At this critical and interesting part of the program, Capt. Sigsbee, (then eighty-one years of age,) who in 1930 commanded the ærial warship “Maine,” and who had been especially selected for that mission, gave the signal and from her kelson the ærial “Maine” dropped a little surprise package containing one hundred and thirty pounds of dynamite upon the Royal Palace of Spain. Weyler and his gang, one moment later, were roasting in company with their forefathers. Such, then, was the fate of Weyler, the destroyer of our noble “Maine,” an More Spanish Mules Killed. arch fiend whose cruel orders were blindly obeyed by others of his ilk, carrying to unhappy Cuba a degree of misery, starvation and death that shocked the entire world.
The British ærial warships, as well as those of Germany, Russia, Austria, Italy, France, Holland, Greece and Japan, took their signal from the first shot or discharge of dynamite dropped by the “Maine,” and joined forces with the American ærial warships in the total annihilation of Madrid. The scene of destruction that followed the attack of these ærial warships baffles all belief. Indeed, naught may come within the scope of human imagination that can depict the horrors, wholesale slaughter and utter desolation that may be wrought by ærial warships. Ships floating in the air It’s Murder in The Air. two miles over a city and dropping within its limits huge charges of dynamite, are fearful engines of destruction. In the twinkle of an eye they can turn stately churches, lofty buildings, beautiful homes, hospitals, colleges, parks and pleasure resorts into ashes, and still vastly more terrible would be the loss of life.
THE DESTRUCTION OF MADRID IN 1930.
The bare thought that human beings with souls to save and a God to answer to, might, in a flash, be hurled into eternity by these ærial dynamite ships, without a moment’s warning, and their habitations turned into charnel-houses, is in itself sufficient to make one’s flesh creep.
The Washington treaty of 1924, forbidding forever the use of this barbarous method of warfare and threatening with destruction any nation that employed it, was a wise and humane compact.
Spain’s flagrant violation of the international treaty in 1929, when she wantonly destroyed Fez and Tangier, was universally condemned. On the other hand, the destruction and razing of Spain in 1930, as a punishment for her bad faith, received the warmest commendations of the world. It was fully realized that Spain’s chastisement fitted her case as perfectly as the bark fits the tree that it encircles.
Yet, the razing of Spain in 1930 fills one’s better nature with sadness. The Too Bad about Spain. widespread destruction of a kingdom replete with historic memories, rich in treasure-troves of art and science, dotted with thriving cities, fertile plains, lovely vales and teeming with beautiful homes, appeals to heart, as well as imagination. Although richly meriting her fate in 1930, Spain’s doom in that year deeply stirred the hearts of all humanity, but the lesson it taught was that the world would never tolerate the use in war of ærial dynamite warships, and this lesson proved a salutary one.
From Cadiz to Saragossa, and from Alicante to Corunna, the deadly ærial ships pressed on their way, sweeping destruction before them. The chief cities of Spain, namely, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Malaga, Murcia, Cartagena, Granada, Cadiz and Saragossa, were all destroyed in rapid succession, after the fate of Madrid had been decided. The costly palaces of the Madrid grandees crumbled into dust from only a few dynamite discharges of these air-ships.
Sad indeed it was to witness the destruction of the magnificent paintings in the Royal Art Gallery of Madrid, containing as it did in 1930 three thousand chef-d’œuvres of the world’s immortal artists. The gallery contained the best examples of Titian, Raphael, Rubens, Muerillo, Van Dyck, Veronese and Tenier, a grand collection of rare paintings that were valued at $300,000,000, and that had required several hundreds of years to collect.