The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1893-11-18
FEATs or WORKMANSHIP.
Steel Plates aud Pokers severed with a
Single Blow.


Feats Of workmanship, such as cutting
through triangular bars OF lead or car
cases of sheep, are performed with
special weapons; and on this subject
and that of sword blows generally, Mr..
Henderson. the well-known professor of
workmanship, and for many years con-
nected with ALgelo's School of Arms,
has some interesting facts TO relate.
Though no longer quite so young 40 he
was. he is still active and hearty, and
must have been in his prime very pow
erful man, weighing 100 pounds. He
has in his time, at one stroke, cut
through two sheep, one carcase inside
the other, and in a similar manner
through two aud three quarter inches of
solid lead.
A specially made cuirass, much
thought of at the time by the Duke of
Cambridge, when tested by the redoubt-
able Henderson, was cut clean through.
Steel plates-six to the inch and Or
dinary pokers have been severed at one
blow by the same strong arm. These
exploits were oil accomplished with
sword made for him by the old firm of
Wilkinson. 1t is called "Excalibur,"
and weighs but four pounds. 1t is per
fectly plain, slightly curved, has a hilt
something like a naval cutlass, apd is
tempered to perfection. Mr.. Henderson
was present at the battle of Chilnia-
wallah in 1919, and can testify to some
remarkable instances Of the power of a
keen sword.
Toward the termination of the fight,
as the British troops were slowly retir-
iring, Sikh challenged by his gestures
and defiant attitude an Irish soldier to
leave the ranks and engage in single
combat. One thrust from his bayonet
went right through the Sikh, who,
though mortally wounded, instantane-
ously with his raZor-edged tulwar cleft
his opponents head in two, as far down
as the base of the neck, both falling dead
at the same instant. After this engage
ment Sikh was found sitting on the
ground apparently unhurt, yet holding
his hands up to his head, and when the
surgeon bade him lower his arms, he fell
dead on the spot, with half his skull
gone, the entire upper part having been
cut clean through.
Elephants are completely disabled by
one blow from the Arabs two-handed
sword, which almost sewers the huge
hind leg, biting deep into the bone. This
feat is varied by slashing off the trunk,
leaving it dangling only by a piece of
skin. A Goorka has been seen by the
late Laurence Oliphant to behead buff
falo with his cockrie. And Sir Samuel
Baker, a man powerful enough to WELD,
during his African exploration, the
Baby, an elephant rifle weighing twenty
two pounds, once Glove a wild boar with
his big hunting knife, almost in halves,
as it was making his final rush, catching
it just behind the shoulder, where the
hide and bristles are at least span
thick.
Sir Walter Scott relates how the Earl
of Angus, with his huge sweeping brand
challenged an opponent to fight, and at
a blow chopped asunder his thigh bone,
killing him on the spot. There is
story current in Australia that Lieut..
Anderson, in 1852, during an encounter
with bushrangers, cat clean through the
gun-barrel of his adversary with his
sword And at Kassassin it is related
that one of Arabi Pasha's soldiers was
severed in two during the midnight
charge. But in the opinion of experts
this is very improbable, even had the
new regulation sabre been then in use.
i Boston Globe.