Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-11-01
A TERRIBLE ENGINE OF WAR.

| 1uo lOloWluB lut0tebIluB afLlclo
from one of Edward Kings Paris letter
to the Boston Journal: The sensation
of the moment is the great trial of th,
Hotchkiss revolving cannon, made day
before yesterday, just off the coast Of
Holland, under the auspices OF the
Dutch government, which recently Or
dered one of the guns to try. As is
pretty well known to Americans who
have been here much, Mr.. Hotchkiss,
who is originally a Connecticut man,
has an enormous manufactory of cannon
at st. Denis, where he is equipping the
French navy and coast defenses with
some OF his most valuable inventions.
He is also manufacturing to the order of
the Russian, English and various other
governments, all of which are anxious
not to be left behind in the great race
for superior armaments. Mr.. Hotchkiss
is one of the highest types of the Amer
ican inventor his mind is clear, pre-
else, and now and then he has lumi-
nous revelation which entities him to be
considered genius. I will give you a
good illustration of this fact later on in
the story. The revolving cannon which
has created 30 much excitement here,
and which believe the United States
is of two kinds. One is field-piece,
the other is small, mounted on pivot,
easily handled, and managed from the
shoulder as readily as a carbine. This
terrible engine of destruction is fired by
turning a crank, and sends forth eighty
shots per minute without the slightest
di&culty. 1t has been known to fire
nearly twice that number in sixty or
eighty seconds, but absolute accuracy
is claimed for it only at a rate of four
score per minute. The trials here and
in adjacent countries have created per-
feet revolution in public sentiment on
the subject of aquatic warfare. OF
course, every nation that expects sooner
or later to be forced into war has looked
askance at this uncouth specter of the
torpedo boat, which has been thrusting
its ugly nose into the light occasionally
What Was there to be some delicate,
diabolical monster Of the deep devised
specially to disembowel the noblest and
strongest ships and to send many valiant
souls of heroes down to Hades even
while they slept? The thought was dis
| quietiug. The Russian campaign came
and brought in its opening days two
signal triumphs for the torpedo boat.
1t was all true, then Bismarck's few
remaining hairs stood straighter on end
than ever the French minister of ma
rine was exceedingly nervous, and the
representative men Of Europe rushed to
Hotchkiss and besought him to protect
them. Save, oh save US, they cried,
"from this terrible demon OF the deep !"
After the experiments with the Hotch-
kiss gun, all these great men felt more
comfortable. Still, until last week,
there had never been what might be
called decisive test, something from
which there could be no appeal, and it
was reserved for the Dutch government
to make it. The willy mariners who are
constantly coming and going between
the colonial possessions of the Neither
lands and the Dutch ports on the north
sea have no intention of being caught
mapping and so they have been anxious
to test the new Yankee invention. Mr..
Hotchkiss was invited to be present at
the experiments. He sent over one of
his chief engineers to explain the me-
chanism OF the gun to the Dutchmen,
but they understood it already, and so
Mr.. Hotchkiss followed at once. He
found, on one of the large war ships,
every one connected with the govern
mental marine service in important
posts. AS soon as they had taken him
on board, they steamed away to sea. to
point opposite the Helder. There,
just before them, just showing the top
of her back above the water, was tor
pedo boat--a dummy" of course, as
real one would have been rather too
expensive to practice on.
"Do you think that you could defend
this vessel against that torpedo boat
with your gun ?" said the admirals, the
representatives of the ministry of the
marine and other big wigs, to Hotch-
kiss.
"I think 1 could" was the answer.
"Well then," said the practical Dutch
men, "let us see what she amounts to. !"
They had brought their own gunner,
and he evidently understood the use of
the aim very we'll. He took his position
at the side OF the ship, and the gun being
loaded, with great rapidity he fred about
thirty shots, putting eighteen or twenty
of them right through the torpedo boat.
Inasmuch as one of them would have
settled her, this experience was stupefy-
ing. They tried it again, with rather
better result. Then they went off at
some distance, and putting on all steam,
went directly at the torpedo boat, trying
to get the same effect that would be pro-
duced if the boat was approaching them
and they were defending themselves
against her approach. The speed which
they could get up to was between fonr-
teen and fifteen knots an hour. When
they were within 900 yards of the tor
pedo boat the gunner was ordered to
open fire on her, which he did, and de-
spite the constantly varying position OF
the ship and the consequent difficulty OF
taking aim, he riddled the boat again,
and with such lightning-like rapidity
and signal effect that the splinters and
pieces were not to be counted.
OF the lit shots fred at the torpedo
boat, seventy had been lodged in her
and had exploded, tearing the ill-fated
craft into fragments.
The Dutch official charged with the
torpedo service Of Holland came up to
Mr.. Hotchkiss and said
"Sir, I feel inclined to prosecute you.
NY occupation is gone. Torpedo boats
are good for nothing hereafter.
Some time later, as they were al
,, seated at dinner, one of the officials re
marked that the only hope OF success
full torpedo boat now was to make it &c
that it could be navigated entirely un
; der water.
A thought flashed through Mr.
Hotchkiss' mind. "That ought not to b,
very difficult" he said. "l'll make or,