The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-09-28


of Those Hit Were Disab ied-Failure
10 Kill Deserter-An Awful Expert
fence.
(F'rom the Washington Post.)
The wiser and older officers of the
United States navy are in q state of mind
that may most properly be denominated
uneasy, and with good cause. A year
ago OF more, after much cogltation and
many meetings of Boards, the navy
adopted new rifle Great things We're
expected from it. Though it was but a
little over % of an inch IN bore, its pro
jectile would penetrate sixty-two three
quarter-inch planks the same distance
apart at thirty yards. But penetration
ID long rango-this rifle had an effective
range of 2, 500 yards-are not the chief
things desired in military arm. The
object Of soldiers OF sailors gun Is to
kill his enemy or disable him. This new
small bore does neither half as effectively
as the old .45-calibre gun did. Hence the
trouble now prevailing in Euope and re-
j.. aected by our experienced naval ordnance
experts at home.
The first mistake in this new small-bore
fancy was that the gun was adopted by
all Europe except Russia before it had
been tried in war. Its great range and
penetration caused other things to DO
overlooked The CHILEAN war with Peru
began to awaken Europe to the chances
that somebody had Numbered The Ger
man Manser rifle, calibre 80, was used
in Chill to some extent. The surgeons
reports were that it did not kill or disable
more than Is per cent of those hit.
Japan used very excellent small arm
in the war with China-the Murata rifle
invented by Gen. Murata, "a japanese
officer, educated in France. The reports
of the foreign officers-among others
Lieut.. M. 1. O'Brien, L. 5. A.,-who
observed the japanese military operations
were that the small bullet was Inaccurate,
| though of great range. and did not XIII
often or seriously wound, unless it passed
| through the head or bowels; that it did
not break bones, but drilled hole right
through them, and was not as effective IN
any way except in it's extreme range. as
was the old 45-calibre bullet, with which
Germany and France fought the war of
1901. Now the Japanese bullet is .3l5
in diameter. larger than any European
nation uses in its rifles.
England's Lee Metford .30-calibre has
Just had most thorough trial in the late
Burmese war; and later still in the cam
paign against the Chitralese and Swats,
savage tribes along the Thibetsn border.
Gen. Lowe, commanding the leading col
uunn in the Cultural campaign, SAYS
GOTTEN prisoners were brought in with
two or three bullet holes through them
that seemed to cause the wounded men but
little inconvenience, for they had been
marched six and seven miles before they
reached our bivouac. These prisoners ac-
counted for the extraordinary absence of
the dead enemy on the field by saying that
unless a man was shot through the head
or bowels he did not die, and nothing
but wound i'll the joints of the lower
limbs disabled him. l am CLEARLY OF the
opinion that for fighting savages the old
45-calibre arm should be used. The
| d
disabled or killed a man whenever they
| hit
So important is this matter considered
by England that Board of the highest
rank officers was called last week to COD
vene and inquire into the effectiveness
of the Lee .Metford in the Chitral cam
paign.
nj &c uor
what may prove to be most stupendous
blunder "We had to execute a spy"
saws Gen. Lowe "The firing party, with
eight rifles loaded with bullet cartridges
and four with blanks, fired on him at
fifteen PAGES. The prisoner was hit six
times, three shots piercing his chest.
He, on being unbound, started and ran a
quarter of mile before he was overtaken
by mounted Sikh, who cut his head
nearly off at q single blow with his sabre.
Three Germans had similar object
lesson recently. A soldier who had robbed
ana then murdered his sergeant at Madg
burg was condemned to be shot. He re-
ceiyed the fire of nearly the entire platoon
and tried to escape. The sergeant at the
head of the firing party shot the wretched
man through the head, but did not kill
him. He reloaded his piece, and while
the wounded man was lying on the
ground begging for his life the sergeant
placedshis rifle behind the prisoners ear
and killed him. He had received nine
wounds before he died. No wonder the
story was suppressed by the authorities.
1t is an enormously expensive matter
to rearm great force like the British or
German army, and the new gun has an
other very serious fault. which belongs to
all. After six quick successive shots the
| b ariel gets SO hot that it scorches the sol
dier's fingers This is the reason our new
1903 army rifle has bit Of wood under
the barrel for the soldier to hold and not
burn his fingers.
The reports in the London Times from
Cuba say that the reason so many more
Spanish soldiers are wounded than Gu
bans is because the Cubans are armed
with large-bore rifle, while the Span
iards have the smaller bore.
American naval officers naturally are
doubtful about the proprety of going on
making so small an arm as % when the
large bores of 80 of England and Ger
many are not up to the work intended