Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1898-09-11

 thing of disappointment to the ex- pert. All agree thatit was decided, on land, at least, by hard hitting. No par ticular use was made of the various devices that have come up in the last ten or dozen years, and which it was confidently anticipated would revolu tionize the conduct of futare wars.
 One modern invention for which much had been claimed was entirely lost sight of It was never tried, and 50 far as can be learned no one ever came forward with the suggestion that it should be. used-a rather queer chance, as the government was flooded with the tender of devices more or l less practical from all sides and from ali quarters. The neglected invention was bullet-proof cloth We heard ab- solutely nothing of it from the start to finish of the war. Yet its prac- ticability, apparently, was demon strated so far as was possible, except by it's use on the field of battle, four or five years ago. These tests, which to the 1ayman seemed conclusive enough, were made in Europe, Eng land, and later here in America, and the ability of the cloth to resist the penetrating power of any bullet was fully shown.
 This bullet-proof cloth, or hempen armor, as it is sometimes called, was the discovery of an Austrian engi- neer, Herr Sarneo. He was able to do nothing with it, and his invention at traeted no attention, as he could not give it publicity. In some way a Mann helm tailor by the name of Howe learned the secret, and was more for tunate He succeeded in creating good deal of interest by means of the public tests he made, sometimes as a feature of theatrical exhibitions, and afterwards in official trials held for the benefit of the German and English governments. These tests were pre- sided over by army officers and were in each instance sneeessful; that is, the cloth turned the bullet Herr Howe showed his faith in the device he sought to introduce by allowing eX- pert rifemen to take pot shots at him atvarying distances and with a variety of guns, and aside from few bruises he was apparently none the worse for the bullets that had been fired at him.
 The cloth he used was composed of hemp, steel wire and a substance whose composition is still a secret with the inventor. The steel wire. in the form of small rings, was fastened upon the hempen fabric, which served as a lining. The third and secret part of the process was applied to the wire covered hemp by a tremendous pres sure. The result was a thick and wonderfully elastic cloth, and it was to this quality of elasticity that it owed it's ability to turn bullet.
 Placed on the body, shirt or coat of this cloth is undeniably effective. The protection it gives is beyond ques- ltion; a man wearing such a garment might be knocked senseless by the forceful impact of the blow, but he would recover and be none the worse for it. This is true of body blow. The legs and face cannot be protected. Ia the case of the former the blow on the cloth would shatter the exposed bones beneath, while the face cannot be GOV cred. However, it is figured that the adoption of this cloth as a protection for soldiers in battle would reduce the mortality resulting from rifle fire all the way from 50 to 75 per cent. The fact that the face and head cannot be guarded is a matter of small moment Bullets hit the head very infrequently, and what is true of bullets is also true of bayonets-they are seldom driven at the face.
 It would seem that an invention of this sort would have been worth e trial, at least, and to find out if possi- ble why it was not used and what ob- jections, if any, existed in army circles to it's use, several prominent officers were recently interviewed on the sub ject. The first gentleman to be ap- proached said:
 The tests were certainly as conclu- sive as any could be, except the one supreme test, and that, of course, is actual use on the field of battle. The elasticity of the cloth renders it im- penetrabe to rifle bullet. It would be simply no protection at all from shells or the fire of cannon. Why, then, was no use made of it during the war with spain2 I really can't say, though I suppose no one thought about it. The war came on so quickly and we were so soon in the thick of hostilities there was hardly time to remember the good things 10 try. The fighting had to be done with the equip ment at hand. Besides, there was no one here to push the claims of the in yention, so far as know. Had it been in use it might have saved some lives, butthis is only matter of conjecture; so many things work cut to certain ty in the test, and then for some un- foreseen reason fail so utterly in ac- tual practice"
 Said another officer: sI remember something about the trials that were made four years ago. I read of them