Show I NEW FRENCH EXPLOSIVE KILLS KIUS EVERYTHING WITHIN YARDS One wonders what kind I of she shells is 7 the I French rench must have been using to causo causa a regiment of German infantry n antry to die In ID their 7 trenches trench stand standing bolt upright and still holdin holding their rifles in rl firing attitude remarked remar re- re mar marked ld a London the other paper other day and another correspondent quotes quotas a an Amerl American an member of the tho tho Crois Crola Rouge Houle as having seen the German Gennan trenches as the French guns had left aft them but with dead in such a posture as as' as the world had never seen since the destroying destroying de de- de- de angel passed over the Philistine Philis Philis- tine camp in that avenging a night of at Scripture a silent company of ghosts But there Is no secrecy about what Is now an open secret the latest French producer hell is the invention of M. M Turpin the tho parent inventor of ot and which latter atter is merely so named because th the first experiments were made by Lydd in Kent hent In presence of the French Inventor How f far r this has been or is being used by the French artillery is not known and may not be exactly known till after the war but one of the salient features of this novel terror is that it cannot be fired from an ordinary field gun and for Its use guns of particular and difficult dim dim- cult construction are required The handling of these guns is at present confined to specialists Had the successful successful suc suc- experiments carried out at Marne sur taken place earlier ear car Her lier the result of this war in so far faras faras faras as Its primary stages were concerned might well have been different So lethal ethal in its effect is the new shell on explosion that should shoud its use become widespread whole armies indeed indeed indeed in in- deed entire nations would be completely completely com corn exterminated in the course of ofa ofa ofa a few wee weeks 5 Offered to France M M. Turpin is not only ony a remarkable man he ho is also aso a man who for man many years nursed a serious grievance and who considered that he had been deeply wronged In connection with the discovery discover of his previous inventions inventions inventions and He became became became be be- came resentful and suspicious and determined determined determined de de- de- de to discover some new explosive explosive explosive ex ex- ex- ex plosive that would woud completely throw Into the shade his previous discoveries discover discover- ies which had been Improved by official of of- I tidal French technicians For years ears he worked in his quiet country home some twenty miles from Paris and it is not long ong ago since the French government made him the amende honorable This mollified him considerably and he offered bis his new discovery to his country but France at the imperious demand of her democrats had for many years been cutting down her military expenditure expenditure expenditure ex ex- ex- ex while Germany had been steadily increasing hers In such circumstances circumstances cir dr there was little money to spend on experiments with explosives and the outbreak of war found France not nearly so prepared with artillery in munitions In reserve forces as was vas Germany M. M Turpin however used as he was to war office procrastination had load had hada a special gun and shells made on his own and conducted experiments on the Atlantic coast before carefully selected and invited officers A man who witnessed one of these early demonstrations of the possibilities ties of sends to the Daily Express a description of its terrific effects effects effects ef ef- ef- ef On a stretch of sand yards from high water level a temporary sheepfold had been erected about four hundred yards square and railed off with wooden hurdles In this space were some dozen sheep and a a. couple of aged and worn out horses One of the horses borses was contentedly munching away at some hay in a trough the other was rubbing himself against one of the hurdles while the sheep were huddled together In one corner As If Petrified This was what I saw through my glasses when from behind a ridge some twenty-five twenty hundred yards awa away there came a sharp loud thud and the shrieking sound of a small shell Just Justas as If somebody had taken a piece of silk and rapidly torn it in two It was the same tearing sound only ony louder There was an explosion In the space In the middle of the Improvised improvised open still sheep pen The sheep were all huddled n a a n corner some off ort one of the old horses was apparently leaning up against the railing had been while the other the one that munching hay at the tho trough lay on his side later I reached When ten minutes sheep looked for all the the pen the world as If they had been suddenly petrified They were mostly standing one against the other up but Three or four were lying down all were dead with their eyes ees open and lower ower lips banging hanging ghastly Yet of It was wall absolutely I i all the animals only the old horse that i had been munching hay was hit by a fragment of the shell The other old Td d horse was as half falling half leaning up against the fence his fore legs stretched out forward his hind feet teet doubled up ip on the sand beneath him Both had been killed Instantly There was a faint odor in the air which I can only ony describe as that given off all by spirits yet mixed with a pungent smell of men men- thaI thol There wa was no wind at the time the air being practically still I should like to have seen the gun but this as aswell aswell aswell well as the shells was surrounded by bya a canvas screen That the experiment made a deep impression on those present present present pres pres- ent was quite obvious and I was not surprised therefore to hear that the experiments had been repeated on a much larger arger scale at the French permanent per manent camps of Chalons and Mailly 1 Behind Locked Doors I am told that the experiments got gotto gotto gotto to the ear of the German general staff starr for It appears appeals that various plausible people styled self journalists business agents and others began to call upon M. M Turpin After the war broke out a special guard was placed outside M. M Turpin's residence to warn off oft all unauthorized persons Within the thc thelast thelast last few weeks however Mr Turpin Turpin Turpin Tur Tur- pin has taken up his quarters at a magneto factory in a populous Paris suburb where a number of men have been engaged in preparing the component com corn parts of the shells which are finished off ocr In a private laboratory laboratory lab laL- oratory b by Mr Turpin and two assistants assistants assistants assist assist- ants who work with the doors locked For special reasons which it would be unfair to divulge at the present moment I am strongly strong 1 of opinion that these shells have not been used to any extent b by the French armies Inthe in inthe inthe the field Probably an actual test under under un un- un der battle conditions has been made once or twice but no more A number number num num- ber her of people however have got wind of the matter and imagination has done the rest That this terrific explosive will however be used in case of such an eventuality as sa say an attempt to take Paris by storm I have no doubt but I am convinced that despite the thousands of bombs now prepared and the special apparatuses that are arc being cast this explosive a single pound 56 shell of which is able to kill kill so so to speak speak to to petrify every living thing in a space of square yards will not nol be used unless in fri very desperate circumstances and only with the full fuH consent of Frances France's allies |