The Washington herald., 1914-11-29
Apropos of Cowards.

Here is the statement of a military
man who is a great deal under shell fire
at the front:
"The man who tells you he can hear
screaming shell pass ten yards above
his head for the first time without turn
ing pale and ducking Is not a brave man;
he's a liar. A man, one OF the hold-up
sort, shot at me on Franklin street, in
Chicago, about fifteen years ago. 1 ran.
A thousand Germans shot at me a few
weeks agO-I found out since there were
less than ten. l didn't wait TO turn my
motor car, but put down the accelerator
and went full speed backward. This
morning 4 l20-millimeter (about 5-inch)
shell went whistling over my cowardly
head and ducked under my car
beside which / had been standing This
afternoon a half-dozen more whiZzed
overhead, and again my chin and chest
met. but 1 stood my ground. Am getting
used TO il. Every one does, they say.
After a few days one even fails to hear
the warning whiz of the big ones-5 g.
or S-inch boys-or the long-drawn scream
of the smaller fellows.
German shells are badly loaded, 50 per
cent of them failing 10 explode. and the
danger of these after a battle is such
that peasants in the neighborhood have
received orders not to pIow the land or
have inspected every square yard of the
ground.
when fifteen or twenty OF the enemy's
batteries get going at once, such as o"-
CURED at Liegc, CharleToi, Samur, Ant
werp, Maubeugc. ROye, Rheims, and
nearer Paris. at scissors, then. although
hardened soldiers fail to notice the
screeching and whistling of the shells In
the air, the noise OF the explosions and
perturbation of the air affect them as It
does the newest recruit. During the last
battle in the neighborhood OF the Bel
gian frontier the army doctors passed
down the trenches, giving each man cot
ton wadding to stun his ears. The num-
ber of temporarily deaf is amazing, and
the orders are often given by means OF
a shrill whistle
Unlike those OF the French, the Ger
man shells kill or wound only when they
or the hundreds OF pieces Of steel and
bullets into which they divide strike
Still, men untouched twenty-five yards
away from an exploding shell are
knocked over and often stunned. l saw
ono whose coat had been almost torn
from his back by the force OF an ex-
ploding shell 100 feet away. He was un-
hurt.
''Th" 420-millimeter mortar is the John
L. Sullivan OF the present war. Big.
HuShN, II us punch lanQS
you're a dead man; but it is slow. and
while II is figuring where it will place
its blow, wiry. alert Jim COrbett-un-
der the circumstances, the French g
inch Gun-smasheS him once, twice, three
times just above the belt, and John L.
is knocked out In the opinion of all
military authorities, French included
not a fortified town, fortress, or pro-
tective work of any sort or description
can exist any length OF time under
the fire OF those German monsters. It
is said their number is very limited, only
eight having been seen in Belgium:
nevertheless, few are sufficient for any
work they may be called on to do. At
long distance sho tinS-ten or twelve and
even fifteen miles-when plenty OF time
can be devoted TO ranGe-findinE, these
mastodons are wonderfully effective.
Closer, they are at the mercy OF the
French and British artillery, and, as has
once been the case, at the mercy OF
bayonet charge.
"Onc thing has been amply proven
if all the engineering skill of Krupp has
been devoted 10 the birth of these huge
mortars, less caro- has been used in the
manufacturing of the shells used by
them. At Maubeuge only one out Of
three exploded. The others made three
holes through five feet of concrete, but
caused very little damage The mortars,
mounted, weigh about 1900 pounds. Each
shell weighs nearly half a ton, and the
German government loses 5000 every
time one fails to explode"