The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-11-29

ISL is a marvel Of ingenius arrange
ment.
The entrance is through a small
door in the lower part of one OF the
sides The visitor has to crouch down
and crawl through on his belly, much
In the same way that the tank gets
into action. When he Is inside he can
not stand up unless he is very short
Like Condensed Battleship.
The first impression made upon the
beholder Is that he Is In the hold Of
some kind of condensed battleship..
All about him are pipes and engines
and strange appliances. He might
think of himself as a dwarf who-had
got under the hood Of a giants auto
mobile. When the vision clears some
what he finds that tank Is model
of orderliness. Everything is in its
proper place and ready for instant use.
| The four men busy with the big
starting handle are having a hard job
and while they are about 1t just fake a
look over the inside of this rumbling
landship. The 105 horsepower gaso-
line engine which furnishes the motive
power is right in the middle Of all the
works and when 1t warns up, as 1t will
presently, it will start the treads to
moving on which the value and pow
err of this device so much depend.
| On either side is rack holding six
Lewis rapid fire guns. The tank car
ries 10000 rounds of ammunition, all
neatly slowed away in what looks like
letter file cases neatly built into odd
corners. That feature of the tank in
side suggests a quiet law office in a
skyscraper.
Novel Steering Device.
The movements of the craft are d.
rected by an officer who sits alongside
the driver. The first tanks had small
wheels behind which looked like rud-
ders, but they were soon discontinued
as they were cumbersome and often
put the craft out of order under ordn-
airy conditions. The tank moves like
twin screw ship which has lost her
rudder. Her course Is determined by
varying the grip on the two caterpill-
ars. One may be thrown out of gear
for moment in order to steer the
tank,
Tanks of this type will stand a pro-
digious amount of punishment. When
they start after machine gun which
the Germans have placed with great
care they proceed with ease and COM
fort through a rain of bullets and In
short order to get close enough to even
the most deftly concealed guns to
silence them. A direct hit from an
1S-nch shell would put a tank and all
its crew out of commission for keeps,
but even ''whizz bangs" do not make
any great difference
As this is female tank, so called
because of her size and the fact that
her armament is lighter than that of
the male of the species, she carries on
ly the Lewis guns. Were she of the
sterner sex she would have not only
the Lewis guns. but also Sponsors on
either side where light artillery would
be mounted.
Is Terror to Hun.
ISL has been in actions in which
she has proved a terror to the Hun
With a torrent of bullets proceeding
from six Lewis guns at once she can
clean up considerable patch of ter
ritory. The guns may be slipped into
ingeniously fashioned ports in which
there is fitted ball bearing contriv-
ance which permits the piece to be
moved in any direction.
The men who do the fighting have
little to bother them, for it is barely
possible even to hear the patter of the
enemy bullets in the front part of the
tank. The driver sits in the forepart OF
this landship peering out through a
narrow slit and directing the progress
with ease. Once driver becomes ac-
oustomed to the surroundings he is as
one of the sedan automobiles
The Germans often hurl bombs at
tanks, but without much effect Oc-
casionally they run up over 1t looking
for trouble. and if one of them happens
to get too near a loophole he is likely
to be picked Off by revolver handled
by a British officer within, but such
excursions over the top are harmless
as far as the tank is concerned
ISL could stand straight up in the
air and yet make good progress ovel
No Mans land into the heart of the
trenches of the foe. When she rears
she resembles an unbroken colt, and
even when she is performing this feat
the men with the Lewis guns can still
keep busy, if they have the nerve tc
hold on and not to mind the awkward
ness of their position.
Has Tremendous Power.
The tremendous power of the tanks
can drive them through barbed wire
fences, knock down light walls and
send them through the frames of or
binary houses. 1t would be an I'M
usual kind of ground indeed on which
its caterpillar treads could not find
some leverage.
Riding in a tank on level ground
gives the occupants the impression
that they are gliding softly along in
side some kind of dragon There is