The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-17
WHEN 1T DOESN'T HURT TO BE SHOT.
Tho Mnuser Bullet Almost Benencent. That La,
for n Bullet.

Tho Hnuser Bullet Almost Beuenceut. That hs'
for u Bullet.
The Cuban war is furnishing daily a demon.
~stration Of some of the advantages and disad-
vantages OF the use of the Mauser rifle, with
which the Spaniards and many Of the insurgents
arc armed. 1t is this rifle. according to the re-
ports Of men returned from the island, which is
responsible for the comparatively small number
of soldiers killed in battle or in skirmishes on
each side. as we'll as for the inaccuracies in the
estimates of the number Of the wounded. Some
striking stories OF the operation Of the Mauser
bullet, which might almost be described as
benefcent in some of its effects among the
Cuban fighting men. form a part Of the ~testin,o-
ny taken by the subcommittee of the Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations last month
and in June in their quest for as to
the state of affairs in Cuba.
When Capt. William Fl. Smith. a former
United States Army officer, who served in the
Cuban Army from the s9-ing of 1896 until last
spring, was asked by the Senators how many
men had been wounded in q two days battle at
La Reforma, he replied:
because so many are wounded who do not pay
any attention to It; saw one man wounded
passed right through him, and we never knew
anything about it for we days.
"That seems almost Miraculous, but it Ia true.
suppose you have seen that Mauser bullet.
The lead is covered with some metal. I can
show you a wound that you would have said, Il
1t had happened with any other cartridge, would
have necessitated an amputation; A bullet
went right through my ankle. and l was in hos
wound dressed. The bullet does not make any
ton since ! have been on the island. And it
Capt. smith showed his wound; pointing out
where the bullet had entered his ankle and
vi was never laid up a minute" he said; 1.-THE
doctor in camp simply dressed d the sh Wound IN with 2
say it is almost impossible to give an exact ac-
Dr. II. VI. Danforth Of Milwaukee. who passed
a year in Cuba as physician to President Saliva
dor Cisneros. Rstonished the Senators by telling
how one night he crossed the Moron trocha.
saying that although there was no attack on
his party while thoy were crossing, they were
fired on, and a cook got a bullet through the back
in his right lung, but it never bothered him at
HE kept right on his horse, and kept right on
with his business OF cooking the doctor added.
Senator asked how DR.. Danforth accounted for
that. and he replied: As I account for all
the most harmless and most humane rifle. and
| ain intensely surprised at SPANS using It; tho
most barbarous nation in its treatment of the
Cubans. according to the stories, and yet the
most humane in the use OF firearms,
The Mauser bullet is steel-clad bullet of 81
trate anywhere. and win go through you as a
flash Of sunlight will go through glass; but 1t
leaves no disabling erect, ana unless IL nit In a
vital spot, as. for instance. the heart, which is
the only spot where you can kill a person
instantly-and even then | have scen n person
live-unless hit in n vital spot, you will not die.
81 have seen n man shot through the head
and seen him alive and perfectly well, except for
paralysis. n year after. l saw another man.
Major Osgood, of the artillery, shot through the
centre Of the forehead. and he lived for three
hours; but IL you take an ordinary bullet, what
chance has n man shot there to live three
s%econdsf saw n man shot only an eighth OF nm
inch over the heart. and | could mo- tell for
three hours whether the heart was touched or
not. Ho was put In the hospital, and
In seven days he was discharged from
tho hospital. In case n Winchester bnll
had gone there. only an eighth of an inch from
the heart, where would that man bel Dead.
without a question. Another man was shot
through the thigh, and 1t came out on the inner
side OF the log. traversing the fcmur all tho way
down. The man wanted to remain on his horse
and continue fighting. and I slit up his pants
and put a piece OF plaster on tho wound. above
and below. and In ten minutes he was engaged
in II machete charge. IL that had been n Win
chester ball his leg would have been amputated.'