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TO KILL SPANIARDS.CUBAN DYNAMITERS LEARN HOW TO DESTROY THEIR ENEMIES.Reeent Tents In New England— Hoped oiOUtit Powder Will IH* KxpliMlefl ( nderthe Feet of lan hing Soliliern TroublfAhead For Weyler’s Minion*.The wholesale slaughter of Spaniards is b« iiiK planned near Rockport, Maw*., by a party of men understood to !#• under orders of the Cuban leaders. Experiments have been carried on at Coffin V Beach for some time with new forms cl dynamite bombs. The new plan has passed the experimental stage, and ihe next news of the scheme will, if the hopes of the experimenters are realized, be* the absolute destruction of an entire Spanish column.Coffin's Beach is a fine stretch of hard sand two miles long and 000 feet wide at high tide. Before it is the sea and behind it are sand hills. It is seven miles from the city, far away from any residences, and there the dynamiters may blast and fire to their heart’s content without fear of interruption or interference.On a recent morning the sand stretchwas smooth and hard. On that same day, in the evening, when the dark men were through it was marked by long, deep, ragged trenches, the results of explosions of chains of dynamite cartridges.The detonating agent employed was electricity, and the problem the experimenters have overcome is to fire simultaneously 100 or more dynamite cartridges laid in a line.The quickness of dynamite is an obstacle to such a death train. The cartridge to which the wires lead explodes right enough, but it not infrequently happens that the first explosion scatters the cartridges and breaks the chain This is what they sought to remedy, and they have succeeded. Just how is the secret of the experimenters.The use of dynamite against the Spaniards is no new thing to the Cubans in the field. Not only by dynamite mines, but by dynamite guns, they have destroyed masses of the enemy, until today the Spanish force that will stand the shock of a machete charge and ad’ vance in the face of the fiercest rifle fire the Cuban troops can project will scatter and fly when the giant powder begins to tear the earth about them. The Spanish soldiers can understand machetes and bullets, but the explosion that comes from where no man can see is too much for them.But up to this time the dynamite mines have simply been large depositsof the explosive laid in the track of the Spanish columns. When such a deposit is exploded, it tears a great hole in the earth, but its destructive effect seldom extends over a spot larger than a circle 40 feet in diameter. There is not the resistance to produce the full effect of the powder. Then, again, it is necessary to place such a large quantity of dynamite that the advance guard of a column is very likely to discover the mine and warn the main body.It will be very different »hen the new system is employed. The sticks of iynamite may be laid indefinitely just under tho dust of the road. A couple of inches will conceal it effectually. It is is easy to place and as hard to detect as 100 feet of inch rope would be.The Spanish column usually marches n pretty solid order along the rough roads. The only precautionary bodies we an advance guard of a few men, ialf a dozen men riding on the flanks, ind a rear guard. The main body march's pretty closely, particularly the in-'antry, which is the greater branch of he Spauisb service. With a dynamite 'hain laid in such a road one man with lis hand on the key of an electric bat-ery is a menace to a whole column. Hie Spaniards commonly march with ibout 1,000 men in a command. The jperator, watching with fieldglasses :rom cover maybe a quarter of a mile kway, holds his hand until the whole ine is directly over the murderous ?hain.Then a touch on the button and the vhole column is blown into the air. In his way an ordinary case (50 pounds) f dynamite may be counted upon to till or maim every man 50 yards along i column's length.The plan is to have such long minesasy to Takeasy to OperateAre features peculiar to Hood’s Pills. Smaii! insize, tasteless, efficient, thorough As one mansaid: *• You never know you have taken a pill till it is all over M 25c. C. I. Hood Co.,Proprietors, Lowell, Mass.The only p||2s to take witfc UooU’s SaraaparPillsat various places along a road that after the first, explosion the remnant of the dynamited column must run over another mine whether it advances or retreats.The awful chain may be laid in the center of the ro;td or in the rough edges among tho wild pineapples or in the stone walls wliieh bound nearly every highway. No marching army can ex^im-ine every foot of its road before proceeding-At Coffin’s Beach J00 dynamite cartridges, weighing a quarter of a poundeach, were laid m the hard sand of the beach and connections made with an electric battery. There are numerous sand mounds in the vicinity and behind these the party sought protection.The key was touched and at the same moment showers of sand were hurled in the air, and enough was learned to justify the conclusion that the new way of discharging these dynamite tombs is a decided success.Hereafter the Cubans will have in their possession a weapon against which mere numbers will he unavailing, the knowledge of which will strike fear to the Spanish troops and dishearten them in advance.Similar experiments were tried at Wells Beach sometime ago, the operations being very secretly conducted — New York Journal.LI HUNG CHANG’S TREE.It Wa» Planted at Grant’s Tomb bjVan^ Yu.Mr. Yang Yu, formerly Chinese minister to the United States and now special representative of the Chinese emperor to the courts of St. Petersburg, Berlin and The Hague, recently planted a tree at the grave of General Grant which Li Hung Cbang desired should be placed there in his name, the tomb not having been completed when the viceroy w’as here.Mr. Yu and his suit left the Waldorf hotel in carriages, and at the Fifth avenue and Fifty-ninth street entrance to Central park were met by a squad of mounted police, who escorted the distinguished visitors to the tomb, where Mr. Yu planted the tree in the name of Li Hung Chang on the site of the small tomb, which had just been torn down. President McMillan and Colonel Van Rensselaer Cruger of the park board accompanied the party.The tree, which was sent here from China, belongs to what is termed the “maidenhair” variety, according to Superintendent Parsons of the park department. It is about seven feet in height, and it is believed will thrive very well.—New York Herald.SANK IN THE SAND.Narrow Escape of a Funeral Party Wl\;le ( roAditig a Treacherous Stream.A funeral party returning from the funeral of Mrs. Jane Crosby, near Leach, O., met with a strange accident.While fording Salt creek, which was high and out of its banks from heavy rains, a buggy in which were riding two brothers, Harry and Walker Smith, grandsons of the deceased, began to sink in the quicksand, and the horse, becoming scared, backed directly into the swift current of the stream, and in a few minutes both buggy and horse were buried out of sight in the treacherous sand.The boys weie rescued with considerable trouble. The hearse in attempting to cross at the same point almost went down, and in the efforts to rescue it and the struggling horse the glass in the vehicle was broken and it was badly demolished.Others of the party had narrow escapes. Searchers after the unfortunate animal were unable to find either the1___
Newspaper Details
Kokomo Daily Tribune
Kokomo, Indiana, US
Fri, May 14, 1897
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
University O.
USA 01 Mar 2018
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