The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1892-12-20


was anything but green now, and sent a
friend to Washington, instead of going my
self My agent left eleven of the guns in
Baltimore and took two to Washington to
| show to General Ripley, the chief of ord
nance. General Ripley, you know, was an
old fogy who conscentiously believed that
the oldfashioned Misunderstanding flint lock
was the most serviceable arm i'll the world,
and so he refused even to look at my guns.
My agent returned to Baltimore where he
| met General Benjamin +. Butler, who was
just on his way to take command of the
army investing Petersburg. General Butler
examined the guns and bought them for
$1,000 apiece. Now, by the way, l never
! to Chicago with it where he failed in bust
ness before we had had settlement. So
you see L was so far pretty badly out of
What did General Butler do Will, tho
guns?'
=, HE took them to the front and used
them there with good effect, but the trial
was not altogether satisfactory. You see
that we had to use paper cartridges then
and they did not work well, as the guns
were apt to get clogged up. Indeed, the
machine gun was not of much practical
use until the metal cartridge had been per
.fected, and that was not till after the war
was ended. When the war was over my
friends advised me to go out Of the gun
business in which I had Jared so badly.
but my dander was up now and l meant
to persevere until / succeeded perfectly
1t was true that our civil war was ser.
but there was likely to be war in other
parts OF the world, and my sympathies were
not narrowed to a continent
AT the Frankford arsenal, near Pha-
delphia," said DR. Calling, continuing his
narrative. II perfected metallic cartridge
and then | gave an exhibition in Washing
ton. General Dyer, very different man
from General Ripley, was now chief of
| ordnance, and ne took q great interest in
my gun and my efforts to make it work
well. At the exhibition besides the chief
of ordnance; were General Grant and Mr..
stanton and several army men. These Of
hcers were very much pleased, and it was
arranged that should have q trial of my
guns at Fortress Monroe in opposition 10
the regular field guns before Il board of ord
nance officers. AT this trial | was dreadful
ly handicapped by the fact that the stand
ard guns were manned by veteran art-
lerymen, and L had to use green negroes
who were more at home lii hocing corn than
in rifle practice. Put | beat them in every
way, and the report of the board showed
that my gun was superior not only in IA
pidty of firing but in accuracy Of aim and
length of range. The result of this was
that the government ordered 100 guns,
and. alter 1 had made them at Colts arm
DRY i'll Hartford / was paid S175,OOO
Since then | have sold them to almost CIV
cry civilized nation and to some that have
not enough civilization to boast Of
How did you introduce them in Eu-
rope
Il took several guns to the great Paris
exposition in 1867. There they attracted
very general interest and We're brought
to the attention of Louis Napoleon. He
examined them very carefully and had one
taken out of the show and fired for his ben
eft. He was delighted and at once wanted
to make an arrangement that l should make
the guns secretly in France and supply
them only to the French. This PROPOSE
ton could not consider for various reas-
ons | had already made a contract TO
supply some to Russia and then it had
never been my purpose to give nay gun ex-
cusively to one country and help that
country to bully the rest of the world on
account of owning a superior arm. The en-
peror thought he saw Il way out of it, so
he put board of ordnance officers to work
to make a machine gun which would be
just as effective as mine. The result was
the mitrailieusc with which in 1870 the
French emperor proposed To annihilate the
Germans. This gun unqucstonably did
effective work in the war with Germany,
but it failed to come UP with expectations.
In the first place paper cartridges Were
used and the same difficulties We're expo
renced that hindered the work OF my
guns before Petersburg. In my guns the
locks revolve with the barrel ard the fir
ing is so continuous that there is practi
cally only one recoil. This enabled ono 30
do away with any great weight i'll construct
ing my gum which is very light and with
little power can be quickly taken to the
field Or from one part to another. TO over
come the recoil of the mitrailleuse the
French officers were compelled to make
the gun so heavy that eight or ten horses
were needed to take it from place to place
and Off from good roads 1t was of very
little service.
do you think these machine guns will
be made yet more perfect"
1T is hard to say what may happen.
but to me my gun seems to be perfect.
I hnx TInIf
long time. My recent efforts have been to
perfect the ammunition and | am conviced
now that the cartridges are as perfect as
the gun. | have fired before n board of
ping to clean the barrels. Even after this
hard service the gun was found to shoot
with accuracy as the grease on the car
tridges had Kept the barrels clean. 4
speed of 1000 shots had been obtained
in minute and as many as 100 shots have
been fred in Ii seconds. This is at the
rate of 2,4OO shots Il minute. BY elevat-
ing the gun the bullets can he made TO
kill men two miles away. The aim in this
instance must be by calculation. Hut with
in n mile and so far as the object fred at
can be seen the guns shoot with great ac-
curacy. Such a gun as this cannot be n
gO'at deal improved
You feel sure that the use of such guns
will shorten wars and tend to make them
less frequcnt?"
Il feel sure of that and / think also
that these guns and the introduction of
smokeless powder will very much modify
the lighting tactics. The grand strategy of
war will probably not be altered for strate-
gy is the application of principles. but the
tactics will he very greatly changed. In
my opinion in a modern war between any
two of the great powers the conflict will
be short. sharp and decisive and in all
probability one battle will decide the whole
quarrel.
DR.. Gatling told with much glee of the first
time of his guns was used in Canada
Some years ago the half-breeds of the north
west, instigated by Louis Rel, rose up in
instruction against the Dominion author
ity. There We're no regular troops in Cana
da so the militia from Montreal. Quebec.
Ottawa, Toronto and other places were sent
to put down what was known as the Reil
rebellion. These half-breeds were hunters
and most skillful marksmen and bushwhack-