The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1896-01-20
FR1GHrruL WEAPONS OF WAR.

One Shot Could Destroy a Warshlp or a
Regiment
New York World.
The carnage In the next war must be
awful. Regiments will be wiped out
where In other times individuals would
have been killed.
The Krag-Jorgensen rifle. now in use
in the United States army will discharge
forty shots a minute within radius of
$500 yards Its penetrating power is six
times greater than that of the old Win
chester or Springfield Speaking roughly.
q bullet from this rifle would penetrate
the bodies of six men at a distance of
1000 to 1000 yards, 1t will also penetrate
thirty inches Of hard oak. 1t will kill at
two miles.
With the enormously increased range
OF arms and smokeless powder 1t Will
sometimes be impossible TO tell where
firing comes from. Regiments may be
moved down before they are aware OF
the neighborhood of an enemy.
While Thomas Coifey, a military ptis-
oner at Fort Sheridan was attempting TO
escape, a sentinel fired at him with the
krag-Jorsenisen ,r rife a. distance OF
top Of his head. Had he been al q greater
distance it would have. passed through
An ingenious man OF science Or Pc
happy idea TO practice. on living horses
and dead men with modern army rifles
Firing at corpse with Mannlicher
rifle at distance OF 1900 feet he produced
complete perforation of the Uranium with
simultaneons rupture of the stomach
ard intestines.
through the held and lengthwise through
the backbone, grinding it TO powder
the head smashed it to pieces.
Ia ha
cause an amour tot hemorrhage which Is
sure to be fatal wherever the wound Is
received. a soldier accidentally shot In
the leg died and four quarts of blood were
found n his nleural cavity.
All the nations Of Europe. as well as
the United States. are armed with new
magazine rifles Of nearly equal power.
\ Maxim rapid fire gun, weighing only
~ pounds, has capacity for placing
800 bullets IN a minute wherever they
II do most harm.
The Browning rapid fire gun, used in the
United States army, is capable of firing
400 rounds In one minute and forty sec
onds.
The pneumatic dynamite guns at Sandy
Hook are capable of throwing a shell
containing so pounds OF dynamite dis
lance Of three miles.
are 50 feet long and the bore is Is inches
in diameter.
a shell from one Of these guns would,
according to United States military Of
1t would destroy every artificial construc-
ton within radius OF 400 feet OF the
explosion. city block would be wiped
II is claimed for this gun that one shell
well placed would destroy three men-of-
war.
In testing the dynamite gun ten dunn
my shots We're fired in fifteen minutes.
From the subsequent test with the fun
charge Of dynamite there Is every reason
10 believe that this rate could be main
taiUel with tho Y rlnstNa charge.
lp0-pound shell from one OF the L.
inch guns a. Sandy Hook will penetrate
l-,S incnes Of steel. stone ioruhcations
VIA be useless against such weapons for
the sn.intering stone will only make so !
many additional missiles.
\ Hotchkiss quick-tiring gun is made |
which weighs only twenty pounds II is |
CAPABLE Of firing COO 30-caliber cartridges a |
minute, CT at the rate Of 10000 an hour |
Each che will XII six men;
TINS gun Is easily portable by one man, |
and several can he carried by a horse.
IN France the gun has been fired rapidly |
without rest for three hours. During |
this test, 1000 600 cartridges were used.
a 1op-pound projectile fred from a e.
inch gun, Me largest in use In the |
United states navy, has passed through .
tonrtecen inches of Harveyized nickel |
OF ha!f-nch steel atnd then gone a mile
or two beyond. The steel used In tnlf
case Is the most successful armor Yet
made
The .shell weighed llOO pounds and was
propelled by 49, pounds Of gunpowler Il
moved ~ velocity OF 1900 feet per second |
ma eNerted force Of 25,o0Q foot tons. II
made Il clean. round hole.
one OF the newest engines of destruction
$ known as the Maxim Schupphaus gun,
lns invention lies in the powder which is
10 be used. 80
me mentors propose to construct a
.Wenty-lnch gun which would be able IN
brow 800 pounds of explosive len miles
Ihat would destroy whole city, lot alone
l strip. The powder has been used xvi.b
good results In snail guns.
The British battleship Benbow carries
guns OF lloia tons and l64-inch calibar
s MIRA SHIPS OF her class carry guns Of
n of the twelve-inch gun is rernembsped
he destructive qualities of this one viii
De understood. Wiz
The Italian man-of-war Andrea Dor,a
aries lotion Armstrong gun. which
las proved effective AT a distance Of thir.
cen miles. Va 'il'I-
INC Haskell gun. In which a success,or
y charges are exploded as the shot ma sses
Trough the bore, will throw i55-nound
neil through twenty-four inches Of iron
II distance Of fifteen miles. ''o"