The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-01-25
AN INDIA RUBBER NAVY.
An Indianian Thinks the Iron. clad
Must Give Way to Rubber,

An Indianian Thinks the Iron.clads
Must Give Way to Rubber.
From the Neto York Herald
As the man was going out of the big hotel
he whispered to me In sepulchral tones,
'Col. Rice is not right in his upper story
he is clean daft"
In few minutes l saw the full-moon,
joound face of Col. James H. Rice, ex-
auditor OF Indiana, coming from the ele-
vator. He looked perfectly sane, and
asked him who his friend was that had lust
departed. THAT man." said the colonel,
ais promoter and has not given me mo-
ment's rest since l arrived in the city. I've
| just let MIN in on the ground floor of an
| idea of mine, and have shown him illustra-
| tions of 1t. | offered to have him elected
vice president Of company that is not
formed. II my idea is put into execution
| it will revolutionize naval warfare, and an
irou-clad will be as harmless as barge car
rying a load Of Sunday school excur-
sionists.n
The colonel invited me to his room, where
/ saw a number Of illustrations in the rough
of queer-looking ships. l asked him to ex-
plain them. His eyes beamed with pleasure
as he proceeded to elucidate his ideas 1.-THE
cuts, he said, represent war vessels arm
ored with tough india rubber. Each vessel is
protected with rubber seven feet in thick
ness and with enough give or electricity to
it to send the largest ball ever fired against
it bounding back into the water. admit
that the common rubber is not of sufficient
toughness to resist the impact Of the ordin-
airy cannon ball, but, mind you, the rubber
intend to use is not common. Every man
| who makes an innovation and relegates es-
tablished methods to the past is in the be-
ginning considered a crank. But do not
mind any little epithet Of that kind.n
"What is the tall spire in the vesselsr
THAT said the scientific colonel, "is the
lookout. 1t is tower that can be tele-
scoped in q second to the surface of the ves-
sells deck and erected in the same space of
time IL is 800 feet high. There is only
one smokestack and 1t can be taken down in
a minute. Cannons9 Ali that is a secret
but shall tell you because you are not a
promoter. In the rear Of the vessel there is
turret tower with four destructive guns
You don't see it, cha Well, neither do l,
but il the enemy appeared by manipulating
machinery there would rise from the hull Of
the vessel turret, protected by india rub
Der and ready to sink feet of iron-clads.
Everything on the deck of my india rubber
vessel can be dropped below in few mo-
ments.
Have YOU ever studied that branch of
mathematics which treats of trajectoryp
The colonel had, and added: "My boy, a
ball dropped on the deck OF one of my ves-
sells would bound mile high. There is alb
solutely no power or force strong enough to
drive a ball into the rubber"
zone more question, colonel. How long
have you had this peculiar elastic ideaP
st came to me as an inspiration five
YEARS ago. was In Chicago and a weakened
faced man with q voice that soundsd like
the noise made by tearing calico made life
miserable to me. He had scheme and for
a week he became my shadow. trying to get
me to 90 into it. l worked out the india
rubber vessel and for three hours l earnestly
explained TO him the fortune in it II he would
accepts the vice presidency. From that
time he has never said scheme to me again.
l have shown it TO dozens of promoters and
have talked so much about 1t that really
think some kind of rubber can be made to
resist and throw back cannon balls"
Have you mentioned your idea to Gen.
Tracy, Secretary OF the NavyF
az am democrat" said the colonel,
proudly. "You wait until a democratic
President is elected"
Col Rice is spoken Of as the probable
nominee for governor in his state next year
on the democra ATTIC ticket. He is humorist
aud practical joker.