The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-15

fists and inventors; Hiram o. England.
and Hudson Of New York. Hiram Is the
inventor Of the Maxim gun; Hudson Is
she inventor OF certain explosives. Both
are men Of the loftiest ambitions. HI
INNS ambition Is 20 produce an air ship
capable Of ascending 10 great nights.
from which il may drop dynamite upon
armies and cities. and thus make war
very terrible. Hudson's ambition is TO
produce gun, a powder and a projectile
capable OF annihnating Hirams air ships,
no matter how successful Hiram may be
in securing for them great speed and alb
solute tractabHty.
Hiram has made such progress towards
the perfection OF hts air ship that it would
not be at all surprising 10 hear at any
time that it had been pronounced a per-
feet success by the most competent Judges.
Hudson's ambition does not seem to be
so near Of attainment. but he is conf
dent and enthusiastic, and has no doubt
that by the time his brother gets ready
to hy up in the air Cor the purpose of
dropping death and destruction upon the
heads Of the devoted nations. he will be
prepared to shoot him down from the
highest altitude to which he may reach.
before,h has an opportunity to place a
single one Of hts dynamite bombs.
The terrible effectiveness of Hiram
Maxims plan of campaign-the dropping
Of dynamite from great nights upon forts.
cities, and troops-is at once apparent.
And no less apparent is the demand for
some means OF defense against the pro-
posed aerial monster, which is so near
TO realization. In this demand Hudson
Maxim finds the opportunity
for the exercise Of his genius.
He says he has invented an
explosive of sufficient. force and gun Of
sufficient power to send projectile ten
miles straight up into the air. The pow
der and the gun. however. would be or
little good without the special Maxim
p1ojectile, because OF the difficulty that
would be experienced in striking with a
shot so small and so swift an object in the
air as his brothers air ship. At the se;ge
Of Paris, the best gunuers in the Prus-
sian army found the balloon the hard
est OF all targets TO hit. The air ship
would be more elusive Of the shot than
were the balloons. The Hudson Maxim
projectile. therefore, will be provided with
a high explosive to be detonated auto
matically at prearranged altitude. Thus,
if one Of Hiram's air ships appeared on
the horizon, Hudson would train his gun.
after calculating the hight of the enemy.
and await the time to pun the lanyard.
Should the explosion of the pro-
iectile in the air occur anywhere
within 1900 yards of the target
the blow would be delivered just as Of
fectively as if it had struck the airship
sQuarely in its most vulnerable part The
conclusion, Hudson says, would be sufTi-
GENTLY violent 20 drop the airship to the
earth mass OF shreds and splinters.
Thus the attacker would be annihiated
before he had delivered blow, since he
would be compelled TO get directly over
the point to be attacked before he could
drop his dynamite I'm a manner TO effect
his purpose. No seronaut has ever attain
ed TO an attitude much above five miles
II is doubted that human life could be
even artiacially sustained at an altitude
Of ten miles, and as Hudson's ordinance
would be effective 20 the hight Of ten
miles. It can be seen that Hiram could
not climb out of range before dropping
his dynamite.
AS an auxiliary to his great aerial dyna-
mite thrower, Hudson has invented a
smaller gun with which assaults upon his
brothers air ships may be made when they
are approaching at a comparatively low
level, and before they have reached point
above the object of attack. This gun is
very powerful and carries shrapnel 1t is
intended TO scatter" like the bird gun
of the small boy. The shrapnel among
the aeroplanes and In the magazine of
high explosives on the air ship might be
depended upon to bring TO grief the demon
of the air. The structure of the air ship
is necessarily very delicate, hence even a
light shock would probably be sufficient
to wreck it.
The contest between the brothers is in
deed Interesting; and it is made really
more interesting than it would otherwise
be by the fact that each helps the other
along all he can. Hudson has Just gone
TO England to hold a consultation with