Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1883-11-30
THE BANDITS VISIONS.
Frank Rande. the Killer of Six Men.
Making Marvellous Inventions in
Prison.
Joliet. Ill. Paper

Frank Rande, better known as the
Brilliant Bandit of the Wabash.
who is serving life term at Joliet for
killing five men at st. Elmo, H., in
1878, and who is also called the st.
Louis Pawnshop Fiend," for murder
ing policeman while at St Louis,
has become a great inventor since he
was placed behind the bars. On the
subject of invention he has become
crank, and puts in his hours of prison
life, when not at work, in drawing up
the specifications and plans of great
wonders in the way of invention. On
paper he has invented train of cars
that has as motive power ''perpetu-
al motion" He also has wonderful
fire. escape, and an entirely new sys-
tenn of telegraphy. which is to work
at any distance, without the aid of
battery or wires. If he could only
have the chance he would talk pat
ent attorney into the grave. His
latest hobby is guns, and he claims
to have invented one that will shoot
thirty miles, the material to handle it
being so simple that it can be operated
by child. He has already demon
strated the fact that he Is dead shot
with either a rifle or revolver, having
been born with brace of pops" in
his pistol pocket. At St. Elmo, while
he was surrounded by posse of Sher-
ifs in the attempt to capture him, he
fired his revolver only five times, but
at each shot he dropped his man, and
was only captured after being riddled
with bullets himself. To the Herald
correspondent he thus describes his
latest wonder in the line of invention:
Il have during the last ten days in
vented The Big-Un.' It's a gun, to
be about 50 feet long, 90 feet in diam
eter at The breech and about 16 feet at
the mHzzle, average Is feet, with "a
inch calibre, and acute cone pointed,
turned steel shot or bolt, about feet
long, to contain about "a cubic feet of
steel which, at $50 pounds to the Gu
bic foot, would be 8, 600 pounds. The
bolt to be driven by at least two thou
sand pounds of quick-burning com
mon powder, ana which would prob
ably throw it to distance of thirty
miles, and would pass through any
modern iron-plated war vessel at
three to five miles distance, like a
half ounce rifle ball would pierce
sheet-i iron at fifty yards | believe
such a powerful gun would pierce ten
feet of steel plate at one mile, as easily
as a squirrel rifle will drop a squirrel
out of q tree-top. 1t would contain
about nineteen hundred or two thou
sand tons of steel. The means of cal
culation, with almost eXactitude, are
in Greenleaf's Arithmetic, pages 306-
301. | don't know the number of
pounds in a cubic foot of steel, but
will get book soon that contains it.
But you'll say, How can it be cast
and managed?' Well, that is my in
vention. I have invented the applica-
ton of three never-used principles in
the making of very heavy cannon.
1t will be the acme of power to which
gun-making can be raised. For ac-
curacy unsurpassed by small rifles
because of my invention.
II was called by the Minnesota
frontier hIInto1,, the best glInsnnith IN
that State in 1864; could put one
third ounce rifle ball in the dead
center at forty yards, with plain
sights, every other shot, and with fine
globe sights l could hit the dead cen
ter at fifty yards almost every crack.
OF course, it would cost something
nice to make two thousand ton steel
gun, but one such gun to load and fire
every two or three minutes, would
protect any harbor in America from
any steel-clad fleet.