Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-07-28

projectile-not too suddenly-and the
other to accelerate its speed. A yio-
lent start might explode the projectile
before 1t left the gun. When once a
projectile is started it may receive
violent impact without exploding
This is illustrated by rolling along
the floor ball. such, for instance. as
is used for bowling, and then giving
1t a kick, along the direction in
which 1t is rolling, which gives it a
great increase in speed. The ball has
| not been Jared as severely as it would
have been had the full speed been
given to it all at once The only
noise made by the Discharge is a deep
sh-sh-sh-as the projectile scars out
on its flight. When it strikes. how
ever, there is report and commotion
| enough. Everything in the way Is
annihilated. ! think I'VE could drive
the Spaniards out of Cuba if only we
could cry sh-sh loud enough. That
sound makes even the best of them
turn green. l speak of the dynamite
annihilating everything in the neigh
borhood when it explodes, and it does
usually, although | have seen some
strange cases when, though 1t des.
troyed life, it did not mutiIate. We
| had been throwing a few pounds OF
dynamite into town to put the
inhabitants into proper sprinting
spirit before making an attack When
we got there we found only silence
| AID ruins. The air was still, the leaves
did not rustic; the birds and the in
sects even were hushed. Some fowl
lay dead just within a broken gateway
where | entered, and the white bellies
of some goldfish showed in a garden
! pool. They were dead, too. When
went inside the house, whose thick
walls were still standing but which
had no roof, 1 found six bodies, all
OF Spanish soldiers. One of these
was nearly naked, and though the man
was dead there was not even a scratch
on him. Here and there over the
body was a little discolorment, SO
that the skin was blotched, though
not abrased or confused. The blood
seemed to nave setteled in spots all
over him. Circula ion probably was
With the guns we had and the
charges we were able to use we had
little trouble in putting villages and
small towns to sleep, but the heavy
walled towns withstood our charges.
If We could have discharged ten
pounds of dynamite instead Of one
pound we should have ruined every
obstruction we chose to fire at. Our
guns had range of about 5000
yards, but we could not expect much
accuracy at that distance The guns
had to be fired at an angle of too
great elevation. We could beat the
Spaniards shooting, however, for we
could hit the province we fired at,
and generally the prefecture. Always
we could stir up terror and desolation
confess that the first attempts we
made at ending the war with dyna-
mite were not satisfactory. 1t looked
as though we might end it by annihi-
lating the wrong side-that is. our
selves; for we soon found that in the
hands of novices a dynamite gun is
about as dangerous at one end as at
the other. For instance, we were try
ing it at long range one day. The
captain of the gun forgot to lock it In
position after he had sighted it. On
firing the powder charge in the right
tube for the Initial explosion the gun
turned up its tail, put down it's head
and discharged into the ground, blow
ing out hole large enough for well
and kicking half dozen somersaults.
That forgotten lock cost four lives.
We had lot Of trouble keeping SUP
piled with dynamite, too, and were
nervous about handling it. The
nervousness wore off after awhile,
however, and we used to sleep on
dynamite-or with it on the ground
beneath us, as we lay on our ham
mocks.'