Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1874-01-03

Elphistone, who had had charge of Govern
ment gunpowder during the war, and who was
ter. made short address. Now" said he, ga
twenty-four pound ball is fred by sixteen
pounds of powder. The Armstrong cannon re-
quires seventy-ive pounds of powder for an
SEQ pound ball, and the Rodman eolnmbiad
sends a half ton ball miles with LOO pounds OF
powder. So you see, the necessary proportion
OF powder diminishes as the size OF the ball in
creases.
al see that" said j. t. Maston, land if you
only make your ball big enough We won't want
any powder at all"
The COMMITTEES smiled and the Major then
stated that he had calculated that the weight Of
powder necessary in their cannon would be
equal to one-tentn the weight of the ball. and
1t will therefore require 100000 pounds of pow
der.
Better have SOC, 900 pounds" cried j. T.
Maston.
The idea of this enormous mass of powder
was so impressive and awful, that the Commit
tee, for few moments, sat in silence. But
they were still more astonished when the Presi-
dent directly announced that In his opinion
SEQ, 0C0 pounds would not be enough.
1--WE will wait the force Of twice as much
powder, =" said he.
sThat viii never do" cried j. T. Maston.
''never do! GOO, 600 pounds of powder will
occupy a space of % eco cubic feet aud, the
cannon will only hold $1,000 cubic feet, your
powder will nearly half fill it, aud there won't
be room enough left to give the ball a decent
start"
ali know all that" said the President, "and
want the force of that quantity, and so / pro-
pose that, instead of powder, we use gun'cotton,
OF which 100000 pounds will be equal to
100000 pounds Of powder, and il will occupy
so little space that the ball will have more than
100 feet to run before taking its grand flight
towards the Queen of Night"
And so the powder question was settled.
Among the 10, 900 900 inhabitants of the Uni
ted States there was but one man who doubted
the success of the great scheme OF the Gun
Club. This man was Capt. Nichol and he
lived in PliladelDhia- IL natural hin
to be an enemy to the Gun Club, for he was a
manufacturer of armor- plates. During the
whole war, whenever the artillerists invented
new pr0jectile, or an unusually powerful can
non, Nichol invented new armor- plate.
Whenever Nichol dreamed. President Barbi-
cane, of the Gun Club, appeared to him in the
through and through. And whenever Barbi-
cane dreamed, he saw NichOl in the shape of
an immense iron clad, against the impenetra-
bic sides OF which he was obliged to batter his
bad terms with Barbicane, because, on the very
day on which peace was declared, the former
steel armor, and, though he dared the Presi-
dent of the Gun Club to fire at it his best can
non and his most perfect ball, the proposition
at this, and offered Barbicane the most asto1n-
ding advantages. He proposed to set up his
plate go yards from the cannon, but this was
refused. as well as subsequent offers of 100
yards, IS yards, and 30 yards. At last the Cap
tain, perfectly furious, offered to place his
plate % yards from the cannon, and to stand
behind it! But Barbicane answered that he
would not make the experiment, not even if
Capt. Nichol stood before his plate.
Then Captain Nichol attacked Barbicane
through the newspapers. He asserted that the
plan was all nonsense, and proposed a series of
Frst-That the money would never be
raised for the big gun. ...................Sl 900
S1cOad-That they could not cast the can
non after they got the money. ........... 2, 900
Third-That they could not load the can
non, and that the gun cotton would go
of OF its own accord before they were
ready ....................... ..,...... 5000
Foarh-That the cannon would burst at
the first fire 1000
FIffG-That the ball would go about SIX
miles and would come tumbling back in
II W seconds. Observation-Disclosures. 600
ON The 18th of October, Nichoi received the
following note
BALTIMORE, Oct. 10.
Taken. BARHICANR
One question now remained to be decided,
and that was: Where should the experiment ~
tried? The Gun Club held a meeting to con.
slider this subject, and it was agreed that the
southern portions of Texas and OF Florida lay
beyond the twenty eighth parallel of la titude
and That any place in those sections would an
swer the purpose.
The question was settled on this basis, and
the consequence was that there arose ali unpar-
alleled rivalry between the cities of Southern
Texas and Florida. The whole country was
agiiated by the controversy. The newspapers
and periodicals took 1t up; such public atoms as
and the Rirsrsids Magazine sustained Texas
while the Washington Chronicle. the New York
Trltnn@ and the Newark Registsr stood up boldly
for Florida.
The matter became embarrassing A war be-
tween Florida and Texas was threatened. At
last Barbicane settled the matter. "Texas,'
said he, "has at least eleven cities which will
answer our purpose very WELL Now, Ii we de-
eide in favor of Texas those eleven cities will
be sighting for the honor of the enterprise
There is but one town in Florida suitably stu
affd. let Florida and ny
Tampa"
The Texas party was disguised. "a little
place like Florida" said their principal organ,
''almost an island, squeezed between two seas
will never be able to resist the tremendous con-
cussion, and viii be blown away the instant the
can right" said the Floridians, ''let her
plow,"
1t now became necessary to raise the money
for this great work, and subscription books were
opened in all the principal cities OF the Union,
and also in various foreign countries.
The total subscriptions from all parts of the
world, counting nothing from Engiand.wnere
not a>farthing was subscribed, as the English
people expected to have to pay the Alabama
claims-amounted TO s5,4i6,675.
Captain Niehol now paid his first wager, one
On the 10th Of October q contract was made
wiz the Cold Spring Iron Works, near New
York, for the transportation Of the materials to
Tampa, Fla, and ror casting there the grea.
gun. 1t was stipulated that the cannon should
Re finished, and in perfect order for firing, on
the 18th of the following October, under for
fixture OF 800 per day until the Moon should
present herself in the same favorable condi-
lions, which would be in eighteen years and
eleven days.
President Barbicane placed at the disposal OF
the Observatory of Cambridge the necessary
funds for the construction of an enormous tele-
scope, and contracted with the house of Bead
will & Co., of Albany, for the manufacture OF
the hollow ball of aluminium; and, then, accom-
panied by j. T. Maston, Maj. Elphistone, of
the Gun Club, and j. Murphison, Director OF
the Cold Spring Iron Works, he started for
Florida, and arrived at Tampa on the POD of
october. But the President of the Gun Club
and his companions did not remain long in this
little town. They explored the surrounding
country, and soon selected a suitable location
for their operations,
This place was called stones Hill, and was
situated 800 feet above the level of the sea- in
latitude Y degrees I minutes, and degrees
m nutes west longitude. at Is from here, ;" said
Bsrbicane, STAN p ng upon the summit Of the
hill, that the projectile of the Gun Club shall
take Its flight into the depth Of the Solar Sys-
tem."
This was putting the matter rather strongly,
because the ball was only intended TO go to the
Moon-but it sounded we'll.
light days after this fleet of steamers Ar
nveu Al II mpa laden with the material for the
great gun and with 1 800 workmen. The little
tOWn became pOpulOus. NOT Oplv with, thaoa