(1) That any person, whether soldier or civilian, who enters any premises whatsoever for the purposes of loot; or is found with loot in his possession; or who commits any theft within the meaning of the Act; or is guilty of theft from the person, or robbery, with or without violence; or wilfully damages property; or compels by threats any person to disclose the whereabouts of valuables, or who demands money by menaces; or enters upon any private premises, viz. house, shop, warehouse, office, or factory, without just or reasonable cause, will be at once arrested and tried by military court-martial, and be liable to penal servitude for a period not to exceed twenty years.
(2) That from this date all magistrates at the Metropolitan Police Courts will be superseded by military officers empowered to deal and adjudicate upon all offences in contravention to law.
(3) That the chief Military Court-martial is established at the Metropolitan Police Court at Bow Street.
FRANCIS BAMFORD, General,
Military Governor of London.
Governor’s Headquarters,
New Scotland Yard, S.W.,
September 19th, 1910.
THE ABOVE PROCLAMATION WAS POSTED ALL OVER THE
METROPOLIS ON THE DAY PRIOR TO THE BOMBARDMENT.
is more excitin’ sport than Kempton Park, ain’t it—eh?’
“That man was right, for a few hours later, when Von Kronhelm appeared upon Hampstead Heath and launched his infantry upon London, our barricade became a perfect hell. I was on the roof of a house close by, lying full length behind a sheltering chimney-stack, and firing upon the advancing troops for all I was worth. From every window in the vicinity we poured forth a veritable rain of death upon the Germans, while our Maxim spat fire incessantly, and the men at the barricade kept up a splendid fusillade. Ere long Haverstock Hill became a perfect inferno. Perched up where I was, I commanded a wide view of all that was in progress. Again and again the Germans were launched to the assault, but such a withering fire did we keep up that we held them constantly in check. Our Maxim served us admirably, for ever and anon it cut a lane in the great wall of advancing troops, until the whole roadway was covered with dead and maimed Germans. To my own gun many fell, as to those of my valiant comrades, for every one of us had sworn that the enemy should never enter London if we could prevent it.
“I saw a woman with her hair dishevelled deliberately mount to the top of the barricade and wave a small Union Jack; but next instant she paid for her folly with her life, and fell back dead upon the roadway below. If the enemy lost heavily, we did not altogether escape. At the barricade and in the houses in the immediate vicinity there were a number of dead and a quantity of wounded, the latter being carried away and tended to by a number of devoted ladies from Fitzjohn’s Avenue, and the more select thoroughfares in the neighbourhood. Local surgeons were also there, working unceasingly. For fully an hour the frightful conflict continued. The Germans were dogged in their perseverance, while we were equally active in our desperate resistance. The conflict was awful. The scenes in the streets below me now were beyond description. In High Street, Hampstead, a number of shops had been set on fire and were burning; while above the din, the shouts and the crackle of the rifles, there was now and then heard the deep boom of field guns away in the distance.
“We had received information that Von Kronhelm himself was quite near us, up at Jack Straw’s Castle, and more than one of us only wished he would show himself in Haverstock Hill, and thus allow us a chance of taking a pot-shot at him.