German Scares Continue.

New York Times, 16 mai 1909s1 Clark, J.: "airships, England, 1909", Magonia Exchange, 7 août 2007

Britons Sill Seeing Invading Vessels and War Balloons.

Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES.

LONDON, May 15.  Punch's famous cartoon, "Who said rats?" might be fittingly adapted nowadays with "Who said Germans?" as its legend. Almost every day brings a new scare, and the morning paper which does not supply the average Englishman with a Teutonic thrill over his breakfast is cast aside as flat, stale, and unprofitable.

One of the most recent scares was carried into Parliament by Sir George Doughty, who had learned that the Germans were secretly practicing maneuvers for a raid on the east coast of Britain. Sir George claims that two German steamers with troops on board have secretly steamed to the mouth of the Humber, without being observed by the British authorities, on several occasions.

A mysterious airship which carries a huge searchlight and flies about the eastern counties o' nights, but is never seen in the daytime, is the cause of another scare. At first it was suggested that it was the work of some British inventor who wished to keep his achievement secret, but this idea had reluctantly to be abandoned. Then it was said to be a British Army airship, but the public achievements of the War Office in this direction do not encourage such optimism, and the great mass of the people are confident it is a German war balloon.