Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 259, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1919 — Inventor of “Big Bertha” Is Insane [ARTICLE]

Inventor of “Big Bertha” Is Insane

Ghosts of Victims of Huge Gun Have Unseated His Reason. SUCCESS BRINGS REMORSE Men Whose Minds Failed to Bt£nd Up Under Strain and Horrors of War His Only Companions. Berlin.—The inventor of the “Big Bertha,” which first shelled Paris on March 23, 1918, from a distance of nearly 80 miles, now is an inmate of the German state asylum In Andernach. Men whose minds failed to stand up under the strain and horrors of war are his only companions. The inventor does not associate with the other Inmates. At rare intervals he speaks with the doctors or nurses jn the hospital, but then only a few words. But once when an American soldier entered, the German’s face lighted up like that of a child with a new toy. To the astonishment of the hospital attendants he at once approached the visitor and began to converse with him in English. As he talked his interest In the young American seemed almost pathetic. He asked of America, America’s part in the war, what America expected to do with Germany, and particularly was anxious to learn what America (bought of the German air raids during the war and the bombardment Paris by the “Big Bertha.” Tells Story of Life. Then, as if afraid that the young soldier from overseas was about to sentence him to some horrible punishment, he suddenly began to tell the story of his own life. As a young man he had studied at the greatest universities in Germany. Chemistry and mechanics had been

his favorite subjects, and in* these he showed great aptitude. As was natural in Germany at that time, his researches soon took him into the field of perfecting weapons of war. His work in this llne attracted the attention of his government. They gave him every opportunity for study. He was sent to England,—America—and. France. In those places he studied atcTose range the guns tised by the armies, flie chemical composition of explosives and the methods of manufacturing great shells. When he returned to Germany he was given stock in the Krupp works, at Essen. ing by his studies and what he had learned in other lands, this man set about to develop what would eventually be the mightiest cannon in the world. Then came August, 1914, and the war. According to the inventor, his efforts were redoubled. The big guns, which destroyed the forts of Belgium, were not sufficient. For years, the inventor said, he hah dreamed and planned a weapon that would reach and wffen-’the war eame he, together with the greatest scientist of Germany, began working upon the cannon. Success Brought Only Remorse. In the spring of 1918, the inventor said, they believed their plan had been accomplished. The great gun was finished and moved to a spot in the lines from which its shells could reach Taris. Finally came the day

when it was fired on Paris for the first time? Apparently it was a success. For a few days all Germany celebrated, the inventor said. For him, however, this joy was shortlived. Hardly had the celebration ended when the allies seemed to take on a new lease on life. Instead of discouraging them the great gun apjfeared to have driven them to greater - efforts. “Then came the stories of the safe: ferings caused by the gun,” the inventor‘said. “Instead of killing soldiers we had murdered women and children. My nights became sleepless. When I did drop into a doze my dreams were terrible. I became sick with the thoughts of my work. I lost weight. .1 could not face my family, and the sight of women and children on the street made me faint. Then something snapped.”