, 1884-12-19
BRITISH GREAT GUNS.
WHAT ONE MAY SEE AT wooLwlcH
ARSENAL, ENGLAND.
a Hundred Acres OF Magazines and
Foundries The GUN Factoy-An
Eighty-one-Ton Infant Fa-
nous Old Cannon.

Frank Weigh In Detroit Free Pressl
In some way or other the SECRETARY of war
overlooked me when in London, but II was
only necessary to drop him a line at his
headquarters In Pail Mall 10 receive a
prompt reply In the shaps OF a formal .docu-
ment notifying me that the war department.
had ordered the Woolwich arsenal authori-
ties to admit ma to that establishment The
ride down the river In a penny boat-pass-
ing under London bridge, over the tunnel
and by ~Bllingsgate, Greenwich and Black
well-took about an hour. Reaching the
massive iron gate Of tho arsenal. a commit
tee Of reception, composed Of five as hand
some policemen as ever snored against a
lamp post, had thoughtfully been provided,
one Of whom led me into an office, where l
was invited to sign my autographs simple
request that I always accede 70.
Once inside the hupdred acres Of maya
zine and foundries surround the visitor in
bcwldering profusion. Here and there odd
little trains OF cars drawn by odd little en-
gines went winding among the shops ON mar
row guago tracks. To tho right OF the main
roadway was the cap factory, the shining
explosives pouring in streams from the
swiftly-working machines like wheat from n
tanning mill Adjoining stood the bullet de
partment where thousands OF leaden pills Of
all shapes and sizes were being fashioned,
scores Of boys manipulating the molds In
succession came the laboratory for making
cartridges and projectnes, tho gun carriage
and wagon departments, each occupying inn
mense long buildings. Norkmen in large
squads were eveFy where, in fact, about
10000 arc employed In the works.
tn confer Of attraction IL the gun factory,
established nearly 200 years ago by n Ger
man. What monnrehs OF mechanism were
being fashioned by the hnnd of mani
enormous %tritons, destined for n death
dealing service. From the glowing cauldron
Of fre-a Kissing shrine-the swarthy work
mon, with distonded sinews and powerful
muscles, carried tho nl-shapsn wrought iron
masses, simmering with a heat as condensed
as that from which it cnIne, and laid them
on NJ iron bod. The building trem-
bles as the mighty t~rip-hammer-
tho largest In the world -descends and solidi-
lies and shapcns the cooling metal. At last
a solid piece OF iron Of the requisite length
and thickness is complies and Is then re-
moved to another foundry on powerful
trucks where, resting in n semi-ciroular bed,
large borers slowly but surely chisel out the
center, while the exterior is rounded and
smoothed by immense knives. Finally it Is
placed among its comrades In the yard
where literally thousands OF others-held
pieces and mortars, howitzors and smooth
bores, eighteen-poundors and eighty-one-
tonners-lay strawn nround-a vast nrma-
ment giving one n startling idea of the
horrors OF -grim-visaged war
The eighty-one ton infant, stretching to n
length Of twenty-seven feet, lay peacefully
at the entrance to tho gun foundry, ms docile
and harmless in his mental grandeur as a
stranded whale. But let that gaping, omin-
Gus mouth once speak; let It but utter a
single Kissing syllable, and death and de
struction are the result. A trial OF the great
gun was made at Dovor. Four mon rnmmed
down a gigantic charge OF 450 pounds Of
powder. At "A given signal a dense volume
OF smoke, preceded by a binding fash,
startled the assembled crowd. A few mo-
monts after and the projectile, weighing L.
100 pounds, struck and ploughed up the water
at a calculated distance Of four miles. Tho
recoil OF tho gun carriage was no less than
seven feet. Tho doors and windows Of the
surrounding houses ratified. others shook 10
their found alton. tho large panes OF glass in
the lighthouse were blown ut-an tho
grim old monster subsidized.
l wandered for an hour or more among
the warliko d~erelicts, huddled together by
the hundreds In out-of- the way corners,
among pyramids OF cannon-balls, chain shot,
rockets and shrapnels. Some had seen serv-
ice-old veterans, rusty, smoke begrimmed
and crippled. In n solitary corner lay u
group OF Florentine guns Of 1880; near by
was a long, slender cannon cast in 1877, while
beyond 1t were seen several pieces Of ord
nance from India and the Crimea
Famous and war tried cannon are treated
with great respect The White Tower In
London Is surrounded with n curious colloc-
ton of old cannon, some OF very heavy cal
iber and highly decorated. One WINS cast ut
Malta in lTfS, with exquisite reliefs ON the
barrel, and two brass guns taken by Gen.
Wolfe at Quebec are among the number.
Mounted high on tho parapot OF old Edin-
boro's castle-the kings bastion-and over
looking the wonderful panorama Of city and
country and sea, lies Mons Megs, the famous
piece OF ordinances which is said 10 have been
forged at Mons in Belgium In lara James
Nv employed it at the siege OF Dumbarton
in 1885. 1t burst when firing a salute in
honor Of the duke Of York in 1851; was re-
moved 10 the Tower OF London In l754, and
was restored TO Scotland through the inter
vention OF Scott in 1899.
Windsor castle Possesses n few old timers
as well, the most prominent being the pro
truding head OF a cannon surmount-
ing the flights OF stairs leading to the sum
init Of the Round Tower and commanding a
full sweep down TO the doorway.