The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1884-05-10

DR.. Richard Jordan Calling is now So
years old, He Is a tall, broad.shouldered,
white whiskered man with friendly face,
bright blue eyes, and a pleasant tongue.
talked with Lin In the Ebbitt house re-
Gently, said friend about his gun and he
told me how he came to invent 1t. Said
he: 81 had several inventions before this,
one Of which was the wheat drill which Is
now in use all over the country, and i
think 1t was my study on 1t that prepared
me for the Calling gun. In 1851 l was
living at Indianapolis. The war had
broken out and the country was all excite
ment. My house was within few blocks
Of the depot and was often present here
when volunteers were departing for the
field, and also when their dead bodies were
at tunes shipped back home in boxes for
burial. One surprise to me was that the
number of men killed by sickness and dis
ease was more than those killed by ball or
actual battle. One day 1 remember nine
teen corpses were landed at the depot;
three had been killed In actual battle. The
thought then struck me II a gun could be
invented that would do the work of u
hundred men, and would require but a
few men to operate il, that the horrors OF
war would be greatly diminished, and an
end would come much sooner Of every
struggle. More men could stay at home,
and lives would be saved. The thought
took such hold of me that commenced to
work on il at once. The result was the
Calling gun.
'tMy first guns were made IN Cincinnati,
and they would FIRE from 100 TO $50 shots
4 La ~. - sk,.,. Nfn.,
tured IN 1862, when the foundry was
burned by incepdiaris-l suppose rebel
sympathizers-and the guns were des
tfoyed. Next l had Is guns made at
what IS now the type foundry in Clncln-
natl, and these l sent on by my partner, q
wealthy merchant of Cincinnati, to Wash
lpgton to persuade the government 10 in
troduce them. He took them to Baltimore
where he left II and went with the Other
to Washington. The chief of the ord
nance department at the time was an oil
fogy. He received him coldly, told hln
ne had no faith in his gun aud ne believed
filnt-lock muskets were, on the whole, tn
best weapons for warfare. In short, b
would have nothing to do with him. NJ
partner then left Washington and returne
to Baltimore. Ben Butler was there witt
his troops. lie had heard of the guns an,
asked to see them work. AS soon as b
had done 50 he said he would buy them o
his own responsibility, aud did So givin
his voucher for $4,000 for them. NJ
partner had this cashed, but at this tim
there was great fail IN pork, aud 80, 90
hogs which he lad packed IN Chicago wit
the expectation OF a rise had to he sold
So, for the first 20 guns had made at
great cost TO myself, | received nothing
Ben Butler took the guns he had hrougl
with hun TO the battle of Pet rsburg au
fired them himself upon The rebels Tho
created great CONSERVATION and slaughte
and the IeWs OF th,m went all over u
WORLD. Now they are used by all OF Il
leading governments Of Europe and alsD
ASA and Africa. They enabled the Pru
slams 10 conquer austria in 1865, thouq
the Austr,ans had the larger forces, al
they shortened the war by Germany al
France so that it practically lasted but
few days.
"The Gat!irg guns IRE now made
Hartford, in tins country, amt in Euro
at Newcastle on-the Tyne. | sell Oh
to governments, anil the United Sta,
uses many of my guns. Tney now Ia.
part IN all wars and you have seen &
reports of the work they have done
Egypt"
Show far will tie eating qua send
ball9"
"From two to three miles. The nc
Improvements which enable it to be fire
into the air are such that the ball, when
falls TO the earth, acquires from the Tor
of gravity such a velocity that when
reaches the ground it will pass throul
plank two inches thick. This is at
distance OF 5000 yards from the place
firing"
"Will il shoot accuratelym
Eyes. We can aim the gun at plal
nailed to support several thousand var
away and by moving the gun rapid
along while firing we Can cut line throu
the board as though 1t were sawed b.
lets of different sizes are used IN dffere
guns. No two bullets leave the gun at I
same time, but when you consider Il
1900 SLOTS can be fired in minute y
see how rapidly and regularly il work.