The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-01-04
IN.THE THICK {. OF BATTLE 3 !. l:..I-LlE:.
Dpdginga Shell and the Work of the
Wonderful s.auser Bullet. "a

Dpdginga Shell and the Work OF the
Wonderful 51auser Bullet.
Lesiie's Weekly: Most thrilling is the
story spf Major General William DUFF
held Bell. surgeon OF the Seventy. tirst
regiment. and a man in the right place.
should say::
The major went on 10 describe Sthe
fight OF Jaly1 ]. MS he saw II In his work
among the wounded and dying. H.
Tvs advanced behind Z. Company.
swhleh formed tho rear guard, and al
H.est without warning found ourselves
under fire as n yolley came from the
3 WOODS This was our first taste OF ac-
: Ton. ana as tho men began to drop
We pushed forward with the filters. two
men each. The two men was with
picked tupGa wounded soldier shot In
the knee. and were Just sturtlng back
with him when one, OF the men named
waters, hewas In the drum corps. was
strucEswith apiece OF shell In the hip.
and heSwent' down. INA moment an
other man: OF the corps had replaced
MN, and We started back again. Then
me second man got a bullet in the
shoulder.iand ! took his place carrying.
30, we got in the rear. :.
When dressed the wounded sot-
4 dier'S knee / started forward again
with two Hitter bearers, picked up an
otnertwounded soldier, md, then, see
Ing another one staggering toward me
= went on alone to his relief. and sent
the bearers back. had Just begun to
exaw'ncithis poor fellows wound when
{ saw shell coming toward US, high
oys.rhcad. Il /. N. NJ : !,
81 thought 1t must surely pass be-
5yond, but It struck n tall tree and rico
cheted to the, ground. exploding at the
very. spot where we were. standing. AS
1 saw the 'dangerEI gave the wounded
man q SHARP, push forward. throwing
MN 70 the ground. and then east my
seit 70 the ground. also In n forward
direction, as I knew that the fragments
) or the shell would be driven backward
! Dy me momentum. The explosion
came not ten feet from. where VIC. were
lying. ana We were buried In the dirt
hurled violently over us. d There was n
mole In the ground where the shell
struck big enough to set barrel In,
but neither the soldier nor 1 got any
Z hurt.1 The others about thought this
quite miracle. and came running up,
Z tnihkihs toiiind US dead. All these de-
talls l remember with the utmost dis
tinctrcss."N 3:' ~ ii - NJ :.
I asked the p.ajor about the charac-
ter OF me wounds made by the Mauser
~ some respects" he said, "'the
9feuser bullet showed itself most mGf-
cru. Except Mt short range. 1t made a
Siean, small hole. with very little tear
Z ing OF the tissues or spl!ntering OF tho
bones. 1t frequently happened that
men shot through the body felt very
tslttie inconvenience for some time after,
anu We're able to walk Il mile or two
! 10 the rear, or even to 60 on fighting.
Men walked into the hospital station
+ snot through the bowels. shot through
Z Ne stomach, shot through the lungs,
ano many Of them recovered. We have
nad men who were shot through the
& liVer5 or the Kidneys, and thaC was
something unheard of before this wan
andiit was remarkable to see how the
arteries would recedc from before a
Mauser bullet. and avoid n rupture.
Ihere were many cases where could
put my finger into. n wound and feel the
artery pulsat!ng. and yet there was no
pur2ture. ~
There was cavalryman In the Rough
RIDERS fight have this on the author
ity of another doctor-whos was shos
tnroush the heart In the charge, but
did not know It. iif 81 ~ HI Z.
m afraid I'm hurt, lieutenant he
called out. putting his hand over his
officer. =. ~ :;
Not, while I've got any breath in
me 70 light. answered the soldier. And
II seems an established fact that this
man continued,in the charge OF nearly,
,5eo yards before he. dropped TO the
ground Dead. zll.s
< What"was the effect OF the Mauser
bullet at short rcnge?""
1t was terrible. for at short range
the Mauser bullet explodes: there is
no question about this do not mean
mat It explodcs like gunpowder, by
hemlcal change. but 1t exp!odes phys
lcally. Just as q grlndstone maIfiy into
pieces. You see.- during It's early flight,
Inc bullet. which Is shaped like a long
Dean. wobbles as n top does, from side
10 side.s Later on II takes n steady,
horizontal position. and then makes a
clean wound, but II 1t enters n body
while webbing it mushrooms II l may
SO express 1t. and the projecting fraE-
nents work frlghtful havoc In bone or
tissue. saw a man In Company c.,
sergeant lmmcn, who was struck in
the head earlyrin the fight. He, was
right on the firing line. and must have
got the bullet before 1T had taken its
steady poise of flight At any rate the
skull looked as II itIhad been smashed
with hammer, and he died few
hours Inter ~ .sE - 1885 rI..a