The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1855-07-11
Crimean Core spondence of the London Time
The Ways Of Bombshell.

The Ways of a Bombshell.
A column of white smoke rushing up
into the air, expands into concentric rings;
then follows the heavy, dull report, like
the beat of some giant drum, and then
comes the shrill scream of the shell, as it
describes it's fatal curve, and descends
with prodigious velocity, increasing rap
idly every instant, till it explodes with the
peculiar noise of blast" just as it
reaches the ground. At least it ought to
do so-but to-day l watched the shells
one after another, and only two of the
three burst properly, though the range and
fight was beautifully accurate. The Rus
sian fuses are bad but their artillerymen
are not to be excelled when their practice
is undisturbed. 1t was interesting-just
as the man of pleasure in Lacretius liked
to see the sea rage when he was not on
board ship-to look at the shell dropping,
and to see our active little Allies scam
pering away to their covert, and adjusting
themselves to the closest possible connec-
ton with mother earth, until the hurling
masses have gone by them. Any man
with moderate confidence and experience
may despise round shot at long range,
if he only sees the guns from which they
come discharged Well, We'll not say
despise, exactly, but at all eveuts sevade.
But shell is diabolical invention,
. which no one can regard as it approaches
without certain degree of misgiving that
a triangular piece of jagged iron may be
whizzed through his internal economy on
the shortest possible notice afterward. II
it is sent from gun it fizes and roars
through the air, and sends it's fragments
before it; the. cone of dispersion, which is
the neat phrase used by the learned mill
tant to imply the direction of the bits Of
shell Cor its contents, when filed with bull
lets, &c. being in the direction the shell
has taken from the gun, and the fragments
being propelled with a portion of the We
locity of the shell at the moment of explo-
sion. If it be discharged from mortar,
4 it whistles gently and delicately, giving a
squeak and roar now and then as it arises
to its greatest elevation, and then rushing
downward with a shriller whistle, toward
the point of its destination, fragments are
projected all around radially, and are pro-
i PEELED merely by the force of the bursting
discharge. A man behind bomb, or al
the side Of it, is just as likely to be hit as
q man before it when it bursts in that way;
whereas the pieces Of a shell from gun
in nearly every instance fly forward, SC
that person behind it or outside the lin.
its of the cone of dispersion is safe. I'm
less the shell or bomb burst in front of a
body of men, or in the air, very consid.
cradle degree of safety may be attained by
the men throwing themselves upon the
! ground, inasmuch as the pieces of shell
4 which bursts on the earth fly upward from
the point where they encounter the maxi,
mum of resistance.
Of course, if bomb burst over man
on the ground, or if she'll explode in the
air in front of a man, there is no great
safety gained by his throwing himself down
4 beyond the consequent reduction of the
amount of vertical exposure.
This little depression is all apropos Of
the conduct of our Allies, which have
just mentioned, and is made to explain the
rationale of their proceedings. It is rath-
er an unpleasant reflection whenever one
is discussing the range of a missile, and is
perhaps exclaiming, "There's splendid
shot," that it may have carried misery and
sorrow into some happy household. The
4 smoke clears away-they gather round one