The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1915-11-12
SN|PER'S GRIM WORK
SharpShOOter's Bullet Has Spe-
CiaI FormidabIeneSs.
For Hours the Snlper Patiently Waits
for the Opening Of Loophole
or the Sight of
Cap.

British Headquarters.-Itw would be
interesting, If such calculation were
possible, to classify the agencies to
which the total daily casualties are
due. Whatever the statistics might
prove, the most formida Die agency is
still the snipers bullet.
1t is possible, perhaps even proba.
BILE, that the majority of British cas-.
ualties would be found to be attributed
to shell fire. 1t might be found that
along a particular line of trench the
bulk Of the men are knocked out by
hand grenades. But the sharpshoot-
er's bullet has a special formidable
ness of its own such as is enjoyed by
no other weapon.
The shell, the rifle grenade, the
trench mortar at least give some
warning to the ear; the bomb and the
aerial torpedo are visible as they come
through the air in daytime, and may
frequently be lodged. The listen
ers" are generally able to give some
warning as to the operations and prog
ress OF hostile miners The bullet
alone is absolutely unobtrusive, instan-
taneous, and unceasing.
One may take a certain amount of
liberties, as 1t were, with shell fire.
A single man, or even two men, pro-
vided that they are not obviously peo-
pie Of Importance, may risk a walk
along a stretch of ground in view Of
the enemys guns, simply because 1t
is not worth gunner's while to shoot
at every individual enemy he sees.
No such familiarity is safe with a
sniper He is always on the lookout
for unconsidered trifles, and all the
more ready to fire that his ammuni.
ton is so cheap and plentiful.
This static trench warfare has large
ly curtailed the activities Of the old
type of sniper-of the sniper, that is
to say, who concealed himself In some
neat piece OF cover and thence, with
the aid of telescope sights, picked of
individuals at long range. And this,
for two reasons.
In the hrst place, as soon as the
two armies realized that trench war.
fare was likely to last for months,
they set to work very naturally to
elaborate their defenses, and have
largely defeated the snlper proper by
the very elaboration and multiplicity
of their communication trenches. And,
secondly, the immobility of the front
has meant that very many of the
sniper's haunts have gradually become
found out and are 80 carefully
watched as to be almost untenable.
The old sniper has thus been forced
more and more into the background,
and finds 1t increasingly difficult to
get anything like good days bag.
The other afternoon was with
two snipers when they at last spotted
a German summing himself in a tield
The distance was made out to be Just
over 1900 yards. Each OF my com.
panions was well-known big game
shot, and they each fired couple If
rounds at the enemy.
The bullets must have gone uncom.
fortably near the mark, for, after zach
shot the man stared about him with a
puzzled movement, but ne stalked of
unhit. This was. of course, an ex.
IRENE range. but the marksmen were
exceptionally good, and their failure
to find anything but SO unpromising
a target shows clearly enough that
the only possible marks are frequently
set at virtually impossible ranges.
But. with the temporary extinction
OF the sniper proper. Their, has grown
W . host Of trench snipers. men who