Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-07-30


| was accepted, and DR.. Stone gave his
model to the Naval museum
In glass case are pieces of the
Egyptian obeiisk, commonly called Gle
opatra,s Needle, which now stands in
Central park, New York. These pieces
Of the cement, foundation, steps and
steel clamps are just as they were
placed in position % B. c., and Were
presented to the museum by Lieut..
Com. Henry 81. Gorringe, who super
| intended the removal of the obelisk
from Egypt. and managed ITS erection
in the beautiful park of the metropolis
of the coast.
A small mortar, about fourteen inches
| in length, captured by the French
| fleet from the British at Yorktown
when Lord CORVALLIS surrendered the
| last of the belligerent forces of his mai
esty at the close of the revolutionary
war. stands silent and pigmy-like be-
side the original Calling gun, the worst
death-dealer ever invented for close
quarters Near by is the telescope gun,
| invented during the civil war, but which
never proved effective. At the muzzle
| of This gun are half dozen steel rings
| to catch and hold the smoke to prevent
| the enemy from taking accurate aim at
>.
somely chased swivel gun, made in the
sixteenth century, which was captured
at Tripoli in 1904 by Commodore De-
catur. Two funny-looking bIunder-
| buses, one captured during the Mexi-
can war and the other during the revo-
| lutionary war, both of them flintlocks,
| stand upon a table, in the center OF
which is bronze bust of Hotchkiss. the
L.
did fintlock revolver, with long rifle
barrel and excellent stock, manu-
featured in 1898. This was the first re-
| volving gun ever manufactured in
America. In 1861 E. Nugent invented
| self-fring revolving gun, and in 1862
Calling invented and brought into &C
ton his improvement. The Nugent had
a self-loading hopper at the breech,
into which a hundred cartridges could
be poured. and as the crank was turned
the cartridges dropped into place, were
discharged and the empty shells fell
upon the ground.
Near by the Nugent and Calling guns
| is q piece of oak. twisted and shivered
as in an awful hurricane or cyclone. 1t
| was formerly long strong spar bear
| ing d dynamite torpedo at the apex.
The torpedo boat ran against an OBJ
struction and the shivered spar was
one of the results Of the explosion. In
a case beside the spar are all sorts of
| submarine tOrpedoeS some of them
mounted on SparS to be sunk under
water, as river and harbor distractions.
| Any vessel striking one of them would
| surely go to the bottom almost Instant
| ly.
The original penetrating explosive
shells were hollow iron balls filed with
| powder, with percussion caps to ex-
plode upon contact. a later invention
| is the three-ringed SHE'LL that is, three
| iron shells in one, the smaller rings
| being surrounded by larger ones, each
| filed with powder and all connecting,
| SO that their explosion would make
| many more fragments, and therefore
become more destructive OF human life.
| On exhibition in the shell case is fac
| smile of the projectile which de-
| stroyed the confederate ram Albemarle;
| an iron monster which had been con-
| Sldered 1nv1nclble. There are also
| fragments of an incendiary shell, filled
with composition similar to Greek fire,
| intended to be exploded against houses
| and scatter fire throughout a beIea-
| guered city. A skilled workman was
4
| it under water meantime to exclude the
| air. when by accident a little edge of
| the fuse arose above the water.
Instantly, by contact with the air. the
| shell exploded and the workman was
| literally blown and burned to atoms
All these and many other wonderful
| things were shown to me by Jared
| Mundell, a man who has been in the
| service since he was seven years of
age, having enlisted as q drummer in
! the Marine band in 1S41. During the
| civil war he was a soldier in the
Fifteenth New York engineers. He has
| been in charge of the Naval museum
for seven years, is familiar with the
history of each trophy and relic, and is
| ton. He is Il quiet but entertaining
| gentleman, and one of the most ac-
commodating men 1 have ever met
with in such place. While conversing
| and explaining the histories of the OBJ
| jects OF interest, he is continually at
work, polishing gun barrels, brushing
| dust off of cases, and, like house
keeper solicitous of the appearances of
every relic, diligently engaged in keep
ing all things neat and clean.
| SMITH d. Fry.
| His Choice.
Proud Father Showing off his boy
before COMPATIBILITY son. which
would you rather be, Shakespeare or
Edison?
\