, 1873-12-28

II know it." said tho President; "for, II wo
constructed our cannon according 10 those pro"
o!tFsns Fs9soty yGGa siHy S1s tss' mo
You might "a well tako pistol f."
"Just ao.n answered tho President, "and for
tint tint reason ' propose to 'neko our cannon 'oo
This xas agreed to, and tho length Of the ee,,.
Tho g!doa should be s!x foot shok.
"Yen VII probably noman n0t mon' on car"
"ob, that would bo grand" said J. 7. Ma6.
ton.
"But impraoticab1o." " said tho Presldont., ~
stall oHat tho gun u the ground ea ern II WI nus
1t was, subsequently, determined .l to mako ~, the
such gun, porpcndicularly and solidly aot In
Tue COMMITTEES then wont to work to calon1ato
tho weight OF q oast-iron cannon, nino hundrcd
foot long, with 4 boro nino foot In diamotor and
yn sdos s feet sna 9Son Ss @ ns
would cost, at two cents pound $2,721 900.
So this little matter was also aottlod.
The next dny tho powder question was before
tho Committee onc 9f the ena9o.s MS]otf
gunpowdor during. tho wgr, and :, Who was
Tx "attss Undo mo- eneg. posud
bs nq@ s irod Fly ~ sixteen pounds Of powder Tic
Armstrong cannon requires soycnty-flve pounds
Of powder for an 800 pound bill, and tho nodman
Coiumbiad eonds d half ton ball miles with 160
pounds ot powder g. yon &c. e ehn cess
i Is 500 that" said J. r. Mataon, " and If YOU
only mais yo''s, s,t eell big enough "o won't want
The Committee smiled, and the Major thon
stated that he had calculated that tho wofght Of
powder necessary In their cannon would bo
equal to ono.tonth tho wojght OF the ball. and
II will therefore require 6oo,ooo pounds OF
"Dotter have 100000 pounds" cried !. T.
Maaton.
Tho idea of this enormous mass of powder !
mittee, for . few moments, sat In silence. But
thoy wero still moro nstonished when tho Prosi-
dent directly announced that III his opinion
800, 600 pounds would not bo enough.
GThat will nevor dot'' cried J. 7. Maston,
"ncver dol 100000 pounds Of powder will
occupy space Of $4,000 cubic foot and, rs tho
powdor will nearly half fill It, and thoro won't be
room, enough left to give. The ball decent
start"
DO not intend to usc that much powler--1 only
want tho forco ot that quantity, and 30 pro-
pose that, instoad of powder, wo use g,1n-cotton,
!, Of which 100000 pounds mill 70 equal to
100000 pounds Of powder, q and It will oecnpy
| 700 feet 70 run before taking it's grand flight
towards tho Queen OF Night"
And go the powder question was sottlod.. :,
Among the 4o,o00,oo0 Inhabitants Of tho
| doubted tho euccosa Of the great scheme OF
tho Gun Club, This man was Oapt. Nichol,
| and he lived III Philadelphia. It was
natural for him to DO an enemy to tue
| Gun Club, for ho wns manufacturer OF
armor-plates.. During tho whole war, whenever
| tho artiloriatB invented now proioctilo, or m
unusually powerful cannon, Niehol invented .
| new armor-plato. SWhenoyer Nichol dreamed.
| President Darbicane OF tho Gun Club. appeared
to him in tho form OF q. conical bull. which
| pierced him through and through. And WHOM
! over Barbfcane dreamed, he saw Ntcho! I IN tue
shape OF m immonao iron-olad, against tho i'm
penetrablo Bit.es OF which ho WAS obliged to
| battor hla unfortunate lond. Nichol was on par
ticulRrly bad terms with Barbecue because, On
tho worry day Oh which peace was declared, tho
former had finished plate Of m entirely now
proaiaent Of tho Gun Jlub to lre at Il his best
cannon and his most perfect ball. tho proposi-
tion MAS dooliued. Nichol waxed extremely
angry at this, and offered Barb1cano tue most
| his plato 200 yards from tho cannon, but this
was refused, aa we'll as subsequent offers OF 100
yards, ~ yards, and 30 yards. at last the Cap-
tain, perfectly furious offered to place his plato
Is yards from tho cnnnon, nnd to stand behind
| i'll But Barbicane answered Tint he would not
| make the experiment, pot oven il Capt. Nlchol
| STOOD before his plato.
Then Capt. Nioho1 attackod Barbicano through
| tho newgpaperg. He agsartnd that the plau was
all nonBenso, and proposed series Of wagora.
rs follows:
E;rst-TAat tho money would mover bo raised for
seeesd@tTkss con ~ thoy could not cast tic CANNON
siaF ~ g9. S,x ,ne eona o c
TINT the gun-cotton would 60 OF Of It's owl, nc
FearthNThst ths cannon would burst At the -.
| fra
"a. a1S: tls 5si would 60 shout 81: miles.
aud would como tunbling back III q few Sec
On the 18th OF October, Nichol received tho
following note: ..
BALTIMORE, Oct. 10.
Taken.
Ono question now remained to bo decided, and
that waa.-Wllore should tho experiment bo
tried? Tho Gun Club held q mccting to con-
Bider this subject, and 1t was agreed that tho
beyond tho twenty eighth parallel Of latltude,
and that any place In those sections would an
aver the purpose.
Tha question was settled on this basis.
and the consequence was that thoro aroso %
ern Te3ns and Florida Tho whole country was
agitatod by tho controversy. The newspapers
and periodicals took It up such publications as
and the Riverside Afaqazine sustained Texas,
whle tho Washington Chronicle. tho Now York
tribune aud tho Newark Register stood up
boldly for Florida.
Tho matter bocamo embarrassing. A war be
twoen Florida and Texas was throatonoa At
laat Darbicane Bott1nd the mattor. To1aH," p"
said ho, J" has, at least oloyan citiea which will
answer o,lr purpose very we'll. Now, il we de-
oido in favor Of Texas those eleven cittos will
be lighting for tho honor Of tho ontorpriso.
There ID but ono town in Florida suitably eitu-
atod; go, let ua go for Florida md tho town Of
Tampat"
rho Texas party was dlsgusted. IA little
place like Floridn." Ba,d their principal organ,
!. almost an island, squeezed botween two sens,
Will uoyor be ablo to resiat the tremendous con-
ouaBion, aud will be blown away tho instant the
cannon Ia fi1od!"
"Ail r,ght!" Hpid tho Floridans, let hor
hlow!''
Il now bccamo necessary to raise tho money
for this gront work, and subacrlp4ion-bools we're
opened ii a tho principal citios Of tho Union.
ai,d also ia yarious foreign conntrios.