The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1896-01-06


years In congress on the military
committee. being chairman while
his party was In congressional
control From congress he went
on the board OF ordnance and for
tihcatlon. where he served four years,
until his resignation a few months ago.
When asked II New York city could be-
successfully defended against an EN-
glish irOnclad feet. the general Said
New York IL. In my opinion and in
the opinion OF our best military author
tiles. fully prepared TO receive any lrun.
clad fleet. The defense work dore
there since the Notifications board was
organized. eight years ago, is OF the
most modern and complete character.
calculated 10 defend the city from any
number Of the best battleships aloat
During the past eight years the forth
lions board has built Eve new batteries
10 command the entrances Of New York
harbor. which an incoming steamship
passenger would hardly notice. The
most Of the walls and all the guns are
down out Of sight. The outer walls. or
first lines. are ~ Sandy Hook ihe en-
trance 20 the main or south channel.
whore powerful batteries OF twelve
inch rined steel guns and rlfcd twelve
inch mo.tars are planted. The bat
terics. when on high ground. have walls
even only with the surface. and on low
ground they are slightly raised The
outer wall Is Of concrete. forty feet
thick In the concrete are blocks Of
stone. thrown In promlscuously. 10 de-
feet proiectiles which penetrate the
surface Inside this wall Is thirty feet
o. sand. covered with concrete: then
another concrete wall. under which the
men and guns are protected Under
meath all are steam boilers aud power
ful engines for handling the immense
guns. which weigh over fifty tons each.
and the carriages weigh AZ much more
The largest guns ON any war vessel are
thirieen-lnch. hut the gun on land. with
a firm foundation has more power aud
accuracy than one on ship.
In addition to its twelve-inch guns.
the Sandy Hook works have a mortar
battery OF sixteen twelve-lnch modern
rined mortars. Their shells can carry
100 pounds Of emmensiie. equal 10 900
podnds Of powder In explosive force. n
one Of these monsters strike the pro-
tected deck Of an ironclad Il will 80
through d and explode, Aside from
these equipments, Sandy Hook has
three OF the lately invented dynamite
guns. ready 10 throw 250-pound charges
Of dynamite on or against an Invading
ship at long range
For an inside line behind the sandy
Hook batteries the board has also
planted barbette and mortar batteries
nearly as powerful nine miles mp at
the NarroWs. one set are about Fort
Wardsworth. on Staten Island. These
are $50 feet above the sea. and yery
powerful Across the channel Is a line
of batteries one-half mile long about
Fort Hamilton. An attacking fleet
would be In range Of the Sandy Hook
guns when eight miles out. II Il passed
the Hook IL would then be under the
concentrated fre Of the Sandy Hook and
Narows batteries for another eight
miles. No fleet could stand this ire
for any long period. and torpedos OF
submarine mines would prevent any
quick passage. New York Is easy "a
defend. An attacking feet could not
deploy MS the English did al Aloxan.
dria, form a seml-circlc. and concen.
trate the FIRE Of every ship There Is
not room for such tactics The ships
must approaeh head on, In single Gle
Powerful searchlights at all the bat
teries would help the gunners at nigh
and prevent tampering with th'
planted mines or torpedoes.
These powerful batteries are M
backbone Of the New York defenses
Next comes the modern submarine
mines, which are an enlargement an'
improvement over the old-fashionei
torpedo. a large stock OF mines will
their appliances all numbered an
stored on Staten Island. and No VIII
let's Point Is force OF 400 men from
the engineer corps thoroughly drlllel
] for years In the work OF placing AM
working them. The East river cntranc
TO New York harbor Is defended by ne,
and powerful batteries lately built a
: Wlllotts Point and navld's Island. IN
Z same o. those on the South channel.
r Next TO New York. san Francisc
has received the most attention. New
- powerful barbCtto and mortar hli;erle
@ have been built there, like those q
New York san Francisco ls safe an
g secure. So are Boston aud Hampto
Roads, where modern batteries hay
b. been placed and submarine mines ful
provided. Other places. like Phllade
i phia, Baltimore and New Orleans. "a
the present must depend mainly o
o suhparlnc mines and our armori'
a navf force, There Is another impoI
tantsact 10 consider The very largel
war ships OF Europe draw too niue
water to enter New York. or any oth'
: American harbor. excepting san Fran
. cisco, Norfolk and Portland. Ne IN
eight. ten and twelve-lnch guns now b
y Ing made at the new government Ia
/ tory at the Watervlelt Arsenal. We
. Troy, n. y, are the best cannon in q
u wOrld, Krupn's not eyc0pttd."