Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1899-08-03
The "Dum- DUN" Bullet.
Phi ladelphia Press.l

mi luuelpnlH fTeSS.
Rhetoric and philanthropy lavished on
the "Dum.Dum" bnllet at the Hague
conference and in American newspapers
which should know better call for a clear
sta tement of the facts of the case.
Half a century ago when the MIME bull
let and its various conical aud hollow
based successors were adopted as the mis-
sile for the service rife with a haIf-inch
bore which succeeded the smooth-bore
musket, their chief value in disabling men
was found 10 lie in the "spread" of the
bullet. Driven by the powder it filled the
rlhing and, opened more or less as it left
the barrel, it tore its way through all 1t
hit, inficting "shock" often out of pro-
portion to the size of the wound or the
permanent injury it caused. Its effect was
to "drop man" even if the wound as
such was not in itself disabling.
The fault of this bullet was its size, its
weight, limiting the cartridges a man
could carry to about sixty, its high traject-
DRY and the limit on its range caused by
the charge of powder which could be fired
from the shoulder. When 'smokeless"
powder was discovered, from fifteen to
twenty years ago, its swifter explosion
made possible greater initial velocity,
lighter bullet and hence a smaller bore,
fiatter trajectory and longer range, or
about double.
Nation after nation, our own last and
--latest of all, thanks to our inefficient army
staff, adopted the new powder and used it
in rifle of caliber from to 3-10ths of
an inch, the size of a lead-pencil, with
long slender nickle plated bullet. This
bullet travelled twice as fast as the old
ounce bullet. spread and, screaming
through the air, it went twice as far and
it hit considerably more than twice as
hard. But it made clean, straight,
round wound which did not bleed. If it
went through the heart it killed. If ii
went through the upper half of the skull
in certain way it burst the head open.
On the other hand, a strong, coarse-dbered
, man of low nervous development could be
shot through the arm if no bone was hit,
or even through the shoulder, and not feel
the shock much.
) Civilized men are, however, knocked
out by such a shot-at least, most white
men are. The savage is not. An Afrldl
or Pathan Ghazi in charge goes OH with
out Winding a smal-bore shot. So will a
Soudan half breed, the "Fuzzywuzzy" of
Kiping, and SO will North American In
dian or Malay.
The English and American soldier who
had to meet the rush of these men after
few of his fellows had been cut down by
men through whom he had put bullet
without stopping them had no mind to
use bullet which did not stop a man.
So, without orders, he sliced the end of
his bullet When that bullet struck it
spread, tore IN arm or shoulder to pieces
and the man stopped.
This is the Dum-Dum bullet. 1t is
necessity of savage warfare. For lack Of
it the Italian troops were cut up like
sheep by savages whose rush their smooth
little bullets could not stop. The issue at
The Hague was whether the countries
with no savage foes should decide the size
and shape Of the bullet or the armies
which have to face them. England and
the United States preferred experience to
theory, and if the "Dum-Dum" were
abolished in terms no discipline could
keep soldiers facing savage foe from
clipping the tips of their bullets to stop
savage rush. Will any one blame them?