The Washington herald., 1915-05-09

1ook at them and Judge for your
self At any time or place in
Il any newspaper or magazine be-
fore have you ever seen war pic
lures giving away so many secrets, so
full of grim horrors and startling won
ders and crowded with gallant action?
They are from the English illustrated
magazine Sketch and appeared as a
special war supplement in the Sketch
issue of March 81. All of the photo
graphs had been submitted to the nom
censor. who had no objection to their
publication.
ITO appreciate these photographs
thoroughly" said note. lit is necessary
for our readers to abstain from look
ing at them until April l.
Yet despite these warnings the great
majority of people in England and
America who saw these alleged photo
graphs were completely taken in by
them. They are the hoax of the decade.
The photographs were remarkably
we'll done to begin with and they were
accompanied by explanatory lines which
read with the maximum of seriousness
and earnestness.
How great hoax they we're can be
illustrated by the fact that several
american newspapers reproduced some
of the photographs with the utmost
good faith. among them being New York
journals of prominence. 1t was one of
the greatest hoaxes which the English
newspapers already fond of such
hoaxes, by the way-have ever been re-
sponsible for.
"Krupp's Secret Gun Illustrated for
the First Time" was the heading that
went over the monster gun photograph
Eight barrels and a range much ex-
ceeding any other weapon: the kaiser
inspecting the huge German howitzer."
was the explanation line that followed
Underneath the photograph was
printed Information to this effect: That
this Is the first photograph of the Sc
cret krupp siege howitZer of which so
much had been said In Germany it is
called the emperor's eight-lea gued boots
from the number of its barrels and its
kick technically. of course. its recoil.
1t weighs on its service mounting the
writer goes on to say with great eXacti-
tude. 159 tons. . cwt.. l or. II lbs. Its
eight clustered barrels (their size NAV
be estimated by comparing the figures
Of the kaiser and his staff offcers) are
designed for concentrated or
collective" bombardment, for discharg-
ing salvos or bouquets" Of shells Zone
projectile of which is a fair load for
an ordinary railway truck at a range
Of thirty-two miles.
Despite the fact that at the top OF
the photograph was placed the line read
ing: photograph from the we'll known
German illustrated paper Dummeresel"
the public accepted the photograph as
being bona fide one and it was repro
iuced widely in both English and Amer
lean newspapers. "Dummeresel'' is Ger
man for darn fool jackass"
The dummy horse picture reproduced
On this page was one of the most rea-
sonable of the hoaxes "Trickery Again.
A Remarkable Enemy Ruse in the Field"
was its heading, with an explanatory
line as follows: "A dummy horse as
for German sniper The
being removed after he
had been hit"
The Germans in their thoroughness
have rivaled the ancient Greeks and
the legendary wooden horse of Troy"
went on the explanation. Our illus
ration shows a dummy horse in which
, German sniper had concealed himself
After a number of French had been
killed, a machine gun was brought to
bear on the mysterious animal, which,
although hit many times, neither moved
Tor fell
Investigation followed and 1t was
'ound that the animal was of wood and
he dead body of German soldier was
discovered when a door in the side of
he horse was opened. The body was
by the French Red Cross. Tho
Icene Of the incident was Sottise-sur-
Ane."
The photograph. according to the %