The new North-west., 1884-06-20
A WAR TURTLE.


Boston Is the homo of the rsformer, the
anti-war mau, the hereto, the Puritan, the
anchorite, the free.lover, aAd the inventor;
and while the others are busy with their
theories, their arguments and their agitation,
the inventor, bending necessarily over his
plans and drawings, is putting the finishing
touches to terrible man killer, q land mon
ster to be used In time of war. Up to this
date nothing has been written or printed
about It; but the inventor, . well-known
builder of locomotives and the originator Of
many valuable and famous machines, has SO
far developed his plans that he is willing to
speak Of them in a general way, while he
holds back for the present the secret details
Of manufacture. To fully appreciate the in
vention one must imagine huge steel mon
ster, turtle.shaped, impregnable to the most
fercible missiles Of the artillery, creeping
over the face Of the earth and raining from
the machine guns within 1t showers Of bull
lets and dynamite bombs which work terrible
havoc among the enemy. The shell Of this
"war TURTLE" as the inventor has christened
| 1t, Is TO be made of tool steel, thick, heavy,
and massive, which no missile can penetrate.
It will move on broad wheels shod with thick
rubber bands, which can take q strong hold
on the ground, establishing so great tEac-
tion that the turtle can climb steep hills,
driven by an enormous engine concealed
within its body. "Of course" says the in
ventor, "the weight of the turtle, which must
carry ammunition, petroleum in tanks be-
meath the steel skin, and men to man the
guns and steer the fighting land craft, will
be enormous; but have carefully studied
and calculated, and find that l can get
eaough power from the engine to move with
sufficient rapdity and clear away whatever
obstacles the enemy might erect to stop the
turtles progress" The sharp, knife like
edges of the monster will be able to cut
down small trees and shrubbsry, and the
terrible force Of the engine will be sufficient
to plunge it through substantial barricadss.
Two pilots, protected from sharpshooters
and stray balls by heavy plates, will have
positions in the steel head Of the creeping
battery, and guide it by peculiar mechani-
cal apparatus; and the guns, pointing in all
directions, will be able to discharge 6.0O0
balls minute. In the tail of the turtle, so
to speak, is to be placed machine capable
of hurling twenty dynamite bombs minute,
throwing them so far that the turtle will bs
out Of range when they explode.
The inventor, who Is no Darius Green with
his flying machine, bat Is known as q clear,
level-headed man, says that of course the
turtle with its guns and dynamite will seem
impracticable to the average engineer and
mechanic, but he insists that be can build 1t
and work 1t SUCCESSFULLY whansyar the Gov
ernment shall have need of such terrible
weapon and death-dealer. Until that Tins,
probably, the essential details of manufac-.
turs will be kept secret from all save few
intimate scientific friends who are interested
In the development of the scheme. The in
ventor, whose name cannot be given at pres
ent, was led to conceive of his fighting turtle
after noticing that, while most important
changes In naval warfare had been made
during recent years, the notable improve
ments In land fighting we're few and far be-
tween. Should the United States 20 to war
with Germany or England, he says, the "tur-
tie" will do for the land forces what Erics.
sons "cheese. box" did for the fighters by sea
and river.