“Raid on London”

[The article fills most of one column. The couple are "Hegnauer" throughout except in the last paragraph, which prints "Hagnauer". The Noordam landed them at New York on Saturday 3 Oct 1914; "Sunday night" is 4 Oct. In one sentence the type seems to have lost a line ("had treated him finely as a prisoner and opportunity"); it is transcribed as printed. The Rochester Herald and The Times-Union of the same day also reported the return (images 1333836940, p. 8, and 1278920805, p. 9).]

RAID ON LONDON

To Drop Bombs on City and British War Vessels.

GERMANS SURE OF SUCCESS

Say French and Russian Soldiers Have Tried to Be Captured—Returning Tourist Saw Big Crops. Says States Do Not Know Truth.

"It will happen soon. You should have patience."

That was the reply the leader of the German Zeppelin corps made when asked if London would be attacked from the air, according to Jacob Hegnauer, of No. 52 Weld street, who returned from abroad Sunday night with his wife and Peter Meinhardt, of No. 62 Weld street. Mr. Hegnauer was in Marburg, Germany, for about six weeks after the war broke out and speaks from the German angle of the happenings on the great battlefields.

"No, the Zeppelins have not done so much yet," said Mr. Hegnauer last evening, "but they have been kept back. One went over Paris and dropped bombs. Seven holes were shot in it, but it got back all right. When Antwerp is captured and the foggy season comes on, London will be attacked and the English navy, too. Yes, the English have more ships, but Germany has better ones.

"Do the Germans think they can win? Surely, they think so. They have driven the enemy back all along the line. All you get here are lies. The English are not over in France strong. Some say they have only what came over first. As many Germans are fighting Russia as are fighting against Belgium and France, and they are beating back the Czar's armies, and so is Austria.

Expect India to Embarrass England.

"The odds are awful, of course, but India, they say, will rebel against England and that will help, and then there is Turkey. Turkey doesn't like England and will soon fight for Germany. The French tell the Germans they are sorry they sided with England against them and had rather be on their side. Some Russians that were captured told the Germans that they had never had a bullet in their guns or rifles and had tried to be taken prisoners. One French soldier who gave himself up said he did so because his father, a veteran of the Franco-Prussian war, told him the Germans had treated him finely as a prisoner and opportunity.

"Germany has a united feeling. The people know the war was forced on them by English intrigue and they are determined to fight to the end. They hate England worst of all, especially Sir Edward Grey, who they say caused the war. No, the French and the Russians, they are not so badly disliked. Germany has 6,000,000 men on the firing line now and 2,000,000 in reserve. This reserve is made up of boys from 16 to 20 who volunteered in free will for the army.

Says Soldiers Are Enthusiastic.

"There was a great army of reserves called out that was made up of men who had not been able to pass examination to enter service in times of peace. These were drilled for two months before being sent to the front. The soldiers were all enthusiastic. Every man wanted to go. One train that was supposed to carry 700 enlisted men reached the front with 711 soldiers, the eleven being men who had been turned down and who had sneaked their way on the cars. The trains were decorated with leaves and carried the soldiers away singing and making merry. Two generals who were refused service on account of age committed suicide.

"The Germans have great guns and they lay down tracks right to the place to which they want to take them. It costs $9,000 every time a projectile is fired from one of the seventeen-inch guns, so they have a range finder, a gun that fires a waste shot that explodes with burning black powder. If this hits where desired, the projectile from the big gun will.

"When war was declared the government ordered all horses to be taken to certain points. The best were selected and the rest returned. I saw this. Crops? Crops are fine over there this year. Germany will have plenty of provisions. You should see it over there. Clover way up high, potatoes, everything just great.

Russians in Germany.

"When the war started there were Russians all through Germany trying to blow up bridges and poison the water supplies. They did poison the water in Giesen, but it was found out in time."

"The German people, I can tell you, feel pretty bad," put in Mrs. Hegnauer. "Their men folks are gone to the front. It's awful. The war came as a great blow and all try to make the best of it, but it is hard, awfully hard for them. The women are doing the work. None of the soldiers in any of the armies wanted the war. It was the government forcing it on Germany, not the people of England. The Germans love their Kaiser and the Crown Prince. All those stories are like the rest of the French and English reports, lies of the worst kind."

Mr. and Mrs. Hagnauer crossed on the steamship Noordam, sailing from Rotterdam.