The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1919-06-05
METHYL A TERROR
TO THE ENEMY
AMERICANS WENT GERMANS ~
TINES BETTER.
Manufactured in Secret
America Was Prepared to Destroy the
Whole German Nation i'll ms
I
- New Secret Poison Compo md.
New York TimeS.)


blossoms. 1t was an oily amber
iuuid, highly explosive, and burst
ing into fame with water. 1t was
the American super-poison gas, dead
" by contact or by inhalation OF the
smallest detectable portion. A drop
on the hand would cause intolerate
agony and death after few hours
It was called methyl (partly because
that name did not describe it) and 1t
was the climax of this country's
achievement in the lethal arts.
The signing of the armlstlce
spared the enemy any flrst-hand ac-
uuaintance with the terrors OF the
methyl. Major General w. L. Sibert,
in command of the chemical warfare
service. had directed that 5000 tons
of it, in shells and drums, be in read
mess on the battlefield March l,
1919. Ten tons day were being
produced in an 11-acre plant near
Cleveland, Ohio, and the plant was
two months ahead of its schedule
when Foch crossed No Mans Land
to offer terms to a beaten foe. 1t
is estimated that 10 tons of methyl
is one ton more than enough to de-
populate Manhatten Island; and so
it is not difficult to guess what would
have happened had Hindenburg and
his cohorts persisted until spring.
Two days after the armistice was
signed workmen began dismantllng
the big plant. They scrapped the
complicated and expensive apparatus,
every piece of which had been spe-
cially planned and manufactured for
the production of the most terrible
instrument of manslaughter ever con-
ceived. On February the work of
demolition was complete. There re-
NAMED no trace of that scattering
array of barracks, and laboratories
which had been a cradle of death.
But the formulas, processes, and per-
sonnel were painstakingly set down
for the records at Washington
against the contingency of another
war.
There did remain, however, tons
and tons of methyl. What was to be
done with it now that there was no
longer any active occasion for ex-
terminating Germans? Cleveland did
not want the deadly stuff dumped in
to Lake Erie, and there seemed no
practical method of neutralizing it's
deadliness chemically. Almost enough
was on hand to destroy the entire
people of the United States, and some
safe way must be found to dispose of
it.
The ocean was selected as it's
catch-basin. Difficulties were men in
transporting the stuff from Cleveland
to the ocean. Handling such quanti-
ties was perilous. Some was put into
big iron containers, for it does not
react On iron, and those containers
were loaded into freight cars. Then
there was assembled the most extra
ordinary train probably that ever
traversed American railroad tracks.
Z 1t moved under an armed guard and
on a special schedule. No railroad
employe rode on it except the engine
driver. The train moved slowly, so
that two days were consumed in the
journey from Cleveland to the Edge
wood arsenal near Baltimore. Ana
then the iron containers were slowed
gently in a ship and taken so miles
to sea, where they were lowered over
the side into water three miles deep.
Rust will eat pinholes into those
containers, and there will be a min
ute and gradual intermixture of wa
ter with their fatal contents. In such
circumstances there is no flame, but
a slow chemical reaction. Experts
do not believe even that fish will per-
ish from the presence on the ocean
bed of this quantity of poison. When
the salt water of the Atlantic en-
braced the last of those iron tanks,
finis was written to a chapter in
American war effort which, until
now, has been a secret scrupulously
guarded.
Compare this secret new compound
with mustard" which the chemists
dubbed king of poison cases. Mus
tard was first used by the Germans,
with terrific effect, at Ypres, July 20,
1917. Thereafter its use became gen.
eral, and afforded such marked tacti-
cal advantage to the enemy that re-
taliation by the allies became impera-
tive as matter of self-preservation