The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-03-28
Explosions Not Powerful
Enough to Wreck Build
ings or Cause Havoc
SHOTS FAILED TO
ALARM THE PUBLIC
Rumor in the French Capital That Gun
Had Burst or Was Destroyed-Sys
TEN Studied in French Laboratories
Probably Used.

PARIS, Monday, March 25.-At $50
o clock this morning Paris was aroused
by the now familiar boom of explosions
from the German TELEGRAPH Can
non,' as the correspondent heard q
gamin call it yesterday. \ few min
utcs later gendarmes made their ap-
pcarance somewhat sheepishly beating
small drums along the thoroughfares.
They so exactly resembled the town
crier in French provincial <own or the
barker on platform of one of the
booths at NeuilIy Fair, that everywhere
they were greeted with laughter and
jokes. Besides, every one so welcomed
the change from the racking
shrek of the sirens that what the Ger.
mans imagine TO be a signal of horror
% the French capital actually became
/ for Parisians an occasion of mirth and
good humor.
| Life this morning is absolutely nor
NAL. All public services are working
usual, and it is literally true that
Paris is taking no notice of the bonn
'ardmeHt In point OF fact, the bonn
aardment has done Paris morale no
mall service. To begin with, it had q
reneraT tonic effect on the whole pop
'lation. Secondly, it has given Pari-
ians . new thing to talk about, which
certainly has been useful in keeping
heir minds of the offensive.
Ii is incredible how little every one
has been affected by the news of the
British withdrawal. Nowhere in tho
itv were there any traces Of alarm no
,iceable when it was necessary to give
ground during the first days at Verdun
The people simple don t think of il a
all-orguments pro ana con on thu
| long-raugc gun are the sole topic o
l conversation.
| Although one still hears theories o
| German airplaues dropping shells from
/ so high overhead as to be invisible, o
/ TOT vrritablc air torpedo moving b
| its own propulsion * in the water, tn
| idea of o gun is generally accepted i
| expert and official circles 1t is rathe
| definitely agreed that the enemy ha
! utilized some form OF the system whic
| IS being studied here in the government
| laboratory by Professor Hugenird an
its inventor, the Russian savant, Chi
owsky. whose principle consists in
special form of fuse in the nose of tn
sholl which emits hot air during il
] passage and thus diminishes the resis
ancc enormously. The extreme thicl
: ness of the shell in proportion to tt
1 charge Of explosive it carries seen
| 70 establish beyond doubt that it is
\ the shell rather than the gun that Il
/ basis of novelty consists. Moreove
| artillery experts are unanimous in Il
| opinion that shell modification alor
l these lines presents far less ditiicult
I and improbability than the solution
I bablistic problems required in the pr
] luction of cannon of such vastly i
l creased power.
| Thousands of persons this mornil
made a tour of the places where Il
[ new German missiles had fallen. r
I most striking impression seems to
I the small amount of damage done
\ these shells in comparison to the c
binary airplane bombs. At one pla
saw a hole made by a she'll viii