The New Orleans Democrat., 1876-06-02
uonEsON AMI WAND.
sceor Hoseson's letter nj Explanation
Analyyed.
New York SUM-

New York SUM-
Secor Robeson makes q long reply to
MIR. Whitthornes request for informa-
tion concerning Norman wizards ridicu-
lous experiments with heavy ordnance.
1t naturally takes great deal Of room
Tor him to plead his bad cause.
Robeson speaks of WARDS plan for
rilling our heavy smooth bores as i'm
portant and valuable. whereas every
one familiar with ordnance knows that
+ there was nothing essentially novel
In its idea or principle As n distin-
guished authority on the subject said,
there was nothing good about it that
was new. aud what was new was
bad. European experiments in the
same direction made utterly unneces-
sary any trials Of the contrivance of the
charlatan Wizard, who was notorious at
the time Secor Robeson gave him large
slllls of money to carry them on. as o
mechanical shyster. His experiments at
Nut Island with this money were udi-
orous failures. as his previous perform
ances had been from the day his car
wheel gun burst into a thousand frag
ments in New Jersey. TO that of his ap-
pearance at the Navy Department de-
manding o chance to spoil more guns
Yet, mt the time this man was bcsieging
him for the peoples money, Secor
Eobeson cruised around with him IN
his yacht and assisted him in drinking
his wine and smoking his cigars.
Wizard. go far from Offering to rifle the
guns at cheap rate. as Robeson alleges,
charged much more for his wretched
contriyanoe than good system of alter
ing the guns would have cost IT tho
project of the pair had succeeded. Wizard
would have got vast sums out OF the
Treasury But his failure was too mark
ed, and public attention was too soon
called to it. to enable the partners to
carry through their Job. Everybody who
knew anything of ordnance and saw the
Nut Island experiments laughed AT
them and Robesou could not breast
the ridicule. We venture to say that
there is not an ordnance officer of the
army or navy, from the chief down. com
petent to speak on the subject. who did
not privately join in regarding the pre-
tensions of Wizard as absurd, though
fear of Robeson may have made them
cautious in their official statements. 1t
il well known that Commodore Jeffers.
Chief OF the Navy Bureau OF Ordnance,
and one Of the very ahlest ordnance ex-
perts in the service. looked on Wards
plan for rifling the big guns as fraud
of the thinnest sort.
Robeeon concludes his long special
plea by saying in effect that even If
officers having special knowledge touch
ing ordnance had suggested to him
the wisdom of leaving Wizard alone.
he should still have acted on his
own Judgment But what ia this
New Jersey iobber's Judgment Of the
best plans of rifling heavy ordnance
worth ? A man competent to be
Secretary OF the Navy. and honestly
desiring only TO do what was for the
best interests of the country. himself
uninstruotea In the special science.
would have referred such an application
as WARDS. especially in view of the
fellows evil reputation, to the bureau
Of his department competent TO deter
mine its value He had at hand Com
modore Jeffers. an officer Of age and eN-
perienee, candid and expert, who could
have detected the fraud and exposed it.
If he had given him fair chance to
freely render an opinion. But Robeson
wished no such opinion. He wished to
give Wizard the money for his fruitless
experiments, and hoped to open another
sluice way Of addition. division and 81
ience. There is no defense for the rela-
tions between Secor Robeson. the cor
rupt Secretary, and Norman Wizard. the
champion guh hurster.