The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-10-13
TERRIBLE ENGINES or WAR.
An American Inventor In Paris aud the Re.
volving Cannon he ENhibits There.

From n, Boston JoUndi
PARIS, Sept. 2S.-The sensation OF the mo-
ment is the great trial Of the Hotchkiss revolv-
ing cannon. nude lust on the coast OF Holland,
under the auspices Of the Dutch Government.
which recently ordered one Of the guns TO try.
AS is pretty well known to Americans who have
been horc much Mr. IIotchkiss who is origin
allv Connecticut man. has an enormous manu-
factory OF cannon Mt -. Denis whore he is
cqulpbing the French navy and coast dcfcncgs
with some OF his most valuable Inventions He
ia also manufacturing to the order of the Rus
sian. English and various other Governments.
all OF which are anxious not to be- loft behind in
the great rnco for superior armaments Mr..
Hotchkiss IL one OF the highest types Of the
American inventor: his mind is clcar precise.
and now and then he has a luminous revclu-
ton which entities him to he considered n
genius. VIII give you good Illustration. OF
this fact later on In the story The revolving
cannon which has Greated SO much excitement
here. and which ! believe the United States
Government now has two specimens Of. Is Of
two kinds. One is field piece. the other is
small. mounted on pivot, easy handled, and
managed from the shoulder ns readily as a cnr-
hinc. This terrible engine Of destruction is
nred by turning crank. and sending forth
difficulty IL has been known 10 fire nearly
twice that number in sixty or eighty seconds.
but absolute accuracy is claimed for IL only at a
rate OF four score per minute. The trials here
and in adjacent countries have created perfect
revolution IN public sentiment on the subject of
After tho experiments with the Ho,chkiss
gun. all these great men felt more comfortable
Still. until last week. there had never been
what night be called u decisive test something
from which there could be no appeal. and Il
was reserved for the Dutch Government 10
make it, Tn willy mariners who are constantly
coming and going between the colonial posses
sions Of the Netherlands and the Dutch ports
on the North Sen. have no intention OF being
caught mapping and so they have been anxious
to test the new Yankee invention. Mr. Hotch-
kiss was Invited to be present at the expert
ments. He sent over ono Of his chief eng neers
to explain the mechanism Of the gun 10 the
Dutchmen: but they understood IL already, and
SO Mr. Hotchkss followed at ance He found.
on one Of the large war shius. every one con-
nccted with the governmental marine service
in important posts. As soon ms they had taken
him on board, they steamed away 10 sea. TO q
point opposite the Hcldcr. There lust before
Them Just showing the top Of her back aboy,
the water was a torpedo hoat-a dummy. - ol
course. as n real ono would have been rather
too expensive to practice on.
Do you think that you could defend III
vessel against that torpedo boat with your
gum said the Admirals the repro sentativcs OF
the VI inistry Of the Marine and other big wigs
TO Hoichkiss
u think'l could. was his answer
g. Well. them said the practical Dutchmen.
- let us see what she amouuts to-" They had
brought their own gunner ana he evidently un-
derstOod tho use OF tho aim very well. III took
his position AZ the side of the ship and the gun
being loaded. with great rapidly he fired about
forty shots. putting eighteen or twenty of them
right through the torpedo boat Inasmuch rs
one Of them would have settled her. this expo
rence was stupefyiug. They tried il again,
with n rather better result Then they went III
at some distance. and putting on all steam. went
directly at the torpedo boat trying 10 get the
same effect tha, would be produced II the boat