The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1877-08-26
A New and terrible Weapon.

Sdptaln Wiuiam 1arQner gave an
exhibition of a new arm of his inven-
ton to the officers of the United States
Navy stationed at the torpedo station
August 16. This arm Is not to be on
founded with other inventions Of Cap
tain Gardner which have been seen or
heard Of by the public but Is his latest,
Just completed and now for. the first
time seen by any other than himself
and workmen. This arm produced a
marked sensation among the officers
and other gentlemen present, among
whom were several distinguished for
eigners. Among the officers present at
the exhibition were Captain X. R.
Breeze, commanding torpedo station;
Captain S~elfridge, Captain Norton and
Captain Bunce, all of the navy. The
unanimous expression of the gentlemen
present was that this weapon combined
all the good qualities of other arms yet
devised, and in addition possessed
qualities before presented; that
for practical rapidity of fire, range and
precision 1t was unsurpassed, while for
lightness, simplicity, strength, durabil-
ity, accessibility Of the working parts,
ease Of manipulation and capability of
long-continued use In action it was
marvellous.
That the reader may fully realize
what a wonder this invention is, we
ask him to conceive a little instrument.
about the size of an ordinary musket,
easily carried on a mans shoulder, as
destructive as a Calling gun, more SO
than the French Mitrailleuse, and equal
TO three field cannon when firing grape
and canister.
In reply to q question as to what the
special advantages of this gun are over
other firearms nov in use, the inventor
replied: considerable actual service,
a long time spent in Europe carefully
studying on the mitrailleuses and the
Calling gun their uses and defects, and
much experience in inventing other
arms convinced me the ideal firearm
was yet to be invented. The liability
of these arms to be most of the time
out Of order, their weight, their de-
rangement by transportation, the
complicated and frail nature of their
mechanism, their clogging by c~orrosion
and their many other defects encour-
aged me to attempt the invention of
this weapon. The problem was to pro.
duce an arm of equal or greater eff
cheney, of much greater strength and
durability, not at all liable to be de.
ranged by moisture, dust or long con-
tinued firing, easily comprehended and
manipulated by the common soldier and
next to impossible to get out of order
even when exposed to the toughest
usages of actual service. In one word,
l aimed at efficiency, strength and light
ness" The gun has but one barrel,
which is about three times as strong as
those ordinarily used for similar cali
bre. The mechanism is all contained
In a little brass box attached to the rear
end of the barrel, the dimensions of
which are but thirteen inches in length,
ave IN depth and two and a half in
tnickness. In addition to these there
Is a little crank at the side of the box,
py whlch the powder is applied, and a
hopper on top, from which an mex
haustlole supply OF cartridges is kept
up Two men Of less than ordinary
intelligence a maintain a continuous
G. -. 49, moo
hre at the rate OF 200 shots per minute
Tor any length of time without fear of
fouling or arrangement of parts by
heat or otherwise. The manipulation
Is so easy that h crank may be turned
continuously by the little finger. The
arrangement for supplying cartridges