Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1898-06-25
The Il Bullet.


Baltimore American: 1t has been
said that the new army rifle Is "hu-
manc"-that il punctures clean holes,
and Is less likely to infict dangerous
injury. According to the best evidence,
however, the fact is very much the
Dther way. The new style bullet, very
long and with a diameter about the
same as that of a lead pencil, leaves
the gun with n velocity of half a mile
n second, with "a pressure behind II of
10000 pounds per square inch. Four
miles from the muZZle of the weapon
Il is travelling at the rate Of 100 yards a
second, and viii penetrate the abdo-
men of a man who happens to be In the
way. Owing 10 its velocity, and to its
rotary motion Of 2,400 revolutions q
second, il develops an explosive energy
when il strikes anything at n moder-
ate range, splintering bones into small
pieces and eifeetually destroying any
organ like the liver or kidney.
Owing to these conditions, a man who
is hit on an arm bone or leg bone by a
bullet from a modern rife must in
nearly every instance die or submit 10
tn amputation. a hole through an i'm
portant blood vessel, being punched
slearly out, results in profuse and dan
gerous ~hemorrhage right away, SO
that the victim is likely to die before
surgical aid eau arrive. Much valuable
information In this line has been OBJ
tanned by firing experimentally at
eorpses at various ranges, and observ-
ing the character of the injuries in
0sa.LI Il Lu. l..a,, fnaseI a.. The nun-
ner, incidentally, that N of these
bullets will pass through seven men
stood In line. The French have done
4 good deal of experimenting with
silhouette soldiers, cut gu of boards
and fired at from given distances.
From the resulting hits they have tried
20 reckon casualty percentages
Under modern conditions troops
within firing distance Of an enemy will
lave TO meet n veritable hail of bullets.
a modern rifle is able to- deliver forty
shots a minute. Herr Prinz, q German
military surgeon, writing of the recent
civil war in Chill, says:
The Balmacedists, who were no
towards, declared that their astonish-
ment, caused by the terrible storm Of
IIOJffillcSt Atit tHetu thupiN w Use
their own weapons"
In a battle the rifles described Will
be supplemented by improved Gatling
guns, which fire 1000 shots a minute,
with "a muzzie velocity of a quarter or
q mile a second, and an effective range
of II and a half miles. Under such
circumstances, obviously, 1t will not
bc possible for military commanders
10 risk their troops in the open, mas
much as to do SO would be wholesale
suicide.
To illustrate the destructiyeness OF
modern weapons on land, let it be sup
posed that a command is well posted
and concealed with n six gun battery
Of these small breech loading cannon,
u couple OF Gatlings, and a regiment
of 200 infantry armed with Krag-Jor-
gensen rifles. A hostile force OF twice
the strength approaches TO within n
distance OF 5000 yards. The range be-
ing carefully calculated, allowing for
the expansion of the cones, of fire from
the artillery, the six n will COW
er a line of LAO yards. At the word
firing begins, and in one minute thirty
| six shrapnel are hurled at the advanc-
ing foe. They burst 200 yards in front
of the enemy, scattering 10000 mes
sepgers of death among them. In the
same minute the two Cuttings deliver
1000 shots, and the 1000 rifles dis
charge $4,000 projectiles. In sixty the
space occupied by 1900 men has been
swept by n tremendous storm Of 2o,s0)
missiles, ant. two-thirds of the oncom-
ing soldiers are laid low. One more
minute, with another discharge, and
few survivors are left to tell the tale OF
the disaster.
The wounded IN u modern land bat
tie will have small chance OF rescue.
1t will not be possible to remove them
from the fighting line during the con-
flict, because the hospital bearers at
tempting the task would be killed.
The best that can be hoped is to at
tend to them within the next twenty
four hours. The stern facts having
been realized, instruction has been Civ
en- TO every private in the United States
army in the art OF taking care of him.
self in case he Is hurt. He carries at
his belt what is called a first aid
packet" containing q roll of bandages,
an antiseptic compress and antiseptic
gauze, inclosed In q sealed rubber cas-
ing. If he suffers from a bullet wound
he stuffs a pug of the gauze into the
pole and applies a ~bandage. This may
gave his life and give the surgeon a
chance when there is an opportunity
for treatment.
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