The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-02
MAUSER GUNsH0T WOUNDS.
SURGEON MEYER SAYS THAT Of
TEN THEY ARE NOT DANGER
OUs.
Some Very Remarkable Cnses-A Man
Who survived With His Heart and
Lungs Perforated - others with
Holes Through Hone.


Holes Through hone.
From the New York Times.
Dr. Edward J. Meyer returned home on
Wednesday from Fort Monroe, Va, where
he had been helping to care for the wound
ed soldiers who fought at Santiago. DIR.
Meyer was named as one of Gen. Shat
ter's medical staff on July D Some time
after he was sent to Fort Monroe, where
there were $50 wounded men.
DR.. Meyer is one of the best known sur
geons in Buffalo. He made careful obser-
walton of the injuries received by the sol
diers and particularly the specific effect of
the bullet fired from the much talked-of
and awe-inspiring Mauser rifle. To an
Express reporter he said:
THE Mauser is a very merciful rifle. No
rife could be more so. The force of the
bullets is of course, almost Incompetent
sibie but there is no great destructive
property about them. They penetrate,
pierce, and leave clean wounds. In short,
they do their work well and humanely.
They so through a bone and leave a hole
that no instrument could improve. Its
edges are fairly polished, and there is not
the least shattering of the bone. That IS,
OF course. if the bullet goes straight in.
If it ricochets and enters sidewise the de-
struction Is terrific. For instance, if one
Of the steel balls struck a tree in its
course and went on ana struck a man in
the forehead while it was whirling. the
man would probably lose the top of his
head
The brass covered bullets that come
from the rifles used by the Spanish volun-
teers are the ones that Inutilate and shat
ter. Those bullets are about the same size
as the Nausers. There is a brass jacket,
and the filling is of soft lead. When one of
these missiles strikes, the lead plows for
ward, spreading open the brass. Practical
ly an explosion results when one of those
things gets into a man. on entering, the
hole is just the size of the bullet. But the
hole of exit is as large rs a fist sometim
and the tearing and SCATTERING that are
done inside are awful. These bullets re-
semble those that we shoot out of our
Springfelds. A wound in the lungs or
abdomen from one of them is almost GER
tain to be fatal; a Mauser can go clear
through a mans abdomen and chest and
leave him alive and in condition to re-
cover in a short time.
In the Fort Monroe hospital there are
$50 beds While l was there there were
$50 patients, and all of them were suffering
from severe injuries. Nine-tenths of these
were regulars Perhaps a lasge proportion
of them Were regulars. 1 Witnessed ex-
amined and took photographs of $50 cases.
and consequently had a grand oppor-
tunity to observe and study the effects of
different bullets. Many odd things were
to be noted, many marvellous cases to be
seen, and many wonderful tales to be
| heard.
'One queer case was that of private in
/ hn nufpl Inf
get. He was on his knees firing, when
Mauser bullet struck his cartridge belt,
cut In Two three Krag-Jorgensen cart
ridges, and, glancing, struck his leg Just
above the knee. 1t went clear through the
knee and left a little round hole The
injury was severe and painful, but it will
! not leave the soldier a cripple. He is laid
up, but he viii be ready to report for duty
in a short timer
"A still stIanger.case. showing well the
antics of the Mausers, is that of a regular
who was shot by a sharpshooler The reg
ular was bending down with one knee on
the ground when a Spanish marksman in
tree top fired at him. The bullet struck
the regular in The knee, going through the
patella and speeding downward through
the tib.a OF bone Of the lower leg. II
went through seven inches Of the fibia
and came out. leaving a trifing wound
near the ankle. The penetration was So
/ weakened.
at is better to be struck bv n Nfauser
! at close range than at long range bc
| cause when one of the bullets is nearly
| spent it is inclined to mutilate Moreover
/ its course is likely to swerve, which means
additional injury. In fact, it has been
! demonstra ted that there is less danger on
! the firing line than there Is mile or two
| back. You see, a Mauser bullet strikes
| when it is in the midst of it's flight and
| goes straight on about its business so to
| speak. II does not loiter; 1t does not
! change It's course because of Instructions
! There is nothing in'a mans anatomy Of
! sufficient density to give the least hind
rance TO a Mauser bullet when its force
! is not spent If it strikes a man in the
| breast Il goes right on through, piercing
! any bones that happen to be in its way.
| And If two or three other men We're in It's
! path 1t would go right on through them
! As 1 have said they do their work well
| and thoroughly. They bore q neat hole.
81 had brought 10 my attention a case
| where a bullet struck a soldier IN the
| right knee, passed through his left knee,
I ana went through the leg Of a soldier
standing beside the first one. There were
many cases similar to that one But what
| was the most wonderful case of all that
| l saw, and, in fact, one of the most Won
| derful that ever was known, was that of
| Private Alfred Brown of the Twenty
fourth Infantry. This man Brown has the
distinction of being called the biggest SOL
| der In the United States army, and
| guess there is no doubt of it. He Is s
feet inches in height and he is quilt
| in proportion. He is a negro, fifty years
old. and has been in the regular army
| twenty-eight years. He is ignorant but
| as good a soldier of you could find Bravery
| was told is his stock in trade. He was
in the fight at Santiago. In the early
| part of the day, according to his story, he
felt a slight sting in his left breast. He
was then in the firing line. He paid no
| attention to it till he felt a warmth on
his skin. Then he opened his shirt and
saw that he was wounded There was
just a little blood issuing from the
wound. He went on lighting. Just in a
few moments he found that it was hard
for him to breathe. He had one Of his
comrades examine him, and the latter re-
ported that there was a little hole just
beneath his left clavicle
| he boA