Evening journal., 1895-07-24
A CANNON OF RAWHIDE.
John n. Link Of Syracuse Sur
prises the Ordnance Board.
HIS GUN STOOD THE TEST WELL

II Resisted Pressure of 10000 Pounds TO
the square Inch. Apparently to the Dis
appointment of the omcers, Who WIN
Try II Again-The First of Its Kind.
NEW YORK, July PA rawhide can
non, the invention Of Frenchman named
Frederick la Tulip, living in Syracuse,
was tested by the ordnance board Of the
United States army at the Sandy Hook
proving grounds yesterday. The cannon
held It's own against very severe tests. 1t
successfully withstood pressure Of 80, s69
pounds 60 the square inch but the recoil
after this shot broke the trail Of the gun
carriage, and further tests were impossi-
BILE no other carriages being available at
the time. The members Of the ordnance
board made copious notes of the workings
of the gun, and maintained their usual
silence when questioned as to their opin-
ion Of it, but it was apparent that they
didn't quite see the great advantage to be
gained by the use Of the weapon, and had
little faith in the claim Of the inventor
that the gun Is destined to reyolutionize
things.
The breaking down Of the gun carriage
was n disappointment TO those who wit
messed the test and the members of the
ordnance board We're particularly annoyed
by IL. 1t prevented the other tests that tho
board had decided upon, and it was hint
ed that the reason they were so much dis
appointed over this breakdown was be-
cause they expected with these tests to
blow the gun to flinders
Frederick la Tulip, who invented the
gum has patented rawhide boat and
number Of other things made Of rawhide,
and two years ago he began work on tho
rawhide cannon He says it is the first
gun of its kind ever made, though he nd
mits the mention in history of leather
guns. La Tulip interested several Syra-
cuse men in his cannon, and John II. Link,
wholesale liquor dealer, finally pur-
chased n half interest in it and paid the
expenses Of having it patented.
The Guns Good Points.
Mr.. Link knows absolutely nothing
about guns and freely admits it, but he is
firmly convinced that the rawhide cannon
is the weapon Of the future, and he il was
who applied at Washington to have the
government test the gun. The war depart
mont ordered the ordnance board to test
the cannon carefully, and yesterday was
the day set for the test. In Syracuse they
have been firing the gun privately in an
armory for a month past, and there, Mr..
Link says, its most marvellous features
were discovered. A national guard gunner
named Snyder operated the cannon in
Syracuse, and Mr.. Link informed the ord
nance board yesterday that Snyder was
fully convinced that it was a great thing
The principal claims made for the gun
are that il is only about half the weight Of
an ordinary steel gun, that it is just as
durable and much stronger than a steel
gun, and that any number of shots can be
fired from it in rapid succession without
heating it.
Two weeks ago the gun was sent to this
city and transferred TO the proving ground
on the government boat Ordnance. They
have every kind of cannon imaginable at
the proving ground, and the officers there
know more about the fine points Of the
big guns than the men who make them,
but when the rawhlde product Of Syracuse
arrived they were utterly phased.
They had never seen anything like it
before, and the question of drawing lots
rs to who would conduct the test was dis
cussed The officers became firmly CON
WINGED that a good charge would blow the
cannon TO atoms, and when Lieutenant
Ruggles was finally ordered to operate the
gun he was warned not TO have the thing
fired until all hands We're a good 90 yards
away from it, For two weeks the cannon
has been at the proving ground, and
among the soldiers it has been dubbed tho
''hayseed gun"