The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-02-12
A CHAT WITH DIR. GATLING.


w StdFy OV uU@ tFsb OTsb0b 80 It0EAbVUU
for tits Famous Gun.
The man who chats with fT. IL. ~ Gat-
ling, Of Hartford. for an hour or sven half
an hour. comes to know this secret Of she
success which the famous Gstiing gun has
achieved, says the New York Times. The
gun 10. Of course, u good one. bat its OK
c~e!ience alone is not the thing ihss has
created . demand for II In every cfvilizsd
country in the world. IL may rather be
said that the irrssistibleness Of jts inventor
has forced the sale Of this great
exterminator. A person cannot talk
with DR.. Calling five minutes with
out acquiring an inclination 10 draw his
wallet and buy as MANY Of the Calling guns
as he can pay for, and IL the doctor affects
PEOPLE in this way whom he talks as with
no other wish than to entertain them, what
can not he do whom he means business
when he goes a-gunning! The doctor IL "
years old now. with snow-white hair and
whiskers, but hc Can talk az fast. as smooth
ly. rs entertainingIy. 40 persnasively as
ever, and no is-to use a good old Connecti-
cut phrase-'as keen ~ u brier." fall,
straight, gracefully prOpOrtiOned and of
easy carriage, he is also an interesting and
pleasing person to look upon.
He said in answer to % question, I'm
ssok 80 fbV ADbbD Ie
story that ! am ~ q newspaper yarn.
| don't believe in flying machines, ana
have never had anything to do with expert
mentatiOn undertaken in the hope Of get.
ting one up. I've devoted myself almost
exclusively to the Calling gun. The first
eating guns / built | made in Cincinnati.
There wese six OF them. and they were no
sooner nicely made than they were nearly
destroyed by fire. along with all my pat
terns. Then ] went TO the I~ndianapolis
type foundry and placed an order for thir-
teen guns, and these, NJ soon ~ they were
done, 1 put in the charge Of a man named
McQueeney and sent him oil to Washing
ton to sell them. When he got to BsitI-
timore he left all the guns except one.
That one he took along as q sample. Old
Gen. Ripley was at the head of the
bureau OF ordnance, and he was about the
most perfect old fOgy that ever lived. He
refused absolutely to look at the gun. We
don't want any new tangled guns he said.
The old Misunderstanding mrsket is good
enough. That's what Gen. Scott won the
need ANYTHING better now. There's MOTH
ing like handling q ranrod in the face of
the enemy to give men courage and nerve.
No, sir. We don't want anything better
than we've got now McQueeny start
cd fos home in disgust. At BsIti-
tening to the front. He shOwed the gen
eral the new u and the general said:
What do you ask for the lotr' a thou
sand dollars apiece answered Mr. Nc
Queeney. j will take Them said the gen.
eral, tine whole outfit and give yon a
he hadn't any authority to make the pur-
chase.
well, Butler took the guns south with
him II used them in his next fight. The
rebels didn't know what to make of them.
What kind Of guns have yor got here,' one
nf the urfa,pnra aaknd that Load ali uso.tt |
and fire all day. Butler used all his am
in this fight and made q reauisi-
ton for more, but he couldn't get it.
Stanton absolutely refused to allow il. He
said that the gun had not been adopted by
the department. OF course, that settled
the case.
when the war was over my friends told
me to drop the gun business, but / wouldn't.
l went to Washington and asked for an
other firing. Ripley wasn't there any more.
In his place there was q wideawake man,
Gen. Dyer, q man who wanted to keep up
the times, and no showed great inter
est in the Calling gun. Through him, uIti-
/ obtained an order for the trial of
the gum, with canister cartridges, in CON-
with howitzers at Fortress Mon-
roe.
found that some of the officers had put up q
job ON me. They didn't want my gun to do
better work than the howitZers. which were
Il regular arm Of the service. found that
to work my gun they had assigned a lot of
plantation darkies, raw recruits just in
from the farm, who didn't know any more
about a gun than q horse does about his
For the working of the howitzers
they had set apart q number Of picked men.
| protested. l said / wanted a measurably
fair deal. Give me an hour,' / said. TO
drill these darkies.' That wasn't much
time, but it was better than nothing. They
gave me the hour, and l Immediately estab-
llshed a school Of gunnery and began the
WORK OF educating my crew. Just before
me opening of the trial l gave each darky a .
dollar, and / said to him. Now, do your
best; this dollar is Just to begin on
u tell ynu those fellows worked like he
roes. 1 beat the howitzers four to one. and
the report went on to Washington to that
sffect. Soon after l got an order for 100
guns, and that was the first good order 1 !
had ever received. Since that time | have
sold the gun all over Europe. and should
have made a great deal Of money out of it if
zach of the several governments ordering
had stuck to one calibre. The many changes
in the calibre which we nave been compelled
10 make have been rcry expensive.
a doubt that we have thrown away
and machinery which cost us at
least $4,000, chinges in caIibre having
the patterns AID machinery obsolete
valueless."