Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-10-27
old WAR ENGINES
British "Tank" Is One of Long
Line of Queer Devices.
Wooden Horse of Troy, Hide-CoVered
Towers Used by Alexander in
Siege of Tyre and Caesars
JaVeiins with Iron Points.

The British tank" described as
car of death resembling q ponderous,
slow-moving steel caterpillar, is one
of a large family of strange engines of
destruction sired by the God of War,
says Il bulletin of the National Geo
graphic society. Reviewing the his
tory of warfare among civilized ma
tions, one of the earliest engines of
destruction whose fame has been per-
petuated on the pages of legendary
epic was the great wooden horse which
the crafty Ulysses left on the plains of
Iliuln, and which the Trojans believed
to be an offering sacred to the goddess
Athena. Counseled by the false Simon,
the Trojans raZed their walls in order
that the gift of the Greeks might be
brought into the city. After nightfaH
the warriors hidden inside the wooden
animal crept out, threw open the gates
of the city and admitted their compan-
ions, thus bringing about the destruc-
tiOn of the city of Priam and Wreaklng
vengeance upon the people who had
sheltered Paris and the fair but false
Helen of Troy.
An engine of war which emerges
from the cloud of legend and takes it's
place among historical actuaHtieS was
that employed by Alexander the Great
in his seven-months siege of the, ia
nous Phoenician metropolis. Tyre. This
ancient city was strongly situated on
an island and as there were no long
range catapults in the fourth century
before the Christian era,e Alexander
! conceived the plan of building a mole
or causeway from the mainland to the
island. This engineering enterprise
was. hampered by the Tyrians, who
! launched blazing ships against the as
sailants as they sunk piles to hold in
place the rock and debris that formed
! roadway over which the army was
/ to march. In order to protect his con-
struction corps Alexander devised
great towers covered with green hides.
These were set up as shields against
the floating flames of the enemy and
the result was one of the memorable
victories in Alexander's. conquest of
the eastern world.
One of the simplest and yet one of
the most effective inventions of an
cient times was the javelin with a
point of soft iron employed by julius
Caesar in one of his Gallic wars. The
Roman legionaries hurled these weap-
ons against the shields of their enc
mics. The iron head penetrated the
outer covering of BULLS hide, but fiat
| tened out against the hardwood or
metal back of the shield, and thus be-
came hooked to this protector. The
shanks of the dangling javelins so i'm
peded the movements of the barbarian
soldiers that they were forced either
to throw away their shields and fight
uncovered against the Romans or else
stop long enough Ca fatal delay in their
advance) to disencumber themselves
from this unique weapon which may
properly be called the dum-dum plum
the progenitor of the soft-nose or dun
DUN bullet of today.
Perhaps the strangest engines OF
destruction in the history of the worlC
were the seven trumpets of rams horr
which the priests of Israel blew as
they encompassed the walls of Jericho
once each day for six successive day:
; and seven times on the seventh day
After the final blast the hosts of Isrea
gave a great Shout and the walls fel
fiat, according to the Biblical accoun
, in the Book of Joshua. Those who en-
, deavor to explain all miracles on tn
! theory that they are the result of ex
, traOrdinary applications of the natura
: law have seen in this remarkable even
: demonstration of the vast destluc
tive power of sympathetic vibration
p the same principle which has bee
t known to shake to its very foundatio
!. n great bridge of steel and concret
| when a dog trots across it.
$ Another arms oddity of Biblical ir
4 terest was the ruse employed
: Gideon. leader of only 300 Israelite.
t who successfully engaged vast hos
). of Midianites and Amalekites that ''la
q along in the valley like grasshopper
n for multitude; and their camels wer
|. without number, as the sand by til
9 seaside for multitude" Gideon's er
g gines of destruction were 800 trumpet
q 800 empty pitchers and 300 lamps will
in the pitchers. AS the enemy's cam
was approached during the night til
= pitchers were smashed. the lamps heI
aloft in the left hand, while terrifyin
blasts from the 300 trumpets sprea
% CONSERVATION and terror among IL
sleepers who in darkness imagined TIL;
they had been attacked by gre;
army The result was wholes;i
'e slaughter among themselves while Il
followers of Gideon. watched
q