Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-07-21
GAS BOMBS FOR P0LICEl

GAS BOMBS FOR P0LICEl
Major stephen J. Delaney, formerly
OF the United States Chemical War
fare Service, Tuesday demonstrated
10 the Philadelphia police how tear
GAS bombs. made by him. could be used
10 dispcrsc mobs. stop criminal motor
lists, and conquer men barricaded in
buildings. The policemen who served
a. victims said chat the tests were ef-
noacious. and exhibited themselves as
evidence.
In the first test five men broke UP
: mob Of 200 by throwing gas bombs
into their midst; in the second one a
bomb was thrown into a speeding
automobile. the fumes causing the
driver to come to an immediate stop;
in the last one men within building
were forced to leave because Of the
gas liberated from bombs. In none
of the tests were any men injured
though all for the time being were
rendered powerless.
This gas was well known on the fir
ing line in the World War. Sometimes
il was sprayed by nozzles attached
to tanks: but more often it was liher-
ated from shells and hand grenades
thrown into the eneny's lines. And
sometimes the Germans retorted in
kind. one successful exposure to il
causes the victim to weep copiously,
to choke horribly and frequently
gives all the results Of sea sickness.
No man is at his best when choking
on the internal stun.
The advantages Of this gas are
known in the military world. But il
Is question whether it would be an
act OF wisdom to place it in the hands
of policemen. If scientifically applied,
and then only to the persons who are
to be captured, it might be Of ad-
vantage. But the margin Of accident
is very large. Gas is no respecter
of persons. If thrown into an auto
mobile on a crowded street. the fumes
might float into a dozen passing ma
chimes. cause several drivers 10 lose
control. and thus bring about bad
accidents. Then it might be acci-
dentally cast into the wrong machine.
we need not speculate further on
the result of such carelessness.
OF course these tear gas bombs
would cause barricaded criminals to
lose their powers OF resistance; but
it is not once a year in a city of the
size Of Philadelphia, even, that a gang
of men fortify themselves behind some
closed door. This leaves the prin-
cipaI use of gas to the dispersal of
mobs. And book might be written
on this subject.
First of all, do we wish to disperse
mobs by the use of gas bombs? Have
all other means failed in the past? If
so it is not really the means which
caused the failure. but the police
who used the means. There are two
principal reasons for mob action
economic and sociological hurts. Il
would be far better for US TO remove
the cause of the very occasional mob
actions; but that cannot always be
done. The next best thing is to dis
perse the mob-but to disperse il if
possible without causing hard feel
ings. This is something which the
average American police force cannot
do. our men have TO crack half
hundred heads, kill several persons,
and beat up scores of others, in or
der to gain their way. Every man
who feels the policeman's loaded
billy Immediately becomes an enemy
Of the government-for the time being,
anyway, if not for life.
In Europe the constabulary heads
decades ago learned that real victory
came not from mere mob dispersal.
but by dispensing the mob so that
everyone goes home with a whole skin
A prefect in Paris considers his de-
partment disgraced if his men have
to injure rioters. They pride them