Anticipating Riots by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 25, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 12.

Anticipating Riots.

By Editor

For some reason the Federal Government is apparently looking for trouble from the populace. It can hardly be that attention to the “sure Word of prophecy” has set the War Department to devising means for putting down riots in the States. So it must be that the political or the industrial horoscope reflects omens of further causes of dissent from prevailing conditions. Whatever the cause, the following press despatch from Washington, under date of February 23, is significant:—

The War Department has sent notices to the governors of all the States that it is prepared to supply them upon demand and according to their legal allowances with “riot cartridges.” This is a new form of ammunition prepared by the experts of the ordnance bureau to enable officers of the law and soldiers to repel rioters with the least possible loss of life to the innocent spectators. The shell is like the regular shell used in army rifles, with the important exception that instead of the long, nickel-plated and steel-clad bullet two balls are inserted in the mouth. The design was apparently to secure something of greater range than buckshot, yet not dangerous to persons at a distance. The cartridge is charged with about thirty-four grains of smokeless powder. The balls are made of a mixture of lead and tin in the proportion of sixteen to one, and are slightly coated with paraffine. The diameter of the ball is 3/8-inch and the weight is forty-two grains. The regular primer for smokeless powder is used. The cartridges have sufficient accuracy for effective use at 200 yards.