Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-08-22
THE DEVIL 6 OF WAR.
IL Vivid Description of the Terrifying
Scream of the Whitworth Shell.

scream OF the WhitWOrth Shell.
There is something terribly menace
ing In the ping of musket ball, as it
cuts the air above the heads of men in
line-something to try the nerves of
the brayest in the rush of a solid shot,
but of all the devils in war the scream
| of shell is the wickedest A bomb
shell flies with long "w-o-u-s-hr
something like the rush of big sky
rocket, ami there are shells used by
the light artillery which fly with a sort
of longdrawn sigh, not at all terrify-
ing. But the man who hears the
scream of Whitworth shell will never
forget the sound to the day of his
death. 1t is a concentration of the
war-whoop of an Indian-the snarl of
a tiger-the scream of woman in
mortal terror. 1t begins afar off with
muttered threat of vengeance; it
grows upon the ear with howl as of
wolves in pursuit of the lone traveller;
it comes nearer with shrieks of bafied
rage; it is at hand with a scream which
can be likened to nothing but the
cries of mob mad for death and de-
struction.
have seen dozen men killed by
these Whitworth shells, and [ verify
believe that most of them were so ter
rified by the sounds that they suffered
nothing in the moment of death. One
could tell, after a few experiences,
whether the shell was in the direct
line or to the right or left. but the
coming ever brought feeling of help
lessness "a sort of dumb terror which
held the limbs captive. One could not
have run away had he so desired; but
where could one run toP Who could
say just where these terrors would
fall after their flight-the instant they
were to explode and send their frag
ments hither and thither to search out
and claim their yictims?
While the blockaders lay off the
mouth of the Cape Fear rivers two or
three of the Whitworth guns were in
constant use by the Confederates.
They had a range of six miles, and
were almost as accurate as rifles.
Whenever blockader ventured in
within range by daylight she became
a target for a Whi1worth. If the wind
was off shore we could hear one of the
'devilsn almost as soon as it left the
muzzle of the gun. Its flight began
with shrek of fiendish glee, changed
to a moan of agony, rose to scream
for vengeance, and the last quarter of
mile was a combination of scream
and shrek which brought the hair on
end and the cold chills to the spine.
The man who pretended not to fear
them was a base hypocrite. The man
whose ears can take in those sounds
without affecting his nerve does not
live to do battle.
To be killed by shell bursting at
the instant of contact means more
than death. 1t means such complete
humiliation as can be effected in no
other manner on earth, except by the
explosion of gun-powder or nitro
glycerine. The victim may see flash,
hear roar, but it must come in the
tiftieth part of a second. The VEN
geance of man grants him the merest
iota of time. Those to the right and
left see a flash of flame and hear an
explosion and the "w-h-i-n-g" of frag-
ments, but the victim-perhaps the
man on his immediate right and left
has been blotted off the face of the
earth, as if he mad never existed.
When the roar of battle has died away
to a low howl; when the growl has
become an occasional mutter; when
the mutter has lapsed to a gasp, in
which a man in blue or grey yields up
mis- life to stray bullet. we will make
a search. There is blood on the parch-
ed grass, bits of burned clothing on
limb and bush. lock of hair here and
there with bit of scalp attached. We
may find button or two, broken
and twisted gun barrel or bayonet, the
visor of a soldiers cap. That is all.
These are the relics--the fragments
of soldier struck by shell. That is,
they may be. Sometimes not even
button is found, nothing but splash
on the earth to show that blood and
fragments fell there.-NeaO York sam.