The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-20
WATER AS A WEAPON.
INSTANCES WHERE HOSE HAD
MORE EFFECT THAN CLUBS.
Mobs Melt Before Nozzle - Chicago
Police Believe Fire Engines Would
De Valuable AuxiIiaries During
Times of Riot.

robbers have adopted a new and effective
method of fighting these desperadoes. But
it is new only in its application. There is
more than suspicion that Mrs. Socrates
not only knew of this method. but sue
cessfuly used it in her endeavors to give
her philosophic spouse a reputation for all
time as the pioneer of henpecked hus-
bands For the scheme is nothing more
nor less than a judicious distribution of
hot water where it will do the most good.
The idea as applied to locomotives is to
so arrange a series of perforated pipes
that the entire engine and tender may be
Instantly surrounded by a wall of super
heated steam and water thrown out with
such a force that nothing human could
stand before It or live i'm 1T for q second.
When the robbers invite the engineer and
fireman to hold up their hands they will
promptly comply, but the foot of the en-
gineer will touch a valve and everything
living within a radius of fifty feet will
be done to a turn, scaded to death, quick
er than one might make the historic re-
mark Jack Robinson"
Water-either hot or cold-as a weapon
is no new thing, but the wonder is that
it has not been more generally employed.
Seldom have men, no matter what their
temper or numbers, been able to with
stand a stream of water thrown with
NlgOf from tn6 uuZZle OF a nose. w uth
the hremen at a fire wish to drive the
crowd of spectators back from a point of
danger or TO secure more working room,
they turn the hose on them and there is
a panic crea ted in their efforts to get out
of range of that powerful, dispiritlng,
soaking stream. Let a hose burst no
matter if one of the most thrilling of res
cues is absorbing the attention of thous- /
auds, and everything else is forgotten save
the fact that a deluge must be escaped.
The other day this matter was under
discussion in a desultory way at police
headquarters The question was asked
whether the Chicago police had ever made
specific use of the hose in combating
mob or quell.ng a riot Sergt. De Long
was referred to as being more saturated
with statistics Of the department than any
other man present, and after wrinklng
his brow few minutes he said:
Il cane recall any instance where we
have tried the effect of water on a rebel
lious or bad-tempered crowd but l have
no doubt ii would prove a most effective
weapon, and besides it would be in no
sense cruel. / DO not believe any mob
could stand long before well-directed
streams from a powerful fire engine.
have noticed the effect of water on the
crowds Slich attend fires A falling wall
will not make them break for cover quick
er than a dose of water from one of the
lines of hose. / have never given the
matter thought before, but now that you
mention it 1 believe il would be a good
thing to have a fire engine with a train
ed crew as part of the police equipment
of the city.
Mob Easily Dispersed.
Then some one mentioned a case in
point. Some years ago." said he II was
in Montreal There had been considerable
trouble with the dock laborers, and 1t was
suspected that the wharf rats men of
tie vey lowest character We're at the
bottom of 1t. One day mob of about 2.C00
% these turbulent fellows took possession
of one of the large docks and prepared to
withstand a siege. The police could not or
would not dislodge them, work was at a
standstill, and ships waiting to unload
were losing valuable time.
so the captain of big ocean freighter
took the matter into his own hands He
ordered the powerful fire pumps of the
vessel to be put in readiness, and then
attached to them all the available hose on
the boat. At the word of nd three
streams of wafer. each an inch and a
quarter in size struck the gang of riotous
men and the trick was done In less
time than it takes to tell 1t there was not
a rat or rioter on that dock. Some of
them had jumped into the river to escape
such an unusual weapon. Thereafter I'M
III the troubles were over every vessel
kept nozzles trained on the docks ready
for an emergency. and the work of I'M
loading went on without Interruption
They did the same thing out In Dem
yer few years ago" said Il newsysper
man. "A number of Chinese had gone
on the warpath and were giving the no.
lice no end of trouble Clubs seemed TO
have little effect, and the police were loath
20 resort TO more deadly weapons Then
some one thought of the fire department
Engines were called out, nozzles were
pointed at the Celestials, but they laugh
ed them to seorn. Then the water was
turned ON and the laughter ceased In five
minutes there was no sign of mob, and
after that the bare sight of a fire hose
was enough to put Chinaman all a-trenl-
Ole. l also recall that in 1894 during the
city hall riots in the same city, the ire
men defended the city hall with their
hose and 1 believe the fear OF water
had more to do with protecting the build
ing than all the clubs and revolvers of
the police department.
Stream ROuts Burglars.
'You've all been dealing with mohS "
spoke up grizzled patrolman, but have
known stream Of water to be more ef-
receive than pistol in fighting burglars
in private house. One night a man liy-
Ing In the suburbs of large city was
awakened by hearing unusual sounds
down stairs. Slipping out of bed. he found
"
by the noise. and there, through the partly
open door, he saw two cracksmen busily
at work drilling into the safe set in the
wall. Their backs were toward him. but
they evidently were prepared for surprises
as two ugly looking revolvers lay close at
hand.
THE man fastened back TO his bedroom
to secure his own weapon, but could not
find 1t. Then he spied a Babcock extin-
guisher in the corner of the hall. Strap
ping this on his back he started once more
for the library. The burglars were still at
work. Getting all ready for the charge he
flung open the door and turned The small
stream right down the necks OF ne era cks-
men. And would you believe It, those hard
ened criminals, who would not have run
from a shower of bullets, made break
for the nearest window and went through
IL. taking the sash with them They
couldn't stand water, even when the force
with which il was thrown was compara-
lively slight"
Several other instances were mentioned
where water had proved a most effective
weapon. some of the policeman recalling