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THAT BOLO KNIFE SURE CAME HANDYHenry Johnson, Colored Soldier, Split a Lot of Hun Skulls With the Weapon.WAS ADOPTED FROM MORQSWar Department Now Inuet the Terrible Cleaver to Some of Our Troope, and the Germans Don't Like It at All.Washington.—A year ago Henry Johnson, a colored citizen of Albany. N. Y., was peddling ice, coal and wood In contended obscurity. Today Henry Johnson, a soldier of the United States,Is wearing the coveted French war cross with palms, because he proved himself a brave man. and because at the critical moment he got his hands on a bolo knife.The cable has told of Henry’s exploit—how on night duty with a companion in an American listening post he “took ou” 24 marauding Germans In a swift rough-and-tumble, killed some of them with his ride, bombed others from hfs 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 suddenly and violently homesick.The bolo knLfe which Henry wielded so well weighs one pound and three ounces without its scabbard, and has a broad 24-inch blade. It is sharpened to a razor edge, and near the end runs abruptly to a thrusting point. But one of its chief virtues as u smail-artn is its cleaving power. Most of the weight of the knife is distributed along the back of the blude.Americans first ran up against, the bolo In the Philippines. Over there It was originally an agricultural tool. Just as the machete was in Cuba, and blacksmiths at country crossroads hammered It out tufiuitely and iu all sorts of forms. The “kris“ with its curly blade Is a form of bolo. uud the “cam-pilun’' Is a bigger-bolo.Was Weapon of the Moroa.It was up among the Moros that It was developed for war purposes. In the underbrush it proved a very terrible weapou, us many a trooper found to his cost. A stroke in the tropical night—just one—counted for a major American casualty. After a while our soldiers found there was no particular knack In the Malay use of the bolo they could not master. Then they be-|* gun to capture bolos. And so. ufter the war ended, bolos kept coming back to the United Slates as souvenirs.But it was not until 391.0 that the war department tried the experiment of issuing the bolo kuife as a regular part of the American equipment. It was used and tested by our men In Mexico, hut there it was employed chiefly as a tool rather than a weapon.It was not until our khaki-garbed boys went down Into the French trenches that the bolo knife proved Its right to be considered “the Inst line of defense** and a life-saver to the man who unsheathed It.Our colored troops display n special aptitude Hnd affection for this weapon. The white tighter is Inclined to rely upon his automatic pistol Iu an emergency at close quarters, but the colored man In uniform takes as naturally 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 n larger knife employed exclusively by field artillery batteries. This latter is practically a short sword, comparable to the principal weapon of the old Ilornan legionaries. It Is two feet long and weighs between three and four pounds. Of course, being issued oulv to artillerymen who are not ordinarily actually at grips with the enemy. It is intended mainly as a sort of uuderbrusb cutter. But In the hands of a desperate man fighting for his life «t Is a terrible persuader.The bolo is In no sense a trench knife. That is issued to every roan In the rauks and Is a special tool notmeant for fighting save at the laat gasp. But the 14-lnch bolo knife Is essentially a weapon. It is Issued to six per cent of our infantry forces— not regularly to every seventeenth man. but as occasion may require or the Immediate commanding officer may direct. Henry Johnson was given his because he was assigned to particularly dangerous duty in a listening post. Others may be equipped with bolo knives—for Instance, as members of a special detachment to accompany raiding forces within the enemy lines. Their work must be quick, silent and thoroujjp. From Luneville to Cantlgny the Germans have found it so.The small arms division of the United States ordnance department believes that the bolo knife has points of superiority over any knife In use on the European battlefield, else It would not have been adopted for oof use.MARINE SOUNDS GAS ALARMBack home, a gong similar to this was sounded when old mao Zeke’s barn was afire. In the battle zone lt*s quite a different occasion. This American marine Is sounding the alarm so that crur boys may be prepared to meet the poisonous gas attack being launched by the Germans by put Mug on their gas masks, which the murine has ul-ready done. •Had Asked His Ma.New Philadelphia. O.—That his mother, Mrs. Lennox. Is living In Bridgeport. Conn.. at the age of one hundred and six was what William Lennox, aged seventy, told Deputy Probate Judge J. T. D. Bold when he applied for a license to wed.A British scientist has Invented a microscope that will measure a millionth of an inch.BALDY OF NOME AND
Newspaper Details
Western Kansas World
WaKeeney, Kansas, US
Thu, Aug 01, 1918
Page 7
Full Page
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Salina P.
KS, USA 28 Mar 2022
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