Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-07-25
he MADE JAPAN's POWDER.
The Remarkable Career Of Or. Clan
Shimose.

The Remarkable Career Of Or. Clan
Shimose.
DR.. Clan Shimose, termed "the Gun
powder Wizard Of Japan" has perhaps
done as much, II not more, than any
other one man to aid the Flower EN-
pire In its successful efforts to annihi-
late the forces Of Russia, both at sea
and on land The world has heard
much Of the activity Of the soldier, OF
the accuracy of the firing Of the Japa-
nese gunners, but little has been print
ed of the man who supplied the ammu-
milton which has carried the missiles
Of destruction.
The United States has her Krag and
her Springfield; Germany swears by
her Mauser and England has her Lee
Enfield. Likewise every nation has
high explosive, the British cordite, the
French melinite. and many others. But
while much has been said and written
of these various implements Of war,
little has been said Of japan. But all
the while the little man was laboring
away in his laboratory, experimenting.
until he produced "shimose," the most
perfect explosive known to the scien-
tific world, which is capable Of great
results, no matter when or in what gun
1t is used properly.
Try as they will, curious inQuirers,
whether from mere personal gratifca-
ton or for military purposes, have
failed to secure the secret for making
this wonderful powder. With 1t is man
ufactured a chemical to be used In ex-
ploding 1t. Without this chemical 1t
is harmless. Efforts have been made
to explode the powder with terrific
blows; 1t has been literally covered with
live Goals Of fire; shot have been fired
into It; every possible test has been
applied to explode It without result.
The Goals of fire caused It to burn,
giving out a sickly odor, like pile
of burning tar. The shot and blows
have simply scattered 1t. But use the
chemical Illuminating device, and
presto! there was an explosion which
made the very earth tremble, and re-
suited in the complete destruction of
everything with which 1t comes In
contact. as
Although he devoted more than
eleven years in experimenting before
he secured the desired result powder
making Is not the only form Of work
DIR. Shimose has done. His career Is
eloquent of the spirit Of the man who
has determined to get ahead in the
world. He is modest and has little
to say of his accomplishments. He
was born forty-seven years ago In the
very humblest circumstances In the
province Of Hiroshima. Although
more than 4S0 miles from the capital,
and In the days when railways and
steamers were practically unknown to
the island, the youth determined to
make his way to the great city. He
had prepared for his entrance, and
shortly after reaching the city stood
a hard examination and gained the
first recognition of his abilities Dy
securing entrance to the Imperial uni
versity. It is considered one OF the
best institutions Of learning OF the
world. ranking we'll up with Yale.
Harvard, Columbia, and the other
great seats of learning.
In Toxic he found himself not only
friendless but without sufficient DOCKS
to prosecute his studies. He borrow
ed OF his classmates, and frequently
sat up all night copying the books
that he might return them and still
have papers from which to study.
He was frequently without the neces-
sary sum to pay his barber or the
bath house man. 1t is said that ne
frequently went hungry, preferring 70
devote his spare change to the pur-
chase Of books from which TO STUDY.
But when examination time came
he was the hero of the university.
He passed with the highest honors,
His papers were well night perfect.
His lessons had been learned, and
well learned, not mere smattering
in order to set on paper what would
soon be forgotten. He had digested
the great principle taught. But on
graduation he was unable to secure
employment where he desired to pass
his life and devote his talents which
were even then unknown to the
world at large. He secured position
in a printing shop at SO a week.
Shimose studied the printing bus
mess and soon became expert In this
line. Having In mind a desire to bet
fer himself he began to cast about in
an effort to secure promotion. He
made friends Of people worth while,
and when he applied for a position
in the government printing ONCE ne
had assistance to secure the place.
So convincing was his application that
he was given a very responsible posi-
ton at the very beginning. HIS tai
ent for invention and scientific re-
search in chemical lines here asserted
itself, and after many experiments ne
produced the ink used In japan for the
manufacture Of bank notes and all
legal papers. It Is so entirely diner
ent from any other ink that forgery
is impossible, and attempts are readi-
ly detected. The secret, like every
thing else in connection with the gov,
ernment offices, is SO well guarded
that only DR.. Shimose knows how the
ink Is made.
In the government printing once
the young printer was brought into
contact with naval and military OF
ficers. He listened with eagerness To
their discussions of things defensive
and offensive. He learned the use OF
firearms and explosives. 1t was not
long before he decided that 1t was not
so much the gun that was used, Dut
the explosive, which made success
full firing. He commenced TO exper-
iment with powder.
Shimose soon discovered that not
only the powder used In Japan, put
that of ali the world, had serious de-
fects. The "men kayaku" used Dy
Japan was found to be the best In
the world, but even this dissatished
him. When dry the slightest con-
cussion was liable to set 1t on, pro-
ducing great loss Of life In many In
stances, and again wrecking Valuapie
nroperties. It was found by the
war chemist that 20 per cent OF moist
ure was necessary to make II sa1e
for handling. The slightest bit more
produced a gummy effect, and unnt-
ted II entirely for war purposes, Tor
II could not be exploded.
DR., Shimose went to work 10 pro-
duce what he termed perfect pow
der. He worked for days and nights
in his laboratories. He made chem
lical experiments by the hundreds
His hands and fingers were ire,
ouently so badly burned that he could
handle nothing On one occasion ne
was nearly blinded by an explosion.
His friends made frequent attempts 10
get him to give up the dangerous
ask hut he kept right on.