The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1890-05-17

sUu upper up anu tu<ok ~
for ell he was worth. and advanced
without hesitation, touching his we'll
trained horse TO prnuce negligeutly
who. CHANGING at his shoulder-straps.
uniform Mt that early day was rather
Zouavish, which was in favor OF our
hero. The Major asked the officer in
good "Gumbo" French, what he was
doing there, and the Captain answered
that he was ordered TO ''strina line"
at the bottom OF the hill. well, you
just move your men back over the crest
Of the hill" said the Major, land wait
there until examine the ground, and
IL things look safe 1 will signal you TO
advance" ''But. Monsieur" said the
Captain, s'the Yanks are said 20 be
thick around here" ''Well, I'll take
the responsibility" said the Major inn
pressively. Every good, Monsieur"
replied the Captain, and both faced
about and continued their way; aud
when the Major thought he was beyond
the range OF the guns ne made for home
like a whirlwind. The rebs, seeing they
were "sold," sent company salute
after him TO no purpose; but the noise
Of the firing seemed to start up unseen
reb cavalry from all points. who ran 10
head Oft the escaping Yank; but the
Majors horse, the heetest OF the staff
stable, was too much for the "black
horse cavalry" But the Majors dam
ger was not passed yet; in fact IL grew
more imminent rs he neared our lines,
for raw German on duty became
''rattled" by excitement or fear. or a
combination OF both. hailed the APP
preaching racer an eighth OF mile
away, with yelling voice: Ion you
don't the gounther-sin gif. blow nit
the gun your head OFF, "A friend
with the countersign," did not seem to
avail the Major. who made up his mind
to dodge the ball and ride the man
down, which he at once put into prac-
tice, and by a lucky chance he knocked
tbs barrel OF the musket up with his
sabre just in time TO save his life. A
squad rushing up TO the line was just
In time TO save the man from being
sabered into mincemeat by the irate
major. EDWIN GRAY.
Chances OF Death In Battle.
No doubt many newspaper readers
have seen the statement that IL takes n
mans weight OF lead TO kill him In bat
tie, and they have considered 10 mere
~ u rhetorical hyperbole, suggested by
the fact that comparatively few out of
the whole number Of shots fired in bat
tie take effect.
Marshal SAKE first made the assertion
which forms the base OF the above.
when he said il would take 125 pounds
OF lead and thirty-three pounds OF pow
der to put each OF the enemy in the long
trench. Wild aud visionary as this may
seem. Ii appears that there was more
truth than poetry in the remark. With
III the improvements which have been
made in the art OF war since the DAYS OF
SAKE. Cassendi, the French savant,
proves that the great marshal's philo-
sophical remark still holds good.
At the battle OF Solferino, according
to Cassendis carefully deduced calcula-
tons, comparison OF the number of
shots fired on the Austrian side with the
number of killed and wounded on the
part OF the enemy, shows that 200 bull
lets were expended for each man wound.
ed and 1900 for each man killed. The
average weight of the ball used was thir-
" grains, therefore IL must have taken
ut least 1925 Kilograms or 227 pounds OF
lead for each man killed.
Yet Solferino was a most important
and bloody battle. In the Franco Prus-
sian war the slaughter caused by the
needle gun among the French soldiers
shows how much superior that gun Is
TO the Austrian carbine; yet with that
deadly weapon 1900 shots were fired for
every soldier destroyed in the enemy's
ranks. Verify there was good founda.
ton for Bogerts ungrnmmatical re.
mark: WAR is awful, but the noise Is
awfuller."