The St. Johns herald., 1898-07-02
'El,e DeaGIy Modern Bullet.
lBOStcu Transcr:pt.1

It mas been SaIu that iie new army fife iS 'numane it pnnctures
 lean holes and is less likely to inf
 dangerous injury. ArcOrding To the best
 'vidence, however. the fact is very mnrh
 fhe other way. The new style bullet.
 very long and with diameter about inc
 same as that of a lead pencil, leaves the
 gun with a vel ocity of half mile sec
 rnd, with pressure behind it of 10 .OOO
 pounds per square inch. Four miles from
 the mnzzle ol the weapon il is travelling
 tt the rate of 100 yards second, and
 will penetrate the abdomen of d man
 who happens to be in the way. Owing 10
 ts velocity, and 10 it's rotary motion of
 400 revolutions q second, it develops an
 explosive energy when it strikes any
 hing at moderate range, Eplinteling
 rones into small pieces and efTtctually
 lestro. ing any organ like the liver or
 kidney.
 Owing to these conditions. man who IS Int in an arm bone or leg bone by d
 outlet from modern rife must in nearly every instance die or submit to an "m- putation, A lole through an important blood vessel, being punched cleamlv ont results in profuse anddangerous hemor- 'hage right away. so that the victim is likely to die before surgical aid can ar i've. Much valuable information in this line has been obtained by firing expert mentally at corpses at various ranges, and observing the character of the in- iuries inflicted. It has been found in this manner, incidentally, that one ol 2 he bullets will pass through seven men stood in lIne. The French have done a good deal of experimenting with silhou- cite soldiers, cut out of boards and fired Ii from given distances. From the re- 'niting hits they have tried to reckon casualty percentages.
 Under modern conditions troops with m firing distance of an enemy will have 10 meet a veritabIe hail of bullets A modern rifle is able 10 deliver forty shots | minute. Herr Prinz, d German mili- iary surgeon, writing of the recent civil War in Chilli, says: Tine Balmacedists, who were no towards, ,declared that theIr tStonishment, caused by the terrible storm of projectiles, left them unable 10 lse their own weapons. In a battle
 he rifles described will be supplemented y improved Gat!IHg r. ns, which fife ocity of quarter ol d mile second, and tn effective range of one and d half niles. Under such circumstances, oh- 'louSly, it will not De possible for mili- dry commanders to risk their tr~ops in the open, inasmuch as 10 do so would be wholesale suicide.
 To illustrate the destructivencss of m"dern weapons on land, let it be SUD- posed that command is well posted and | concealed wilha six-gun battery of these small breecl-lUading cannon, a couple of l iatlings, and d regiment of 700 infantry med with Krag-J JorgenSen Iif1es. A ioStlle force ol twice the strength ap- )roaches to within a distance uf 3,OyOI | ards. The range being carefully cal,n- ated ~allowing for the expansion of the ones of fire from the artillery, the six
 Ihnon will cover d line of l ,44O wards tt word firing hegins, and in one min. lie thlrty-six shrapnrl are hurled at the dvanclng foe. They burst 2l0 wards in ont of the enemv, scattering In.SOJ messengers of death among them. h ne same minute the two Gatlngs de- vered two thousand shots, and the even thousand rifles discharge I4.C0J roJertIles. In sixty seconds the space coupled by ], ,500 men had been swept y d tremendous storm of 26, 800 mis- les, and twO-thirds of the oncoming 'ldiers are lad low. One more minute ith another sucm discharge, and few lrvivors are left to tell the tale of the ( Saster
 The wounded in modern land battle ill have small chance of rescue. Ii will I' he possible to remove them from fine | .hting line during the conflict, because c e hospital bearers attempting the task . Ould be killed The best that can be T; ped is to attend to them within the |, 'xt twenty-tour hours. The stern facts i've been realized. instruction has been VI ven to every private in the United q ates army in the art of taking care of m"eli in ease he is hurt He carries at s heli what is called a "'first-aid pack ." containing q roll of handages. an Itl-septlc compress and antI-septic use. 'nrlosed in d sealed rubber cas- n' z. Ii he suffers from d bullet wound tn
 stuffs plug of the ganze into the 'S le, and applies handage. This c " save his life and give the u,geon ance when there is an opportunity for sl