Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1914-10-09
NEW FRENCH EXPLOSIVE KILLS
EVERYTHING WITHIN 400 YARDS

LoEdcn.-"One wonders what kind
Of shells the French must have been
using to cause q regiment of German
infantry to die in their trenches.
standing bolt upright and still holding
azheir rifles in firing attitude re-
marked a London papsr the other day,
and another correspondent quotes an
American member of the Crois Rouge
as having seen the German trenches
as the French guns had left them, but
with dead In such a posture Is the
world had never seen since the de-
stroyfng angel passed ov- the Philis-
tine camp in that avenging night of
Scripture. a silent company of ghosts"
But there is no secrec- sbout what
is now an open secret, ~TurYinite," the
latest French "hell-produccr," is the
Invention Of M. Turpin. the parent"
~inventor Of melinite and lyddite, which
latter is merely so named because the
first experiments were made by Lydd,
ia Kent. in presence OF the French
z~nventor. How far this turpinite has
been or is being used by the French
artillery is not known, and may not
be exactly known till after the war,
but one Of the salient features of this
novel terror is that it cannot be fired
from an ordinary field gun, and for
It's use guns Of particular and diff
cHlt construction are required. The
handling Of these guns is at present
rcntined to specialists. Had the sue
cessfui experiments carried out at
Chalors-sur-Marne taken place ear
her, the result of this war, in so far
as its primary stages were concerned,
might well have been different.
So lethal in its effect is the new
shell On explosion that, should its use
become widespread, whole armies, in
deed, entire nations, would be COM
pletely e~xternninated in the course of
a few weeks.
Offered to France.
n Turpin is not only a remarkable
man, he is also a man who for many
years nursed a serious grievance, and
who considered that ne had been
deeply wronged in connection with
the discovery Of his previous inven-
lions, melinite and lyddite. He be-
came resentful and suspicious, and de-
termined to discover some ex-
plosive that would completely throw
into the shade his previous discover
les, which had been improved by Of
fetal French technicians.
For years he worked in his quiet
country home some twenty miles from
Paris, and it is not long ago since the
French government made him the
-amende honorable" This Modified
him considerably, and he offered his
new discovery to his country; but
France, at the imperious demand Of
her democrats, had for many years
been cutting down her military ex-
penditure, while Germany had been
kteadiiy Increasing hers. In such cir
cumstances there was little none to
zpend on experiments with explosives,
and the outbreak of wal found France
not nearly so prepared with artillery,
IN munitions. In reserve forces, as was
Germany
ii. Turpin, however, used as he was
30 war office procrastination, had had
= special gun and shells made ION
his own and conducted experiments
On the Atlantic coast before carefully
selected and invited officers.
A man who Witnessed one of these
early demonstrations of the possibili-
ties Of .turpiniter sends to the Daily
Express a description of its terrific eff
zects-
ON q stretch of sand 500 yards
from high water level a temporary
skaepfold had been erected, about four
hnn6red yards squar and rallied off
with wooden hurdles. In this space
we're ON dozen sheep and a couple
az aged and wDTn-out horses.
Zone of the horses was ~contentedly
munchiug away at some hay in a
trough. the other was rubbing himself
AGAINST one OF the hurdles, while the
sheep were huddled together in one
ecrner
As If Pctrifed.
This was what / saw through my
glasses when, from behind a ridge
Eosae twenty-five hundred yards away,
there came q sharp. loud thud and the
k1ElekluS SOulo VI u sIuall SHELL just
AZ If somebody had taken a piece Of
silk and rapidly torn it in two. 1t
was the same tearing sound. only
z0Ader.
There was an explosion in the
xBcn space In the middle Of the impro-
yisel sheep pen. The sheep were still
all huddled in . corner some distance
C1T. one of the old horses was appar.
ertly leaning up against the railing,
while the other, las one that had been
launching hay at the trough, lay on
His side
When, ten minutes later, / reached
the pen. the sheep looked for all the
world as IL they had been suddenly
Detrified- They were mostly standing
up one against the other.
Three or four were lying down, but
All were dead, with their eyes oper
and lower lips hanging
III was absolutely CHASTITY. Yet Of
nh sbe animals only the old horse thai
had been munching hay was hit by