Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-09-01
4 NEN gibraltar.
The Majestic Palisades to be Crowned
with Cannon.
New York Made Impregnable to
All Attacks from Foe, by Either
Land or Sea-Arny Officers at
Work Gigantic Guns will Throw
Shell Over the City Into Long
Island Sound.
Special to the Register.

Special to the Register.
| New York, August 29.-New York
City, for fifty years past, has initiated
the man who sat on his front porch
! with a shotgun across his knees wait
ing to repel burglars, only to find. after
all, that the thieves had broken into
| the rear of his house and made of with
whatever they wanted to steal.
Fortunately for Father KnickerbOck-
er, nobody has attacked him from the
rear as yet, and now that his attention
| has been called TO a careless oversight,
he is taking steps TO secure himself on
! all sides against invasion.
From the close OF the Revolutionary
war almost, the government has ex-
pended money running up into the mil
lions to protect New York's magnificent
harbor against a probable foreign foe
Now that the experts have pointed
out the ease with which an invading
force could capture New York City
from the north, the metropolis has
awakened TO a lively sense OF its own
peril.
II therefore proposes to interest the
government in plan to fortify the
magnificent Palisades with immense
mortars, Siege guns and high power
rifles capable of throwing heavy shot
from twelve to fifteen miles with deadly
effect
A fort fifteen miles long, as imprcg-
nable as Gibralter and far more COM
plete in modern detail than that unas-
sailable key to the Mediterranean.
Think of it!
An idle dream? Not in the least
Within several years at the most the
Palisades on the Jersey side, from Wee
hawken to DObbs Ferry, will bristle
with armament, and from this en-
trenched position the best artilleTymen
in the United States army will be able
TO drop with unerring accuracy, shells,
bombs and steel shot far out into the
Sound. Harlem and upper New York
Will sleep under cover of the greatest
guns in the world, but this knowledge
need not disturb the rest of the citizen
who lives there The shooting cannot
injure him or his family in the least,
and timid nurse girls can take heir
toddling charges out into the parks
without danger.
If an evil day comes when any black
nOsed cruiser from an unfrlendly power
pokes it's way past the Notifications at
Davids Island and Willets' Point on
the Sound. it cannot sail down toward
City Island disembark its marines UNI
der cover of heavy guns to overrun
Harlem
Long before New York is reached The
skilled artillery officers on the Pali-
sades Notifications will have received |
the news. ascertained the range, and |
the deep roar of immense guns will pro- !
claim the fact that far out at sea some |
cruiser is sailing in a hal of steel shot |
and fearfully fatal exploding Of bombs.
If the Harlemite is brave enough to
80 ND ON his roof top he may be able TO
trace the course Of the screaming mes
sengers of death, and if the battln oc-
cur at night, NewYork will be treated
TO pyrotechnic display such as no man
has ever seen. but army officers laugh
al the idea that Trinity Church steeple
viii be knocked over. or that the high
Office buildings will be damaged IN the
least. A shot from the Palisades would |
30 nearly half q mile above New y Ork
il is an uncomfortable thought that
the answering shots from the opposing
naval fleet might fall short Of the Pal
isades and drop into Broadway. but 1t is
consoing to know that no matter what
damage might arise from this cause,
New York would be protected against
invasion of forces landed on her
shores.
Bucher the Prussian general upon
being shown the wonders of London,
summed up his opinion i'm one sentence,
what a magnificent city TO sack and
as human nature is ever the same, this
imperial metropolis does not propose TO
give any modern Blucher the Opportun-
itv of carrying ont his desires.
Practical army officers are now draw
ing plans for the immense fort which
is TO be constructed along the Palisades
While no definite designs have been
completed it is known that it will be
the real American Gibralter heavily
manned and Offered by the pick of
West Point graduates These officers
cay that New York is almost defense
less at present OF course, there are
The great mortars at Sandy Hook,
C0ney Island, Forts WadswOrth, Ham
ilton and Lafayette, but suppose the
ships Of the enemy did not wish TO en-
ter the lower bay. All they have to do
is to sail down the Sound, silence the
guns at Willets' Point and Dayid's I5l-
land, and drop anchor within the city
limits. What then, is to prevent them
sending vessels of lighter draft through
the Harlem canal into the Hudson. au
up that river as far as the depth Of the
water viii permit them 10 go?
Nothing in the world The Hudson
in case of war, would be the key 20 tla
whole situation, and the enemy would .
hold it with scarcely an effort
Imagine that within the next twelve
months the United States should bee .
come involved in war with a irst-c'dss /
naval power and that what has been .
coniectured really happened Having Z
Cntrenched himself the admiral of the /
invading fleet would naturally begin 10 ,
dream of the wealth that was his for /
the asking.
The admiral would merely .ndite a |
brief note. as did Napoleon to the /
Doges Of Venice TO this effect. "A ,ri- .
butte of fifty millions in gold, or we /
shell the city"
Surrender would be inevitable.
The United States sub-Treasury and /
the rich banks could be robbed ar Will +
and the commerce Of a century DESTROY /
ed before a sufficient force could be /
found to protect her Foreign guns |
would be heard the length OF the Hud- /
son. and o prize richer than any won I
by tine Caesars would have been gained /
by the invader.
This is not an exaggerated story.
New York is absolutely Of the mercy !