Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-06-20
A Horrible Monster.

Boston Herald:-Boston is the home
OF the reformer, the anti-war man, the
hereto, the puritan, the anchorite, the
free-loyer and the inventor; and while
the others are busy with their theories,
their arguments and their agitation,
the inventor, bending incessantly over
his plans and drawings, is putting the
finishing touches to a terrible man-kill-
er, a land monster to be used in timeof
war. Up to this date nothing has been
written or printed about it; but the in
ventor, a well-known builder OF loco
motives, and the originator of many
valuable and famous machines, has so
far developed his plans that he is will
ing to speak of them in a general way,
While he holds back for the present the
secretdetails Of manufacture. TO fully
appreciate the invention one must i'm
ag1ne a huge steel monster, turtle
shaped, impregnable to the most forci-
BILE missiles OF the artillery, creeping
over the face Of the earth and raining
from the machine guns within it show
ers Of bullets and dynamite bombs
bombs which work terrible havoc
among the enemy. The shell Of this
"war-turtle," as the inventor has chris
tened it, is to be made of tool steel,
thick, heavy and massive, which no
missiles can penetrate. It will move
on broad wheels shod with thickrubber
bands, which can take a strong hold on
the ground, establishing so great at
traction that the turtle can climb steep
hills, driven by an enormous engine
concealed within its body. "Ofcourse,"
says the inventor, "the weight of the
turtle, which must carry ammunition,
petroleum in tanks beneath 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
enough power from the engine to move
with sufficient rapidity and clear away
whatever obstacles the enemy might
erect to stop the turtles progress
The sharp, knife-like edges Of the mon
ster will be able to Il tdoWn small trees
and shrubbery, and the terrible force OF
the engine will be sufficient to plunge
it through substantial barricades. Two
pilots, protected from sharpshooter and
stray balls by heavy plates, will have
positions in the steel head Of the creep
ing battery, and guide it by q peculiar
mechanical apparatus, and the guns:
pointing in all directions, will be able
to discharge COCO balls q minute. In
the tail OF the turtle, SO to speak, is to
be placed a machine capable Of hurting
twenty dynamite bombs a minute
throwing them so far that the turtle
will be out Of range when they explode
The inventor, who is no Darius Green
with his flying machine, but is known
as a clear, leyel-headed man, says that
Of course, the turtle with its guns and
dynamite will seem impracticable tC
average engineer and mechanic, but he
insists that he can build it and work il
successfully whenever the government
shall have need Of such q terrible Weap.
on and death-dealer. Until that time
probably, the essential details of manu-
facture will be kept secretfrom all save
a few 'intimate scientific friends who
are interested in the developments o.
the scheme. Theinventor, whose name
cannot be given at present, was led tt
conceive OF his fighting turtle after no
ticing that, while most important chan
ges in naval warfare had been made
during the recent years, the notable
improvements in land fighting Wer'
few and far between. Should the Unit
ed States go to war with Germany O.
England, he says, the turtle will d'
for the land forces what Ericsson'
"cheesebox'' did for the fighters by SCI
and river