sides without military advantage adan taga to either no administration however determined could have ignored it secretly a special train wits made ready in W ansh I 1 s b ington secretly in the night the president of tho the united states with his bis advisers and stair boarded |
