The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1908-12-25
Capt. Mapes lnvents Bomb.

Captain William Mapes, a Nebraska
army officer well known in Norfolk
through frequent visits to this city
and whose wife was formerly Miss
Lota Blakely, a daughter of Mr.. and
Mrs. c. A, Blakely of Norfolk, IS
credited in a New York dispatch with
inventing a new army bomb which
will make one soldier equal to forty.
The dispatch which was sent from
New York and which appears in the st.
Louis Post Dispatch and other eastern
papers is as follows:
What is said to be the most deadly
hand grenade ever invented has been
sent to the army arsenal at Manila for
trial. If the tests prove successful
the American army may come into
possession of a weapon which in case
of emergency would make one Ameri-
can private equal to forty men. Cap
tain William S. Mapes of the Twenty
fifth infantry, L. S. A., who is a New
Yorker by birth and Nebraskan by
adoption, is the inventor of the new
grenade.
The grenade is nine inches long and
an inch in diameter, similar in appear
ance to a stick of dynamite For one
third of its length the tube, which is
made of light cast iron, is packed with
gunCotton, the explosive that distri-
butes the forty bullets when the bomb
strikes the ground.
1t is stated that these bullets are
distributed parallel to the ground at
an altitude so slight that even the
soldier who is lying PROSTATE when
the bomb eXplodes is in even greater
danger than the man in a kneeling or
standing position.
It is Almost Safe.
In the lower end of the tube is the
decorating cap, while around the part
that holds the guncotton is a small
can made of light tin which contains
the forty bullets. The upper end of the
bomb contains cap that is fitted with
a punch or plunger called the war
head.
The bomb is so constructed that it
can be carried with almost absolute
safety by the soldier but in order to
obviate any possible accidental dis
charge it is further fitted with another
small cap of tin, which fits over the
detonator end of the bomb The
bombs are very light and each soldier
can easily carry several of them, and
when the time to use them comes it
requires but few moments to get
the bomb ready to be hurled.
The soldier first pulls off the pro-
tecting cap. Then he detaches the
warhead and places it over the deton-
ator. Attached to the bomb are two
long tapes, and taking the ends of
them he whirls the bomb over his head
as he would a slingshot, and casts it
from him. AS the bomb leaves the
soldiers hands the tapes unwind and
streaming out behind the missile keep
the warhead to -he front facing the
enemy.
Scatters the Bullets.
When the end of the tape is reached
the bomb describes a semi-circle and
descends to the ground, the contact
causing it to explode with terrific vio-
lenCe, scattering its bullets and the
pieces of metal in a line parallel to
the ground and in direction away from
the soldier who had thrown it. A sol
der can throw the bomb more than a
hundred yards.
Captain Mapes is also the inventor
of the 'poncho boat" which is made
of a poncho, two shelter tent poles,
four rifles, and two blankets. 1t Will
float the entire equipment of four
men
Captain Mapes served through the
Spanish war as a major of
the Second Nebraska Volunteer in
fantry After the war he entered the
regulars as a first lieutenant in the
ont, t,,f, ;t, in,
Manila with his regiment.