Norwich Bulletin Newspaper, October 20, 1914, Page 10

G Death Lurks In ‘the —{Terrible Devices Con- cealed in’ Path of Ad- vancing Enemy— « ;Mines Are Buried in #./Ground or’Sirbmerged in the Sea—Various *22Kinds of Mines in Use %i—How to Congquer 2 *“Mine Field. : . JBMARINE - and terrestrial explo- sive mines are, in the opinion of mili- tary and naval ex- perts - of “interna- f§ ‘tional repute, bound to play important |’ offensive and de- fensive parts -in the all-Europe con- fifet. | . And, consldering “tite- devastating ' possibilities of ‘a fleet of alrships whose aviators are equipped to bombs_ upon unsuspecting, military battleships or. fortified towns, as the “heavy ‘toll of “death and de- struction which has already and, will be Teaped ‘from the mine flelds of war-rid- den Burope: within the next.few ‘months, these same experts belleve that all the are in fayor of the ‘explosive snare len béneath thé waters of the sea the crust of a’propective battlefleld. This stand, too, has been taken in the face ‘of the fear which is perliaps pres. ent in every community in the war zone !fl‘éiy that a bomb-dropping” aircraft ,‘at any moment, sail”over London togn, or Parls, St. Petersburg or. Ant- werp, leaving below a wake ‘of property blown to atoms and a corpse-strewn plain. ] e e i8iir“George Ashton, the :British . mili- expert, is one of the men who, not- ding a long and exhaustive study of modern aircraft and its rela- tion to war, belleves that the army lane or dirigible hold no dire men- “'ds . wholesale, destroyers of life—at least not in their present s velopment. 5 In his recent book, “Ses, Land and Air st""l‘cm-';;ddeflu m{ ent of n co e with bombs droj from afrcraft, ave examples at our disposal of the glmilar case” of bomhardment by ordi- nary guns. Experience tells us that a vegt amount of shell ‘must ‘be fired fo ;'Enz Aocuracy attdined by aireraft in e A jon = Hrent offors. greater. difficutiies than It a e case of slege batteries. S Rakiig. all. the pomts, into. condldera- &a“ it 1s so. difficult to reduce the ed population of & town to, sub- tlon by bombardment, it seems safe o assume that the few hundred aircraft Mt.the disposal of any military power Would be unable to bring serious pres- to. bear upon & hostile nation. num- Bemthe many millions and spread over & wide area.” But with submarine and subterranean fl— a different aspect is presented, strangely enough the mine first made its appearance during the_ siege pf Antwerp in 1685, when ‘an Italian engineer filled several small iron ves- s with gunpowder, arranged for m!r explosion by . rude, clockwork triggers, and floated them down stream to demolish a bridge erected by the enemy. From that time on the mine h‘: Len a recognized adjunct of war- [mxre the world over. * s A 2004 £ * 3 A * * B “fi the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, declared by experts that the naval i CONNECTED BY AND EXPLODE | the terrestrial mine may be exploded either by contact. or by a controlled electric current which sets off the ex- plosive at any moment desired. #The battle of Port-Arthur, during the ‘Russo-Japanese. war, perhaps more than ‘any other- engagement in recent inter- national history, gives the best example of terrestrial mining as well as the sub- marine form of this method of wholesale destruction. % 3 = t" In that engagement the mines con- sisted of heavy Wwooden or ‘metal cases ‘loaded - with .a. charge of pyroxylin. These cases were buried in rows of forty or fifty:yards apart, 200 yards in advance of the lines of defense, and each mine was placed-ten or twelve yards from its neighbor. 3 | "The_contact mines were exploded by the welght of. passing columns pressing a trigger downward and completing an- electric current. The others were fired by “elegtric “currents controlled through wires “which ran back to the fortifica- tions. For its destructive force the ter- restrial mine depends upon the charge of gravel, dirt and stones blown into theair, and upon the. effect of the vioi- lent ' displacement of air caused by the losive. 6 'ocket 'editions .of these terrestrial mines were used. by both. the Rus- | sian_and the- Japanese forces as hand bombs, The Japanese: bombs, weighing fourteen pounds, and . consisting ‘of & of pyroxylin' ‘and meletin ~ con- in’linen ‘bags to which fuses of a fulminate of mercury were attached, were worn into' battle hungabout the soldiers” necks, and when an opportunity- resented itself. the fuses were fired and jo” bombs - cast into-the ranks of the enemy. \ - - v In. that engagement the hand bombs employed by the Russians consisted of from .600 tg 1,400 grams of 'mixed ex- plosives loaded into the empty cartridge cases from three-inch field guns, with fuses attached. As the modern theory of subimarine ming defense has for its. object the moor- ing ‘of these engines of destruction in such a way that no ship may cross the fleld without exploding-one or more of them, attempts to uproot a mine field are among the most dangerous and hope- less diversions of modern warfare. The only form of attack which can be made with any hope of success upon-a terrestrial mine field is countermining, or the driving of tunnels into the ene- my's ;field and from it detonating ex- plosives to destroy the hostile mines. In the case of submarine mine fields ity of the French over the Ger- mans was to a great ‘extent neutralized when the Germans made ‘extensive use electrical, mechanical and . fies In their systém of harbor defense. The h-American war, and later the battle of Port Arthur, in which the g fleet suffered so terribly-from Ihis method of defense, each had its Eoprer 1o add to the - history. of ‘mines, early in the present European Strug- gle traces of the widespread use of sub- ne explosive devices were found. filpmu and military men now are of opinion that the British cruiser Am- phion, which went down in the North struck two mines that had been set mfl. in violation of the rules of civilized warfare. It is. further. assumed that these mines: were of the deadly chemical sontact varfety uncontrollable from the moment they are planted. fl: Hague rules governing the warfare tions permits a country to mine as it pleases the waters of its rivers and karbors and its own coast to the ‘interna- tional limit of three miles offshore, where Eg. high seas begin. But. when a mine ‘Planted. on the high seas, it must be sne which: will loose its potency within am_hour after it is placed In the water, which means, in effect, that nothing but *a torpedo may be used at a distance greater than three miles from the'coast, ind _even. the torpedo is subject to the bme-hour rule. d Every nation has its own Nrflc&\g‘&!‘ and secret method for mining its - rivers and sea channels. The usual pl of a mine field consists of laying the explosive snares across.a harbor or waterway in several directions, tlhl:a.ving parrow, tortupus passage roug] =hlch friendly vessels may be piloted. The charts of these mine flelis, showing Tocation: of the hidden danger to [bping are guarded carefully, and their ls usually known only to two or o officers, - - iPermanent_ and secret mine fields are In general use as harbor defenses throughout the - world. To ' accomplish their permanency and yet avoid the dan- gers to shipping which their presence atails, such mine flelds are usually iated with buyant, .contact mines, or, “other words,” mines which ‘are of wpherical shape, float near the surface pf. the water and are ‘exploded by ‘con-’ luct with a ship. “Fhese mines in time of peace are moared close 1o the river or harbor bed, attached to the :moorings. are small shirges of explosives. Should a sudden jmereency. arise, these small charges are letgnated from shcre, the close moor- s are releasen, and they rise to a point r enough to the surface to come in: Dytact: with any veesel passing above hem. ‘Terrestrinl mines ir. the mnatn, not catiy differont In principle from those s the eubmarine variety, except -that are planted at a_depth. of three or our feet anderground, irstead of sub- rged In the waters ¢f Tivers and hai- ko e submarine hrother of deai. dummy, |, Kind Mother Made. Senator Thomas Sterling of South Dakota possesses one of the oldest names in Scottish history, a name . which has gone back for hundreds of years in wealth and’ fame. Yet few man have known the hard work, the actual pinch of poverty, as he. . His ancestors were nobles from the south of Eng- land, who were brought to Scotland by King David I Sterling Castle, famous-in song:and story, is connected with the family, who for many genera- tions were governors. A Janet Sterling Was a maid-in-wafting to Mary Queen of Scots, and both in England and Scotland the house " boasted. of .great names in the army, navy and in civil life. In America today there are descendants of these sturdy men to the number of hundreds of thousands. The ‘senator was born in.Ohio, but emigrated with his parents to South Dakota early enough to be one of the original settlers, as he reached that country in 1882. His early life on the farm was one of struggle, so that when he decided to attend the college in the same ‘county it was found neces- sary to have him “bach” with a friend named Ephraim. ‘An_expenditure of $150 for a table was regarded as a needless extrava- gance, which was often regretted when both ‘money and food were out of sight. Sterling’s mother would help out by sending-him baskets of things from the farm. A njckel in those days 1ooked as big to him as a mill wheel. One cold, raw March day voung Sterling went back to_his room to find the place fireless. Both boys were ipractically at the end of their financial {cope, und the cheerless -chamber, the fircless stove and chilly rain outside made an empty stomach flatter than ttineg an education under these ies was not a pleasant job. Epkraim. jerked his thumb cupboard and told the dis- d to “Look in there.” fat “lookedyt i9 And—a Present’ toward heartered Sterling TALIAN INVENTION, TWO [LOATING LE. “THEMINE S AREDRAWN AGATNST SHIPS SIDE WHEN Sy HITS CABLE S 5 3 IXPLODES » CONTACT; SEAWATER RusHES EXPLOSION three methods may. be used. The first is _marine countermining. This is done With the aid of a high-speed launch from which ten or a dozen mines are automatically dropped into the waters mined by the enemy. When the counter- mines are fired the mines of the enemy are exploded. The second form.of pro- ceeding against, a hostile mine field is one which has been adopted by the British government. It is called “‘mine- Sweeping,” and is performed by trawlers, a fleet of which type of craft-is main tained by the government for this pur- pose. * * ¥ These trawlers are fitted with a special gear known as “picking-up gear,” which catches and removes all mines from the path of an advancing fleet. Other na- tions employ this system of “sweeping"" by .means of .long cables stretched be- tween two launches, which catch and = . BY 3 T AND PRESSES F TEVER , RESULTING entangle tlie planted hostile mines, pull- ing them from.their. The third method of conquering a mine and consists in dragging hooks along the bottom to fleld is called ‘‘creeping, GYL n\l'DRIC%.ND'LU MINE-SWEEP NG anchorage. locate cable, which are then severed. Each of the world powers possesses its own individudl plans for the con- struction of submarine mines, haps, its own particular method of det- the detalls of which are as carefully guarded as are the plans of the national fortifications or the draw- ings showing the- construction of our own great naval rifles. broad, general way, all submarine mines are constructed upon similar basic prin- onating them, ciples. Submarine mines may be divided into various classes, and, And-.yet, according to whether they explode from contact or from a cur- rent made from shore; whether they are fired by a trigger or by the breaking of ‘a phial of acid, which makes the distinction between mechani- cal and chemical mines; or according to per- in 2 according to ATTE:LA‘HNG ‘SHie STERNVIEW OF ABRITISK MINE- LaymeVEssEL THE! X2 . MiNES RANGED WA Row ERICAL™ “On THE RAILS WilGiPROJECT - OVER THEWATER, CANBEAUTO-. ‘MATICALLY DROPPED - STRING AS THEVESSEL STEAMS ALoNG. N THIsWay A MinE - HEenp CaN BRVERY < APPARATUS ToDE ATTACHED To B RINZ Mine So Tuar It MAY BE FX- ATTINED AND REPAIRED WITH SATETY. GEAR whether they float near ‘the surface or are moored near the bed of the river or the ocean. » - » 3 Cxew . The contact mine is exploded when a ship touches it. This detonation may be accomplished either mechanically or chemically. In shape and size these contact mines vary, but are usually either cylindrical or spherical in shape, the latter ‘type predominating, as its globular case offers the least resistance of any of the mine types to the current of rivers or bays, and can also stand a greater amount of external pressure than any other. The cases of these mines are constructed of mild steel. Controllable mines, socalled in contra- distinction to the contact mine, derive their names from the fact that they are detonated usually by an electric cur- rent from wires leading to a switchboard ashore. This type is itself divided into roasted chicken, a bowl of light bis- cuit, a basket of doughnuts, a bolled ham, a jar of apple butter, a big, laughing " pumpkin pie—all the kind mqther made, g Sheir: de, resting happily -on. the The huckster on his way to town had stopped at the Sterling farm, and the mother had sent in to ‘her boy what she knew would cheer his heart and Stomach. Never since then has any sight seemed as beautiful the roast chicken and ple Mot toe fame of succeeding vears, not ev. glory of Solomon could ever equcflfl‘ tg: thrill of happiness which those cold provisions sent down the future sen- ator’s hungry backbone. OrHis Toga? When Senator John Randolph Thornton ot Louisiana leaves the Senate next March Senator Bankhead of Alabama will be the only Confed- erate veteran re- maining in that body. Thornton joined the army when but fifteen and served till the S - close of the con filct, when he took up farming. Though a lawyer, he still retains a fondness for country life, and at his place in the south boasts of fifteen different varieties of vegetables which have grown most successfully under his own directions. ‘When Thornton was a lad his teacher one day read out the history lesson. Tt was about Rome and the gallant fellow. who “swam_across the river three times before breakfast.” Young Thorn. ton asked if he might put in a ques- tion. When the teacher told him to go ahead, he rose in his seat and asked: “If that man Swam across the Tiber thiree times,” insisted -Thornton, I want to know how he got back to where ae-leit bia-‘brliches’s* - ~ Not the! They Understood! half an hour thrqugh “Our farms are so big,” Senator James Porter McCumber of North Dakota is from the state which is famed for its big farms. North Dakota, it is said, raises one-sixth of the entire wheat crop of the Union, and the large ranches are several thou- sand acre sin ex- tent. Often the train will go for one field of grain. said the sena- tor once in making a speech anent the glorles of his state, couple starts out children bring home McCumber also has in his native heath | ad Lands,” the famous figured so prominentl for “that when a bridal the cows their the milk.” which have y in the history of the great Indlan uprisings in the west years ago. ritory full Not only These lands are a wide ter- of sand and sand r were they bad on account of thelr story arid nature and the huge crevasses into which their hot surface was split, but also there was often seen to move mysteriously pale, blue, flickering Indians thought to gleams were found the gas rising from h which had become igni That some of the Indi educated and must well t white man's status: is shown dent: Two chiefs, Wolf, called at McCu ignora; by b him on some business, secretary was out. The learned that McCum at 2 o'clock. impart this stolid braves. The esticulated il anaged to murmu over them at night lights, which the be spirits. These by scientists to be ldden seams of coal have become smile at the of their true the following _inci- wo Stars and Blacl mber’s office to see but the senator phoned and would be back nce ber The trouble now was tc information to the two secretary worked himself up into o , pointed to the figure two on the ke - _ madma ‘Senator—ba nd J— Rointing and g0iBg ou WMuch as & siv, Will poL stand ; dancing dervish in a prayerful mood. The Tndians. did not move, but sat sol- emnly through the moving-picture per- formance used by the secretary to in- form they that the senator would be back at two. Disgusted at what he thought was his ineffectual attempt to impart knowledge, the secretary sat down in despair. Then Two Stars rose up in the majesty of his six feet and handsome blanket. “I am much obliged to. vou, sir,” he sald slowly, in excellent English, “for the trouble you have taken. 1 will re- turn at 2 o'clock, but any hour the sen- ator will set will be equall; c - Eboe Wtk met qually’ as conven. And then they went out. leavin, secretary feeling as though he ol like to ‘creep into a prairie-dog hole and pull in the edges after him. Agreed! Senator Borah of Idaho is credited with. this story, told at a recent dinner: There was a particularly grouchy congress- man, it seems, who attended some sort of" an affair where he had the misfor- tune to meet a pompous gentle- man who immedi- ately began to explain tariff, ship sub- sidy, foreign relation bt s. The s ongress,” the pompous | gentleman, “should do better on the con Seure Suay CRoos: two classes, fixed mines and observation mines. The fixed mine is the simpler form. It is planted and then exploded from the switchboard. The observation mine, on the other hand, when struck by a vessel passing above it does not explode, but sends ' a signal to the switchboard room ashore. The operator there may then explode the mine by current if-he so desires. The ~ difference between the buoyant type and the ground mine is apparent. The buoyant mine rests just beneath the surface, and is fired either by contact or by current. The ground mine is an- chored deep in the water, usually at a depth_of thirty-five or forty feet. It is exploded either by current or by a smaller sphera which floats near the sur- face and which contains a circuit closer which acts upon contact with any vessel. In the construction of a Submarine mine, no matter what the character may be, the charges used are generally gun- cotton, and in some instances dynamite. Guncotton is_especially chosen. because it seldom explodes in sympathy- with other mines, thus permitting the ex- plosion of individual controllable mines in a field and the holding of others in reserve. Guncotton, too, is safe to A Qumc_m" PHNOTO PY STevEn CR 10, 0 Ao 3t handle and store,.and may even be used in its wet state. . = One of the most usual typés of harbor mine is the contact chemical mine. This- mine generally consists of a sphere fill with guncotton or dynamite. From -thi surface of the mine a number 0f leaden plungers project. . When one of the:z plungers is. struck, it breaks a tubé of. picric or sulphuric acid imbedded ifi- powdered ‘sugar and chlorate. of potash, and the detonatiop results, . Inventors in Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy have been especially active in the last few years in putting together- these engines of destruction, and recently a_good _heen. upon them in the United States. e issued:, European in. Foremost among jbomb _is| ventors, of the Glovanni Emanue within the lasf ceived two pat x of Flia's provides- a. mechanism by which a ship, striking’ his mine near the bow causes the mine) to oscillate and work itself backward, so : that when tlie explosion occurs, the de=. stroying engine Is nearer ‘amfdships and’ at a more vital point of attack than the: bow. ; The second Elia patent issued this year: calls for two mines®connected by ai floating cable and rigged with sea. anchors, so that when the bow of a ves-; Sel engages the floating cable, both the. mines are dragged inward along th vessel's sides, while another cable a tached to the sea anchors operates @i mechanism to explode the bombs. - = A third’ patent issued - by.: the o office is to Morris Klauber, a German In. ventor. The feature of this engine con—: sists of a glass capiplaced at the apex, of the bomb. Contact with a ship breaks this cap, permitting the entrance: of sea water, the welght of which re-; This bomb is also equipped with-a- detonating cap, causes the explosion. This bomb is alsa eguipped with a device by which a barrier may be in- terposed between the firing hammer and the cap, rendering it safe during the operation of plantife. o ] HOW SWITZERLAND MET WAR CRISIS OW Switzerland, th‘c smallest coun- H try in Europe, met the recent crisis is vividly described by a Washingtonlan who is now there and who was fortunate enough, a short time ago, to get letters through the relatives in this city. The writer describes Switzerland’s determina- tion to establish her neutralify as fol- lows: “July 31 an extra newspaper appeared in the streets and on the stands of Swit- zerland containing the following message from the executive body: “iOn account of thé present serlous political _situation of Europe the bundes- rath of Switzerland in its today’s session has decided to notify the whole army to hold' itself ‘in readiness to march to the frontier and to guard the most important of our means of communication. “ “These military operations.are not the result of any danger whatever - threat- ening from the outside—they are simply the precautions which seem at the pres- ent moment necessary to make. That part of the army called the landessturm, sent to the frontier ‘is simply to see that our boundaries are respected. The rest of the army will have other duties to per—| form.’ ““This paper appeared early” Friday aft- ernoon. By 6 o'clock all the groceries, bought out by anxious householders. had closed their = shutters. The wholesale houses had been requistioned by the gov- ernment and could not sell to the retail- ers and a regular panic ensued. ““Those shops which reopened refused paper money and_also refused credit. Soon the National Bank issued notes for the gold ten and twenty franc pieces—$4 and §2, respectively—but these were s0 new hardly a shopkeeper | mater of imniigration.” The grouchy congressman, who had | been getting more and more bored, ! jumped to his feet and exclaimed: i “You bet! We're wasting our time. An immigrant can't speak English, so We needn’'t bother him. But we ought to be arranging to get some of the people already In this country out of i The whose preseht terms will expire on the 3d of next| *h is a long one. On that date of our solons will cease the vice of the last term for whicl holding office. And many, them Senator Stephenson of W mong scon- & keseloction, _ ¢ the a turm People stor to et their 88, “The were full suring articl ce st were | brought £ 2 to show that Bern had | t three months in also shown that ons € the event of sieg: Importance of Sea Power. é¢"["HE importance of -sea power demonstrated In this war,” said a naval officer, “‘and-the possibility fs that the lesson will not be lost on the Ameri- The sea power of Great of can publie. Britain is the greatest .weapop of tha allfes. * ' German * cominerce * ‘has’ “been brought to a standstill. Such therchamt ships as fly the German flag”are idle in neutral ports, bound up in their own ports, ‘under judgment ‘ before British prize courts or at the bottom of the sea._ Outside food supplies are cut off and the sale of German products abroad is stop- ped. The German fleet, “representing heavy expendityres of money .and time, is sealed up, and the legions of men man- ning those ships are prevented from striking the blow for which they have long been trained and fed. e “This matter of sealing up the Potts-of a trading nation may not be so impres- sively tragic or dramatic as the- hurling back of an army, but it is practical and effectivé warfare, paralyzes the countryi. increases the hardships of War on’nobs, combatants and combatants, and st: those backfires of discontent which offen lead to such a general demand for peace that the blockaded nation makes the best terms it can. “Great Britain, commanding the seas, keeps her own ports open and commerte - | moving, feeds her own people, and trins« ports troops and supplies without inter- ruption. German officialdom has made.it plain that Russia’s action was anticipat- | ed and France's expected, but that Great would accept them. The gold reserve,' Britain's was inexcusable and unforgiv- which is large, is to be kept unto r*lhn(l i::am the vaults and no paper can be redeemed | *P} Es until further motice. Saturday morning| ‘‘Germiany felt that on land she could ! crush France and hold Russia in detall. Her fleet would probably have destroyed {or blockaded the fleets of Russla and France and would have sealed up the coasts of France. open and those of France closed, the call With her own ports the withdrwal of large sums of money |for speéd in her campaign would not have from the ks would be dangerous to|been so imperative as it has been. - Sed the nation. ¢ people were urged to be|power In the struggle of nations has beéd cajm and is emphasized by all authorities on . e strategy and is clearly understood by peo- ju | erland, od Liund, determin cere to as little navy, wen - st iple of common sense. “The lesson I would draw from this is hat the United States should maintain ts fleet at the top point of readiness and cy, that the fleet should be as as the United States might require emergency of war, and that that ent should not.be estimated and d by those who, though si d patriotic, are generaly referred ¥y v