The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1900-01-19
SCIENTIFIC MURDER.
Fearful Death-Dealing Machines in
Use in the South African War.


Use in the South African War.
There have been marked improvements
i'll field and naval guns in the past five
years and there have also been marked
advances made In projectiles. The
shrapnel which the English and Beers
ure using in South Africa is regarded
rs ahead Of any shrapnel which has been
useu III recent warfare. Only few
years ago 1000 yards was deemed the
maximum range at which shrapnel was
effective. In South Africa and at ON.
durham the British shrapnel has been
used effectively at ranges of $500 yards.
The shrapnel shell is an 0rdinary-lookine
projectile filed with Il number of small
balls: The majority of feel d guns of
2:95-inch caliber use shrapnel containing
about $50 small balls. In the center of
the shell is charge of black powder,
and in the head of the shelf Il time fuse
This time. fuse resembles In its working
the combination mechanism of safe
door lock. There is Il graduated arc cut
to seconds and fractions of seconds.
Now, knowing the distance away of the
enemy and the time required for the shell
to travel that distance, the fuse Is cut
accordingly: i. e., Il puncture Is made
through the walls of the fnSe at the de.
VI AAN Suu tllC
OF, Il percussion arrangement, the full
inmate. and at the expiration of the
elapsed time the fame dashes into the
powder chamber and the discharge fol-
lows. The effect of the burst is to re.
lease the small balls within. As the
shell had downward trend. it being
near the end of its flight at the
time of the burst, the small balls
are carried forward and downward.
At the same time there is slight
lyscattering effect. In general the
trend of the shrapnc balls, following u
burst, is that Of ii cone inverted.
The artillerist endeavors to burst his
shrapnel in the air at Il. point about 80
yards short of the enemy's position. The
effect is very much akin to that of $50
sharp->hooters suddenly opening fire on
one head not over 30 yards away: In ex-
pcriments made with the shrapliel for the
Der it was found that at 4 range of 1000
yards the cone Of dispersion Is about lis
degrees which will cover q circle about
% feet IL. diameter at Il distance of p
yards. The number of balls and frag.
ments of the shrapnel contained within
this cone Of dispersion is about 26O for
the 1870 pound and 2SO for the 1G.5-pound
sshrapnel. The shells used in the United
States field-guns are heavier, as rule.
than those employed in Europe. The
13.l-pound American shell contains 200
small balls and the 1G.5-pound shell 23G
balls.
At Omdlrman. Lord Kitchener's force
opened on the advancing dervishps with
Shrapnel at ranges i'll excess Of 800 yards.
the dervish lines, It Is reported, was to
NOV down twenty-five to thirty men at
each dis charge.
The shell proper as emDlOye,1 i'm field
guns is used, nowadays, almost wholly
IN operations against buildings or against
protected positions. Against exposed
bodies Of troops or forces of the enemy
lying behind intrenchments shrapnel is
mel considered today that the ammunition
supply for many field batteries in Europe
consists of 5? per cent. ,shrapnel and Is
per cent. shell and canister The high
vclocities. obtainable by reason Of the
of .snlokeless powder and the
fitting of recoil mechanism have yielded
greater ranges for shrapnel While $500
using shell. range ' of $500 6'V vard Mnt ;s
deemed maximum for shrapnel from the
general type of field gun. The shrapnel
balls depend on that velocity of the she'll
proper remaining just before the burst
for their own velocity. and this remain
ing velocity must be sufficiently great to
afford power to inflict dangerous wounds
upon horses. The least energy essential
is placed at 2S2 foot-pounds. For the
average run of small balls employed, say
II to the pound. an energy of 2S2 foot
pounds is obtainable from a remaining
Velocity of about S74 feet per second.
This ,o corresponds to mnzzle velocity
Of 1000 foot-seconds, and affords an ef-
ficient Shrapnel effect at $500 yards.
The French. however, in their e4,deavor
to Increase .Shrapnel powers have added
Of 120-millimeter caliber. designed al
most exclusively for shrapncl work.
These guns are employed with the small
raliber field-pieceS. Now that the
French field artillery is to be reduced
to four guns per battery 1t IS surmised
that the howitzers will be employed in
independent organizations. The British
have recently dispatched to South At
RIGA three full howitzer batteries, the
only organizations of the kind in the
British service. These howitzcrs are
counted upon to do very efficient work.
Lieut.: Godfrey l.. Garden in Golfers
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