Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1896-06-20
UNIQUE ROYAL SALUTE.
It Came Much Nearer to Being Royal
ROmbard slent.

It Came Much Nearer to Being Royal
Bombard sient.
United States Army Messenger j.
F. Gulnott of tho AMY headGuar.
ters tells of funny incident, which
might have been serious, that hap
pened in San Francisco bay when
the army authorities we've pay ing
honors to King kalakaua of the
Hawaiian Islands at the timo his
majesty was Oh q visit to the United
States in 1890. So carefully was tho
affair guarded that the story did not
got out. Mr.. Gurnett, who was
present and practically had hand
in tho ridiculous accident, says it
has never been published before.
When King Kalakaua arrived in
San Francisco, military and civil
officials alike did honor to his high
ness and showed him much atten-
ton. General Mcdowell, who was
then in command of the department
of tho Pacific, took the king out on
the steamer General MCPHERSON for
Il trip around tho bay.
1t was arranged that when the
steamer arrived opposite Angel is
land in the bay the soldiers station.
ed there should fire salute OF 80
guns. 1t happened that at this time
all the artillery forces had been
withdrawn from Angel island. and
companies Of infantry had been sta
toned there instead. However, ten
enormous guns, with their mouths
projecting over the earthworks, still
remained, and tho infantry soldiers
thought they could manage to fire
them. Tho guns were ~ feet long,
had q Is inch bore and required sew
eral hatfuls of powder for even a
small load.
1t was known at what time the
boat would arrive, so the guns were
loaded with heavy blank cartridges
and everything was made in readi-
ness SO that tho salute could be
fired at a moments notice. While
tho amateur urtillerymen were wait
ing to shoot off tho guns heavy
rain came up, and the men ran fo1
cover after hastily stopping and COY.
ering tho mouths of the cannon with
tampions to keep the rain from run
ming in and wetting tho powder
Tho cannons' mouths were elevated
several degrees and the powder
would soon have been ruined it the
tampions had not been put III. The
tampions were heavy wooden cover;
weighing 40 or so pounds and almost
as large rs tho head of q barrel
While the men We're still in the sheC
keeping out Of the rain the Genera
Mcpherson was noticed coming
around tho corner of tho island from
an entirely unexpected direction
With an excited yell the men ran tt
guns. Hero was the king not a quar-
ter of q mile away, and not II gul
had been fired. The officer of thu
day-a young, raw STRIPPING from
tho cast who had secured commits
sion presumably JOY a pull--flcv
down to tho wharf, and the mel
rush ed to the guns and began touch
ing them off, ono every 80 seconds
The first ono went off with a horri
ble roar There was swish i'll TIT
air over tho steamboat, and biz
hampton flew over it with screecl
like q shell.
The unskilled infantrymen hat
forgotten to pull ont the tampion
and were firing them straight at thu
General Mcpherson. There was an
other tremendous bang, and the sec
ond hampton hit tho smokestack o
tho steamer and knocked dent in j
as big as a wheelbarrow. Inside tn
breastworks the men were blazing
away in blissful ignorance of wha
they woro doing, They heard u roa
that deafencd all other sounds, a
tho third hampton flew close to tn
deck of tho steamer and within thre
feet of King Kalakaua's head tn
young officer of the day discoveret
what was the matter. Running bacl
toward tho guns, he yelled: "Pul
them things out! Pull them thing
out' After tho fourth hampton hat
been blown harmlessly past til
steamer tho officer arrived inside til
breastworks, and the tampions wer
removed from tho rest of the guns
Chicago Tribune.