The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1889-06-08
THE DEVILS OF WAR.
Scream of "a Shell that Biotted Men on
tho Face of the Earth.

"
the Face of the Earth.
There is something terrible menac-
ing in the ping of muslSet ball, as it
cuts the air above the heads of men in
line-something to try the nerves OF
the bravest in the rush of solid shot,
but of all the devils in war the scream
of a shell is the wicliedest. A bomb
shell flies with long "w-o-u-s-h!'
something like the rush of big sky
rocket, and there are shells used by the
light artillery which fly with a sort OF
long-drawn sigh, not at all terrifying
But the man who hears the scream OF
Whitworth shell will never forget
the sound to the day of his death. IL is
q concentration of the war whoop OF
an Indian-the snarl of u tiger-the
scream of woman in mortal terror. 1t
begins afar off with muttered threat
of vengence; it grows upon the ear
with a howl as of wolves in pursuit of
the lone traveller; it comes nearer with
shrieks of baflled rage; it is at hand
with scream which can be likened
to nothing but the cries of mob mad
for death and destruction.
have seen dozen mon killed by
these Whitworth shells, and L 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 few experiences,
whether the shell was in the direct
line or to the right or left, but the
coming ever brought n 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 ilight-the instant they
were to explode and send their frag-
ments hither and thither to search out
and claim their victims?
While the blockaders lay off the
mouth of the Cape Fear river two or
three Of the Whitworth guns were in
constant use by the Confederates.
They had 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 Whitworth. If the wind
was off shore we could hear one of the
devils" almost as soon as it left the
muzzle of the gun. Its flight began
with q Shrek of fiendish glee, changed
to q moan of agony, rose to a scream
for vengeance, and the last quarter of
mile was 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 base hypocrite. The man
whose ears can take in those sounds
without affecting his nerve does not
| live to do battle. Our vessel was
struck two or three times, and on five
or six occasions had close calls, but
the shells which struck were no more
terrifying than those which dropped
into the water with the hiss of Il mon
ster serpent hundred feet away.
To be killed by shell bursting at
the instant of contact means more than
death. 1t means such complete ami
hilation as can be effected in no other
manner on earth except by the eXplo.
sion of gunpowder or nitro-glycerine
The victim may see a fash hear roar
but it must come in the fiftieth part o.
second The vengeance of mar
grants him the merest iota of time.
Those to the right and left see flash
of flame and hear an explosion and the
"w-h-i-n-gn' of fragments, but the vic
tim-perhaps the men on his immedi-
ate right and left-has been blotted of
the face of the earth, as if he had never
existed. When the roar of battle has
died away to low growl; when the
growl has become an occasional NUT
ter; when the mutter has lapsed to q
gasp, in which man in blue or gray
yields up his life to stray bullet, we
will make "a search. There is blood on
the parched grass, bits of burned cloth
ing on limb and bush, II lock of hair,
here and there with bit of scalp at
tached. 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 u
shell. That is, they may be. Some
times not even button is found, moth
ing but splash on the earth to show
that blood and fragments fell there
N Y SIM