Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1889-08-08
HE DEVILS OF WAR.
Vivid Description of the Terrifying
Scream OF the Whitworth Shell.

" tue W hlIWuflu Nheils
There is something ter. IDLY menac-
ing in the ping of musket ball, as IL
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 shell is the wickedest A bomb
shell flies with a long "w-o-u-s-hp'.
something like the rush of a big sky.
rocket. and there are shells used by
the light artillery which fly with a sort
of l9ng-drawn 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 tho
war-whoop OF an ludian-the snarl Of
tiger-tho scream of woman in
mortal terror 1t begins affair off with
a muttered threat of vengeance; il
grows upon the ear with howl as of
wolves in pursuit Of the lone traveller;
it comes nearer with shrieks Of bailled
rage; il is nc hand with scream which
can bo likeued 10 nothing but the
cries of mob mad for death and de-
struction.
have seen a dozen men killed by
these Whitworth shells, and | verify
believe that most of them were so ter
ritied by the sounds that they suffered
nothing in the moment of death. One
could tell. after few experiences.
whether the she'll was in the direcA
line or to the right or left, but the
coming ever brought feeling of help
L. 4 -
held the limbs captive. One could not
have run away had he so desired; but
whore 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-
mcnts hther aud thither to search out
and claim their yictimsP
While tho blockaders lay off the
mouth of tho Cape Fear rivers two or
three of the Whitworth guns were in
constant use by the Confoderates.
They had range of six miles, and
were almost as accurate as rifles.
Whenever bIockader ventured in
within range by daylight she became
a target for a Whitworth. II the wind
was of shore we could hear one of the
devils almost as soon as 1t left the
muz2lo of the gun. Its nght began
with a shrek of liondish glee, changed
to moan of agony, rose to scream
for vengeance, and the last quarter of
a mile was combination of scream
and shrek which brought the hair on
end aud the cold chils 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.
To be killed by shell bursting at
the instant of contact means more
than death. 1t means such complete
humiliation rs can bo effected in no
other manner on earth, except by tho
explosion of guu-powder or nitro
glyccrlne. The victim may see flash,
hear roar, but it must como in the
tiftieth part of second. The ven
geauce of man grants him the merest
iota of time. Those to the right aud
| left see flash of flame and hear an
explosion and the "w-h-i-n-gl' of frag-
mcnts, but the yictim-p perhaps tho
man on his immediate right aud left
has been blOtted OIL the face Of tho
earth, as if he Ind never existed.
When the roar Of battle has died away
to low howl; when the growl has
become an occasional mutter; when
the mutter has lapsed to gasp, in
which a man in blue or grey yields up
mis- life to q stray bullet, we will make
a search. There is blood on the parch-
ed grass, bits of burned clothing ON
limb aud bush, a lock of hair here aud
there with bit of scalp attached. Wo
may find button or two, broken
and twisted gun barrel or bayonet, tho
visor Of a soldiers cap. That is all
These are the relies the fragments
OF a soldier struck by a she'll That is.
they may be. Sometimes not even
button is found, nothing but splash
on the earth 10 show that blood and
fragments fell there. Mem York san.