Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1893 — Fought Without Firearms. [ARTICLE]

Fought Without Firearms.

During the second Carthaginian war, B. C. 216, the Roman legion was 5,200men; under Marius, B. C. 88, it was. 6,200 foot and 700 horse. Gideon defeated the Midianites B. C. 1245 through fright at the “Sound of crashing earthenware and the. flash of lamps during a night attack. ' At 200 feet only ttfS best Spanish armor could resist the English arrow. Many museums have steel corselets pierced through by an arrow. At the coming of the Spaniards, 1492, the most effective weapon among theCaribbean Indians was a wooden lance, the point hardened in the fire. In the fourteenth century armor became so heavy that many soldiers only 30 years old were deformed or permanently disabled by its weight. The Australian wummera is a straight stick with a tube in the end, in Which the handle of a dart is placed, the throw-stick remaining in the hand. A complete suit of horse armor comprised the champont, head piece; manifaire, neck piece; poitrel for the shoulders and croupier over the hips. The Gauls, to make hknfiles fcSr their stone axes, cleft the branch of'a tree, placed the ax in it, and left it till the wound in the wood had been! completely healed. The Roman swords, before Cannro, B. C. 216, were pointless aud sharp on only one side; after t annte, the sharp Spanish 6word, for cutting and thrusting, was adopted. In the archery matches of the eleventh century the range was 200 feet, and for a target a perpendicular willow rod as thick as the finger and-, five feet long was used.