Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1881-11-09
BUTLER WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER g. 1881

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times as much powder can be applied
and yet the maximum pressure in the
gun is not increased. Instead of plac-
ing all the strain upon about two feet
of the metal at the breech, by this pro-
cess the strain is distributed along the
entire length of the gun. 1t is also
claimed that these accelerating guns
will have more than double the power
of any single-charge gun. The weight
of powder in pounds for a charge is as
follows for a six inch bore: At the
breech, Is pounds; first pocket, %
pounds second pocket, % pounds !;
third pocket, % pounds fourth pocket,
% pounds total, l30 pounds. Weight
of shot, ! calihre long, laO pounds
John Fewton, colonel of engineers,
says that twelve-inch accelerating
gun would be more powerful than the
one hundred ton Armstrong gun made
for the Italian Government. In his
opinion the loading of tbepockets can
be made as e4peditiops as that of the
breech. Haskell also claims as the
result of actual experiment that as the
pocket charges are ignited at the front
end and the hot gas from the breech
charge is driven entirely through them
none of the powder can pass out of the
gun befope oombnstion, All the pow.
der Is therefore utilized and velocity
of three thousand feet per second is
attainable for solid shot twelve inches
in, diameter and three feet long or even
a larger shot Practically this would
be irresistible in warfare.
THE LAND SIP At Elm,
SWITZERLAND.
Iu the recent disaster at Elm-oth-
erwise known as Unterthal- great
mass Of earth and rock from the Plat-
tenberg or rschingler Alp, 5000 feet
wide, at least 1000 feet high above
the valley, and, according to the en-
gineers, from 90 to 100 feet deep, fell
over upon the village, its farms, gar
deps, and meadows, covering several
thousand acres. IONS Of rock Nera
dashed entirely across the valley, and
pow rest quietly 800 and 400 feet high
upon the hillside The air pressure
was so great that houses were lifted
up from their foundations and carried
distance of 900 feet A barn built
of heavy logs, and filed with hay, was
carried entirely y across the valley and
overturned 200 feet high on the noun
tain opposite the Ptattenberg. An
iron bridge which crossed the Sernf
was torn up, carried scores of feet away
from its abutments, and now rests on
erd more than halt buried in mud and
loose stone. The whole valley, as far
as ii can be seen from the village inn,
which is still standing, very closely
resembles the bed of glacier which
has recedcd.
The river Snerf has made for itself q
new channel through the debris, and
has flooded and ruined much of the
land below, land which was not direct
lv harmed by the avalanche of stone,
So in one way or another the whole
valley has been injured beyond all
hope of repair The loss in property
will reach not less than 1000, 0O0f, /;
ut the lowest estimate 1913 people have
lost their lives other estimates make
the number $50 or more. The state
engineers, fearing further land slides,
have forbidden those who have escap-
ed to return to the houses which re-
main standing, and in consequence
more than 800 men, women and chill
dren, who but few days before were
prosperous and well=to-do, are now al
most without root to cover them.
The chief cause Of the disaster, after
the heavy rains of the past summer, is
said to have been injudicious quarry
ing for slate, whereby the mountain
was in part undermined and so render
ed unsafe Some three years ago omi-
nous signs of danger were observed,
and the cantonal forest master, Herr
s eli, warned the proprietors of the
quarries that they were carrying on
their excavations beyond the bounds
o safety. The work went on without
i Interruption until Thursday, Sept. 8,
when the premontious of disaster be-
came 80 alarming that oil the men
were withdrawn from the quarries /;
yet no one seems to have thought the
village was in danger until Sunday
afternoon, when, as the people were
coming from church, quantity Of
stones, rolling from the Tschingler,
crushed several houses in Unterthal
nearest the foot Of the Alp Ten min
utes later came the great catastrophe |;
a thunderous noise rent the air. n black
dust-cloud overspread the valley, and
all was still. In those two or three
seconds Unterthal had disappeared,
and with it were buried nearly every
one Of the unfortunates, who n few
minutes previously were worshipihg
in the village church. Scarcely any,
in fact, who on the first alarm crossed
the Sernf. either out of curiosity or
fear. to lend helping hand TO those
whose houses had been struck, escap-
ed, and they included nearly all the
manhood of the village Forty dwell
ings, the best in the village, were
buried
This is not the first disaster Of the
sort in Switzerland, nor anything like
the worst On the 4th Of September,
lGls, the rich though small town Of
Plurs, in the Grisons (near the Enga-
dine Valley, was entirely buried by a
land slip. Over 2,400 persons lost
their lives. The sight is now occupied
by fine forest of chestnut trees No
remains of the town have ever come to
light, with the exception of a bell
which belonged to the church, ana
which turned up twenty years ago.
On the I'd of September, 1906, the
Rossberg, mountain some miles to
tho north nf tho Riphi rave way on