Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 60, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 March 1912 — Fatal French Blank Cartridge. [ARTICLE]

Fatal French Blank Cartridge.

A strange and sad accident occurred In the course of drill maneuvers at Montreull-sous-Bols, in the suburbs of Paris, where a soldier was killed by a blank cartridge discharged at him by a fellow soldier. A company of the thirty-first regiment was taken out to Montreuil for maneuvers. At three o’clock in the afternoon the lieutenant in command decided to order a sham attack on a fort, which his soldiers were to storm. Some of the soldiers were posted as sentrleß, and the others were told that in storming the imaginary fort they were to try specially to take the sentries prisoners, but a formal order was given to the soldiers that they were not to load their rifles. In spite of this a shot was suddenly heard, and a soldier fell with a groan: "HiTWara young recruit called Laurent, and near him stood another sotdier who had acted, as sentry and was completely dumfounded by what had happened. Either he did not know that there was a cartridge in the weapon or he fired thinking that It was only a part of the sham fighting. Laurent was taken to the .hospital at Begin, and soon as terward expired. He bad been killed by the packing of the blank cartridge, which, being fired within only a yard or two of him, acted like a bullet. The unfortunate soldier was the eldest son of a widow, who has three smaller children to bring: up.—Paris Correspondence London Telegraph.