The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1919-03-29
Henry Johnson, Colored Soldier,
Split a Lot of Hun Skulls
With the Weapon.
WAS ADOPTED FROM MOROs
War Department Now Issues the Ter
rlble cIeaver to Some of Our
Troops, and the Germans
Don't Like 1t at All.

Washington. year ago Henry
johnson, a colored citizen of Albany,
N. Y, was peddling ice, coal and wood
in contented obscurity. Today Henry
johnson, soldier of the United States,
lis wearing the coveted French war
cross with palms, because he proved
himself brave man, and because at
the critical moment he got his hands
on bolo knife.
The cable has told of Henry's ex-
ploit-how on night duty with COM
panion in an American listening post
he "took on" "a marauding Germans
in swift ough-and-tumble, killed
some of them with his rife, bombed
others from his basket of grenades,
and then, even after he had been
wounded, split so many skulls with his
bolo that all the enemy left on their
feet after meeting Henry became sud-
denly and violently homesick.
The bolo knife which Henry welded
so well weighs one pound and three
ounces without it's Scabbard, and has
q broad 14-inch blade. 1t is sharpened
to a razor edge, and near the end
runs abruptly to a thrusting point. But
one Of it's chief virtues as a small-arm
is it's cleaving power. Most of the
weight of the knife is distributed along
the back Of the blade.
Americans first ran UP against the
b0lo in the Philippines. Over there 1t
was originally an agricultural tool, just
as the machete was in Cuba, and
blacksmiths at country crossroads ham
mered it out infinitely and in all sorts
of forms. The "kris" with it's curly
blade is a form Of bolo, and the cam
plan is bigger bolo.
Was Weapon of the Moros.
It was up among the Moros that it
was developed for war purposes. In
the underbrush it proved a very ter
rible weapon, as many trooper found
to his cost A stroke in the tropical
night-just one-counted for a major
American casualty. After while our
soldiers found there was no particu-
lar knack in the Malay use of the bOl0
They could not master. Then they be-
to. lture, -holoS. And So. after
Ithe war ended, bolOs kept coming back
to the United States as souvenirs.
But it was not until 1910 that the
war department tried the experiment
no hoI brit az a nu1tlo n
part of the American equipment. 1t
was used and tested by our men in
Mexico, but there it was employed
chiefly as a tool rather than weapon.
1t was not until our khaki-garbed boys
went down into the French trenches
that the bolo knife proved its right to
be considered "the last line of defense"
and a life-saver to the man who I'M
sheathed it.
Our colored troops display special
aptitude and affection for this weapon.
The white fighter is inclined to rely
upon his automatic pistol in an emer-
gency at close quarters, but the col
Ored man in uniform takes as natural
ly to the bolo knife as he does to-
well, as he does to the name of "Mr.
Johnson"
Issued to U. S. Troops.
The bolo knife is issued to our
troops in two sizes-the smaller size
of the type which Henry Johnson used,
and larger knife employed exclusive
" by field artillery batteries. This
latter is practically short sword,
comparable to the principal weapon
of the old Roman legionaries. 1t is
two feet long and weighs between
three and four pounds. OF course, be-
ing issued only to artillerymen who
are not ordinarily actually at grips
with the enemy, it is. intended mainly
as sort of underbrush cutter. But
In the hands of desperate man fight
ing for his life IL is terrible per-
suader.
The bolo is in no sense trench
En;fa That ia issued TO every man