Popular Sricficc Monthlif 



The Martyr Pigeon of the British 

 Navy. He Saved Four Men 



**\1[ /HERE in the world are we?" roars 



VV one of the observers in a huge 

 biphuie which is trying to make home after 

 a run into a fog-bank, feared by all air- 

 men. The raw biting air wraps around the 

 four men in the machine, and nothing 

 can be seen but blinding billows of fog. 

 Darkness descends and they are still lost. 

 There is a falter in the hitherto steady 

 roar of the engine. "She's starting to 

 miss!" yells one of the observers. The 

 pilot silently adjusts his spark and throttle. 

 She picks up, but the rhythm is again 

 broken, worse than before. All faces are 

 tense and nerves are tightening. Lost! 

 Over the sea! Desperately the pilot 

 struggles, to keep the engine running, but 

 with a final crackle she peters out and 

 the machine starts to glide down. 



She lands with a splash in the water. 

 She does not sink for she is fitted with 

 hydroplane floats. The men cling to the 

 machine. To repair her is hopeless 

 in a running sea. " The pigeons! 

 The pigeons!" a man yells. 

 Here is a bare hope. After a 

 struggle they manage to at- 

 tach the message to a pigeon's 

 leg and release him. 

 little messenger fights 

 way through the howling 

 gale towards the place 

 where instinct tells him 

 his home lies. The val- 

 iant' little heart never 

 falters. At last he 

 feebly flutters into hi? 

 cote in England. It is 

 his last effort though. 

 His work is done, and 

 his strength is spent. 

 The attendant picks him 

 up— dead. 



The rescue of the avia- 

 tors after great suffer- 

 ings is another story, just 

 as true and exciting as 

 this. Suffice it to say 

 that they were rescued. 

 The stuffed body of the 

 martyr pigeon is preserved in a glass 

 case in honor of his great deed; and in 

 the hearts of those he saved he has 

 another monument built of gratitude. 



A winged messenger which saved the 

 lives of four men at the cost of its own 



Bomb-inspector Eagan examining a deadly 

 contrivance recently found in New York 



You've Probably Escaped This Way 

 of Being "Blown Up" 



A BOMB containing enough dynamite 

 to demolish the walls of the building 

 in which he lived was recently found by 

 a resident of the Italian section of New 

 York city. At first glance the 

 object seemed harmless enough. 

 It was apparently a can, about 

 ten inches in length and three 

 square, used to con- 

 oiive oil. But attached 

 the can was a fuse at 

 ight of which the dis- 

 erer hurried to the 

 iceman on post near 

 by, and soon af- 

 terward Owen 

 Eagan, bomb ex- 

 pert of New York, 

 took charge of 

 the death-dealing 

 instrument. 



He found in- 

 side the can 

 about a pound 

 J and a half of dyna- 

 mite, placed on a 

 e of cement to make 

 the bomb more effective. 

 The fuse was about two 



and a half feet in length, 

 and was connected with fulminate-of- 

 mercury caps designed to explode the dy- 

 namite. Fortunately the fuse was not 

 burning when the bomb was discovered. 



