The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1896-07-02
UNIQUE ROYAL SALUTE.
1t Cs-'e Much Nearer to Being a Royal
Eombardment.

/ 1t Ca-'e Much Nearer to Being a Royal
Eombardment.
Uriied States Army Messenger J.
F. Clrrett Of the army headquar-
tiers 4 lis OF q funny incident, which
! might hare been serious, t5at hap
pened IN San Francisco bay when
the any authorities were paying
tc-c-S 20 King Kalakaua of the
Hawaiian Islands at the time his
majesty was on C visit to the United
States in 1890. So carefully was the
affair guarded that the story did not
get cut. MFR. Gurnett, who was
present and practically had a hand
in tho ridiculous accident, says it
hes 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-
.tion. General Mcdowell, who was
then in command of the department
of tho Pacific, took the king out on
the steamer General Mcpherson for
trip around the 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 30
guns. 1t happened that at this time
all tho 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withdrawn from Angel island, and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 the infantry soldiers
thought they could manage to fire
them. The guns were ~ feet long,
had Is inch bore and required sew
eral hatfuls of powder for even
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 O moments notice. While
the amateur artillerymen were wait
ing to shoot off the guns heavy
rain came up, and the men ran for
cover after hastily stopping and COW
ering the mouths of the cannon with
tampions to keep the rain from run
ming in and wetting the powder.
The cannons' mouths were elevated
several degrees and the powder
would soon have been ruined il the
tampions had not been put in. The
tampions were heavy wooden covers
weighing 40 or so pounds and almost
as large as the head of q barrel.
While the mon were still in the shed
keeping out of the rain the General
Mcpherson was noticed coming
around the corner of the island from
an entirely unexpected direction.
With an excited yell the men ran to
guns. Here was the king not quar-
ter of milo away, and not a gun
had been fired. The officer of the
day-a young, raw STRIPPING from
the east who had secured commits
sion presumably by a pull-few
down to the wharf, and the men
rushed to the guns and began touch
ing them off, one every 80 seconds.
The first one went off with horri-
bic roar. There was a swish in the
air over the steamboat, and big
hampton few over it with q screech
like shell.
Tho unskilled infantrymen had
forgotten to pull out the tampions
and were firing them straight at the
General Mcpherson. There was an
other tremendous bang, and the sec
ond hampton hit the smokestack of
the steamer and knocked o dent in it
as big as wheelbarrow.. Inside the
breastworks the men were blazing
away in blissful ignorance of what
they were doing. They heard q roar
that deafened all other sounds AS
the third hampton few close to the
deck of the steamer and within three
feet of King Kalakauas head the
young officer of the day discovered
what was the matter. Running back
toward the guns, he yelled: Pull
them things out! Pull them things
out!" After the fourth hampton had
been blown harmlessly past the
steamer the officer arrived inside the
breastworks, and the tampions were
removed from the rest of the guns.
Chicago Tribune.
Papyrus.