Charlevoix county herald., 1919-10-10
Inventor OF''BIC
'BERTHA"IS INSANE
Ghosts Of Victims of Huge Gun
Have Unseated His
Reason.
SUCCESS BRINGS REMORsE
Men Whose Minds Failed to stand
Up Under Strain and Horrors
Of War His Only Com
panlons.

Berlin.-The inventor Of the big
Bertha" which first shelled Paris on
March %, 1918. from distance of
nearly 80 miles, now Is an inmate OF
the German state asylum In Ander-
mach. Men whose minds failed to
stand up under the strain and horrors
of war are his only companions.
The inventor does not associate
with the other inmates. At rare In
tervals he speaks with the doctors or
nurses I'm the hospital. but then only
q few words. But, once when an
American soldier entered, the Ger
mans face lighted up like that OF q
child with q new toy. To the aston
ishment Of the hospital attendants he
at once approached the visitor and
began to converse with him In Eng
lish.
AS he talked his interest In the
young American seemed almost pathet-
ic. He asked Of America, Americas
part in the war, what America ex-
ticularly was anxious to learn what
America thought of the German air
raids during the war and the bonn
bardment of Paris by the big Ber-
tha"
Tells Story Of Life.
Then, as IL afraid that the young
soldier from overseas was about to
sentence him to some horrible punish
ment, he suddenly began to tell the
story of his own life.
AS young man he had studied at
the greatest universities in Germany.
Chemistry and mechanics had been
his favorite subjects, and In these he
showed great aptitude. AS was nat
ural in Germany at that time his re-
searches soon took him into the field
Of perfecting weapons of war. His
work In this line attracted the atten-
tion OF his government. They gave
him every opportunity for study. He
was sent to England, America and
France. In those places he studied
at close range the guns used by the
armies, the chemical composition of
explosives and the methods of manu-
featuring great shells. When he re-
turned to Germany he was given stock
In the Krupp works, at Essen. Profit
ing by his studies and what he had
learned In other lands, this man set
about to develop what would event
ually be the mightiest cannon In the
world.
Then came August, 1914, and the
war. According to the inventor, his
efforts were redoubled. The big guns.
which destroyed the forts of Belgium,
were not sufficient. For years, the
inventor said, he had dreamed and
planned a weapon that would reach
Paris and when the war came he,
together with the greatest scientist of
Germany, began working upon the
cannon.
Success Brought Only Remorse.
In the spring Of 1918, the inventor
said, they believed their plan had
been accomplished. The great gun
was finished and moved to spot I'm
the lines from which Its shells could
reach Paris. Finally came the day
when II was fred on Paris for the
first time. Apparently It was sue
cess For a few days all Germany
celebrated, the inventor said. For
him, however, this Joy was short
lived. Hardly had the celebration end
ed when the allies seemed to take on
new lease on life. Instead Of dis
couraging them the great gun APP
peared to have driven them to great
er efforts.
"Then came the stories Of the suf-
ferings caused by the gun" the In
ventor said. Instead of killing SOL
diers we had murdered women and
children. My nights became sleep
less. When I did drop into a doze my
dreams were terrible. l became sick
with the thoughts Of my work. I
lost weight. / could not face my
family, and the sight Of women and
children on the street made me faint.
no