Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1884-05-15
THE WAR TURTLE.
A Terrible War Engine Invented by a
Yankee Genius.

Boston Letter to Chicago Trbune
Boston is the home of the reformer, the
anti-war man, the hereto, the puritan, the
anchorite, the free-lover and the inventor,
and while the others are busy with their
theories, their arguments and their agi-
tation, the inventor, bending necessarily
over his plans and drawings, is putting the
finishing touches to plan for the build
ing of terrible man-killer a 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 general way
while he holds back for the present the Sc
cret details of manufacture. To fully ap-
preciate the invention one must imagine a
huge steel monster, turtle-shaped, impreg-
nable to the most fOrcible missiles of the
artillery, creeping over the face of the
earth and raining from the machine guns
within it showers of bullets and dynamite
bombs which work terrible havoc among
the enemy. The shell of this "war turtle"
as the inventor has christened it, is to be
made of tool steel, thick, heavy and mass
i've, which no missels can penetrate. 1t
will move ON broad wheels shOd with thick
rubber bands, which can take strong hold
on the ground, establishing SO great trac-
ton that the turtle can climb steep hills,
driven by an enormous engine con-
cealed within its body. "Of
<ha & = %In
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 l 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 monster will be
able to cut down small trees and shrub
berry, and the terrible force OF the engine
will be sufficient to plunge it through
substantial barricades. Two pilots, pro-
tected from sharpshooters stray balls by
heavy plates. will have positions in the
steel head of the creeping battery and
guide it by peculiar mechanical appara-
tus; and the guns, pointing in all direc-
tions, will be able to discharge six thou
sand balls a minute. In the tail of the
turtle, so to speak, is to be placed ma
chine 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
clear, level-headed man, says that of
course the turtle with its guns and dy-
Mantle will seem impractical to the aver
age engineer and mechanic but he insists
that he can build it and work it success
fully whenever the government shall have
need of such terrible weapon and death
dealer. Until that time, probably, the
essential details of manufacture will be
kept secret from all save few intimate
scientific friends who are interested in the
development of the scheme. The inventor,
whose name cannot be given at present,
was led to conceive of his fighting turtle
after noticing that, while the most import
ant changes in naval warfare had been
made during recent years, the notable i'm
provements in land fighting were few and
for hot waeD