Mexico Missouri message., 1914-10-08

London.-"One wonders what kind
of shells the French must have been
using to cause regiment OF German
infantry to die in their trenches.
standing bolt upright and still holding
their rifles in firing attitude" re-
marked London paper 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 as the
world had never seen since the de-
stroying angel passed over the Philis-
tine camp in that avenging night OF
Scripture, silent company OF ghosts
But there is no secrecy about what
is now an open secret, "Turpinite,' the
latest French "hell-producer," is the
invention of NJ Turpln, the parent"
inventor OF melinite and iyddite, which
latter is merely so named because the
first experiments were made by Lydd.
in Kent, in presence of the French
inventor 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 II cannot be fired
from an ordinary field gun, and for
its use guns of particular and diff
cult construction are required. The
handling of these guns is at present
confined to specialists. Had the sue
cessful experiments carried out at
Chalons-sur-Marn taken place ear
lier. the result of this war, in so far
as it's primary stages we're 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 exterminated in the course of
few weeks.
Offered to France.
NJ. Turpin is not only a remarkable
man, he is also a man who for many
years nursed serious grievance, and
who considered that he had been
deeply wronged in connection with
the discovery of his previous inven-
tons, melinite and lyddite. He be-
came resentful and suspicious, and de-
termined to discover some new 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
| pendj.ure, while Germany had been
steadily increasing hers. In such cir
cumstances there was little money &c
spend on experiments with explosives
and the outbreak OF war found France
not nearly so prepared with artillery
in munitions, in reserve forces, as was
| Germany.
| NJ. Turpin, however, used as he was
to war Office procrastination, had hat
special gun and shells made "or
his own" and conducted experiment.
on the Atlantic coast before CAREFUL,
selected and invited officers.
A man who witnessed one OF these
early demonstrations of the possibili
ties of "turpinite" sends to the Dali,
Express description of its terrific ef
fects:
"On a stretch of sand 500 yard
from high water level a temporar!
sheepfold had been erected, about fou
hundred yards square, and rallied OF
with wooden hurdles. In this spac,
were some dozen sheep and a coupl
of aged and WORKOUT horses.
zone OF the horses was contentedl.
munching away at some hay in
trough, the other was rubbing himsel
against one of the hurdles, while tn
sheep were huddled together In on
corner.
AZ II Petrified.
This was what ! saw through m
glasses when, from behind a ridg
some twenty-five hundred yards away
there came a sharp, loud thud and tn
shrieking sound of small shell, jus
as il somebody had taken a piece o
silk and rapidly torn 1t in two.
was the same tearing sound, onl
louder.
There was an explosion in tn
open space in the middle of the imprc
vised sheep pen. The sheep we're sti
all huddled in a corner some distanc
of, one of the cid horses was appal
emily leaning up against the railing
while the other, the one that had bee
munching hay at the trough. lay o
his side.
When, ten minutes later. reache
the pen. the sheep looked for all tn
world as II they had been suddenl
petrifed. They we're mostly standin
up one against the other.
Three or four were lying down. bu
oil mama daaA u,ifh THAR auaa nna