Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-04-25

Nearly four wears ago all America read
q fiction story from the pen of Arthur
Train, n new York lawyer, and smiled
tho smile of superior knowledge and dis
belief that greet Jules Verne's "Twent3
Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
They had digested THE Man Who
Rocked the Earth" and dldn't believe
sacts set forth therein possible.
Now all America knows that Paris has
been bombarded from a point more than
80 miles away by German arch fiends. In
The 1lth chapter of Mr.. Train's story oc-
.urs this passage:
THE moon rose over sleeping Paris,
silvering the silent reaches of the Seine.
flooding the deserted streets with. mellow
light, yet gently retouching all the dis
ngurements OF the Siege. No lights inu-
minated the cafes, no taxis dashed along
the b~oulevards. no crowds loitered in The
Place de IOpera or the Place Vendome.
Yet, save for these facts. 1t might have
been the Paris OF old time, unvisited by
hunger, misery or death. Safe III
The knowledge that the Germans second
advance had been finally met and effec-
-tually blocked 60 miles outside the walls.
and that an armistice had been declared
to go into effect at midnight Paris SUM
bered peacefully. . No shell could
se hurled u distance OF 60 milee. = = .
Behind q small hill within the German
Qualifications q group OF officers stood in
the moonlight. examining Whist looked
Superficial!y like the hangar OF a small
dirigible. Nesting behind the hill. It cast
Z black rectangular shadow upon the
:rampled sand Of the redoubt.
A Monster Cannon.
"A score OF artisans were busy filing
, deep trench through which a huge pipe
led off son,ewhere-n sort OF deadly
plumbing, for the house sheltered q mon
afop rQ nnn ro.onfnrcoN Inv Son1lot~ of 1ooT
and steel, the whole incased In a cooling
apparatus Of intricate manufacture. From
the open end OF the house the cylindrical
barrel of the gigantic engine OF war
raised itself into the air at an angle of 10
degrees, and from the muzzle to the
ground below 1t was q drop OF more thar
- feet. IN a track running off to the
north rested the projectiles side by side,
resembling in the dim light q row of
steam boilers in the yard OF a locomotive
factory.
"'Well.' remarked one OF the officers.
| turning to the only one of his companions
aot in uniform. 'Thanatos Is ready
1.-The man addressed was Won Heck
mann, the most famous inventor OF milf
kary ordnance in the world. already four
Zines decorated for his services to the
Emperor.
"'Well, shall We start the ball?' asked
4 general. laying his hand on Won Heck
mann's shoulder. But the inventor foun.
1t 80 hard to master his emotion tina. he
could only ned his head.
|. The Relay Gun.
."Yct the bail to which the general
alluded was the d;scharging of a fiendisl,
war machine toward an u~nsuspecting and
harmless city alive with sleeping people,
and the emotion OF the inventor was due
20 the fact thai he had devised and COM
pleted the most atrccious engine Of death
ever conceived by the mind Of man-the
:elay gun An emperor himself
had placed with his own divinely ap-
pointed hands a ribbon over the spot be-
meath which his heart should have
been. sss
THE protectile OF this diabolicai inven-
ION was IS centimeters in diameter and
vas itself a rifle mortar which, In full
flight. % miles from the gun and at the
top Of Its trajectory. exploded In midair.
hurting forward III contained pro3ectiie
| NTH "a additional velocity Of 400 feet
Per second. Tho process rspeAtsd itself.
- final o. core bomb. weighing over ~
: pounds and filled With iyddite. reaching
II marx one minute and o seconds after