The Arkansaw traveler., 1889-07-06
The Devils of War.

New York Sun.
 There is something terribly menacing in the ping of musket ball. as 1t cuts tho 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 the scream of a shell is the wickedest A bombshel flies with . long "w-o-u-s-h 1" some thing like the rush of big sky rocket, and there shells used by the light artillery which fly with sort Of long. drawn sigh, not ct all terrifying But the man who hears the scream of Whitworth shell will never forget the sound to the day of his death. 1t Is concentration of the war-whoop of an Indian-the snarl of tiger-the scream of woman In mortal terror. 1t begins afar of with muttered threat of vengeance; 1t grows upon the ear with howl as of wolves in pursuit of the lone traveller; 1t comes nearer with shrieks of bafiied rage; 1t Is at hand with e scream which can be likened to nothing but tho cries of mob mad for death and destruction. l have seen dozen men killed by these Whitworth shells, and I verify be- lieve that most of them were % terrified 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 feeling of helplessness-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 to? Who could say just where these terrors would fall after their iight-the instant they were to explode and send their fragments hither and thither to search out and claim their victims?
 While the blockaders lay of the mouth of the Cape Fear river, 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 bockader ventured in within range by daylight she became a target for Whitworth. If the wind was of shore we could hear one of the "devis" almost soon as 1t left the muzzle of the gun. It's flight began with shriek of iendish glee, changed to moan of agony, rose to scream for vengeance and the last quarter of a mile was combination of scream and shriek 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 take in those sounds without affecting his nerve does not live to do battle. Our vessel wss struck two or three times, and on five six occasions had close calls, but the shells which struck were no more terrying than those which dropped into the water with the hiss of monster serpent hundred feet away.
 To be killed by a shell bursting at the instant of complete annhiation as can be effected in other manner on earth, except by the explosion of gum powder or nitro-glycerine The victim may see 6 fash hear 6 roar, but 1t must come in the fftieth part of a second. The vengeance 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 fragments but the victim l-perhaps the man on his immediate right and lett
 has been plotted of the face of the earth if he had never existed. When the roar of battle has died away to low growl; when the growl had become an occasional mutter when the mutter has lapsed to 6 gasp, in which man in blue gray yields up his life to & stray bullet, will make & search. There is blood on the parched 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, a broken and twisted gun barrel bayonet, the visor of soldiers cap. That is all. These are the relics-the fragments of a soldier struck by a shell. That Is, they may be. Sometimes not even button is found, nothing but splash on the earth to show that blood and