The Portland daily press., 1896-11-27
WONDERFUL DYNAMITE GUN.

uVNDGhEOL DINAMllI UCNs
| A Most Effective Arm in the Hands Of
Cubans.
1t Is Manned BY an American and Hat
Done Great STANDARDIZATION OF
How 1t Works By Cuban Officer.
| New York. Novembe 26-The Herald
says: Lieutenant Emanuel Ramos, who
has been with Maceo. in some of his hard.
est fought battles, and who has been
wounded in the right leg at the battle
OF Whales, reached New York few
days ago. AS Lieutenant Ramos was in
charge of the ammunition of the dyna
MET gun with which Maoeo.has done such
fearful execution ON Spanish troops jim
Pinardel Rio, he had an interesting story
to tell of these effective weapons when
seen yesterday.
''It was in Septem her," he said, when
| went with the flibustering expedition
that carried the wonderful gun to Cuba.
iheIe were seventy six men, with q
mill ion cartridges and 1000 Remington
Lee rifles, aboard, besides the dynamite
| gun. l cannot disclose theaname Of the
ship II which we sailed, but we landed
safely at Las Canas on the Sth of the
1 month. There was no one to receive US,
| but we found three Cubans, who said
that Maceo had been waiting for US. As
we were Is days late he had gone and
left instructions that we should go to
Col. Lora's camp, three miles distant.
Our further instructions, which came
through Gen. Rio, were that if we met
enemies We were to fire. on them, and If
we met Gubans we were to take them to
camp. "Rius Rivera, who was in
command Of the expedition, at once start
ed with his men, guns and munitions,
and we reached camp without delay.
"a word as to how thesguns. which
have caused SO much comment, oontin-
ued Lieut.. Ramos. s'In appearance
they are lot such formidable engines of
destruction as they actually are In
effect, for they are only about six feet in
length. and each one weighs $50 pounds.
The dynamite gun Is formed of three
parallel barrels The right tube hol is
a cartridge of smokeless powder; the left
| tube confines compressed air, and the
centre tube holds the iron projeoti1e in
which is the gelatine-wh
has three times the force OF ordinary dy-
Mantle. When the cartridge Ia exploded
in the right barrel OF the gun 1t sets free
the compressed air in the left barrel
| which rushes suddenly into the centre
barrel and hurls the projectile at the
enemy. When this projectile strikes, 1t
explodes with tremendous force, not only
destroying human life, but uprooting
| trees and tearing loose the ground and
rocks.
"The gun in the hands of good gun
ner, can do effective work ut the dis
tance of mile, though the best range
for certain work is one half of that dis
tance. When you add to this the certain
ty of aim of which the gun is capable
In expert hands and knows the effect of
the explosion of the probe ctile, you can
well imagine the effect when it strikes
in the midst of body of troops.
"As | was in charge of the ammunit-
ion, / was present during the first battle
in which one of these guns WAS used and
had chance to see it's effective WORK.
was given my position on account of
the experience IEhad had as member
with me. in charge Of the particular gun
of which am speaking, were A. Villalon,
q OWL engineer. VIM. Lee, "Call''
Weis, George Santee and Lieut.. Rock
well.
From Lora's camp we marched ten
miles to where Fagardo was encamped,
and went from there to Remates, where
troops. He at once took charge of the
expedition, distributed the guns and
munitions, and with 1900 of his force and
the gun to which was aEtaehed started
for Monteauelo. He was pxious to meet
the Spaniards and try the d mantle IN
on them.
cit was on the 18th OF the month that
we met two Spanish columns, which
meant a battle with even forces As we
reached hill top overlooking narrow
valley we saw the Spaniards on top of
the next hill, only quarter Of mile
: away. They were at work bhro wing up
line of Notifications.
:" A few shots were exchanged when
MaceO ordered our gun forward and had
1t trained on the enemy. He stood by
the piece and observed us closely as we
prepared to fire, and when the report
was heard he watched the result with the
} deepest interest.
=" The aim was too low, and the shot
| fell short OF its mark. No one was in
the ground whore 1t struck apparently
asto1ished the Spaniards for they
ceased nr1nR for several minutes.
During those minutes we were pre-
pairing for the second shot. The muzzle
of the gun was raised little when all
was IN readiness. and the com mand to
| ire was given. This time the aim was
: | pSAAooss "Aia SAo u6Itl1y PloJoooiAO was
thrown over the brow of the hill and in
to the very midst of the Spanish troops.
Ihe explosion brought CONSERVATION.
The shot bad done its frightful work
and the Spaniards, disappearing from
sight, did not fire another gun that
night.
I'VE waited for morning to renew the
battle. but as soon as 1t was light the
enemy tired one bombs and then re-
treated. The battle was won by that one
shot from our gun.
"Maeen destroyed the fort, took tools
and provisions TINT had been abandoned
and started in pursuit of the retreating
nemy.
"We marched 81 miles aud overlook
the same trcops-strengthened BY re-
1n1oroementsof 1900. men-at Las Tumbas
Torlnto; We met on level ground, be-
tween four large hills. We fought that
afternoon. all night and until noon the
next day. During all Of this time rain
was falling
I'm this battle the gun did It's hest
work, although 1t was fred only seven