The times., 1897-12-11
PLAGUED IT'S INVENTOR
Prof 2. R. Alger Injured by One
of His Own Bullets.
The Gentleman Thought the Gun
Was Not Loaded, But He
knows Better Now.

Pfoi +. Il. Alger. OF the Bureau of Ord
nance, who resides at No. 2026 HlIIyer
Place, was painfully injured by the ac-
eidental discharge OF magaliue rifle in
his hands yesterday AFTERNOON. Prof.
Alger was struck on the left cheek and
on the forehead i,y Fragments OF an iron
window cusllg, which We're ripped Off by
the buIlct The wound on the lett cheek
was about an inch long, but not very deep,
ole STITCH closing it up Tie fragment
which struck him CIR the forehead IN
flicted ragged wound, which is ugly, but
not serious.
The wounded officer rallied very quickly
from the accident, aud after having his
injuries ;lttencejI to by pr Green, of the
Navy nepartn4ih went home in a car
riage, walking Ss the elevator and out to
the vei!iele.
At II, time olfhe discharge of the rifle
Prof. y gef was ssitfing 1T his desk in an
office Of the Bureau of Ordnance, )yer
looking the White House. His desk is in he
northeast angle OF the room. On his eft
was window with iron casings. He lad
been experimenting all the morning with
the new magazine rifle, which has ia some
extent been adopted ia the Governm mt
service His experiments were being con
Quoted With dummy cartridges. with Zach
| VI which trials he pulled the trigger.
lie then inserted IN active cartridge,
and, by mere oversight and from the
fact that he had been pulling the trigger
with the dummy cartridge, be pulled the
trigger gain. Tie bullet. struck the ron
casing 90 the window, which it peae-
trated. tearing off severa! fragments.
In the room at the tiIoe were Lieut..
| Seymour, Ensign Littimcr, Naval Con
! structor Z. b. Dashlei and Craftsman
Weller. Mr.. I'ashiel was staudine near
| Prof. Aiger when the rifle went off, and
| BE, too, MAS struck on the head by some
| fragments OF the if0n from the windo v,
none OF which produced more than mere
scratches. Mr.. naShiel caught Prof Alger
as he recoiled from the shock. and noticing
| The effects of tile wounds ne St4nched the
! blpid with his fingers until the doc or
| Was sent for. The surgeon general also
! arrived, as did 200 oI 300 people.
| There We're all Kinds uf speculation as
70 what hadhappeHed. Some believed that
something tad gUpe off downstairs; others
! believed tlIat it WAS upstairs; others that
it was eut in the street, and others that
| the elevator i,aa Fallen FROM the top story.
/ The tBosi curious theory OF all was that
of Messenger Robinson. lie had seen an
employc all morning fixing the staff On
which the great time ball IL the Navy
department goes up and down regularly
in all KINGS of weather. lie al said in
| the morning that twas dangerous work
without ladder, ard lie shouldn't be
surprised If sofietiling wasn't going to
happen Sure enough in hi opinion, it
| Was the expected Chat happened wheu
| he heard the explosion he betook him
self upstairs, three stone steps at = time
In half ihour a Ii that vas left OF tie
sensation. was the hple intha winloW ca sing
The terrible f20 graumes bullet OF tie
new magazine rifle is the invention OF
Prof. AIger. Its5niade a somewhat clean
hole ripping off only iron enough te plague
i The int entor.
Save Tor tfe Inconvenience to the pro
feSsor. whose BUSINESS ii is 70 conduct ex
perin,er.ts witfthese rifles am, many Others
tire incidents rclseyed the tedium Of a very
dnIl day II th4 state, War and Navy De
parument.