The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-04-27

with these carriages. Some notion OF
the wonderful perfection of the me-
chanism employed may be obtained
from the statement Of a military ex-
pert. who said that the operation OF
lifting and lowering Cotton gun on
one of these carriages involves the
solution Of a mechanical problem
equivalent to stopping locomotive
running at twenty miles an hour
within l8 feet, or half its length, yet
so easily as not to occasion the slight
est jar.
THE MODERN WAR PRoJECT1LE
is very different thing from the old
fashioned cast iron cannon ball. 1t is
conical, and pointed with steelso hard
that a file will not cut it. Around the
sides, however, it's steel envelope is
softer, for the reason that if the huge
bullet were Of very hard steel all over
it would be too brittle and would
smash up on striking such mark as
steel armor. The ordinary she'll is
hollow and is loaded with powder,
which is exploded either on impact in
the manner already described. or else
by fuse set to burn a certain time.
The arnor piercing shell, on the other
hand, contains no powder, being in
tended to penetrate. Some of the
shells are loaded with little balls call
ed shrapnel, which are scattered de-
structively by the bursting Of the
projectile. Shells containing high ex-
plosives are not yet in general use,
though much talked of; the French
alone have them in service. The
difficulty is to devise a safe method Of
setting them off. There is no doubt
that wet gun cotton will be generally
employed before long for loading
shells. The French "melinite, which
is as explosive much more powerful
than gunpowder, is poured into shells
into liquid state.
THE AERIAL TORPEDO THROwER,
otherwise known as the dynamite gun,
has as yet by no means completed the
process of its evolution. 1t throws
large masses of high explosives, from
100 to 500 pounds, with accuracy and
safety to distance Of three and half
miles. Fired at ship, it does not
need to hit the target actually, mas
much as it is capable Of demolishing
any vessel, or Of rendering it hors-du-
combat at all events, if it succeeds in
dropping shell near it in the water.
IF the vessel were struck above the
water-line, the concussion would kill
every living thing in the barbettes and
superstructure, incidentally tearing an
enormous hole in the hull and proba-
bly, exploding the boilers. The water
surface within range Of 'one of these
guns is laid off in imaginary rectan-
giles, and any ship coming within
three and half miles is obliged to
traverse one or more of these rectan-
giles. By position-fnder the exact
location Of the vessel is known, and,
the gun being trained upon her in
expectation of her coming, she has
hardly entered the fatal rectangle
when thrce messengers Of death are on
their way toward her. At two and a
half miles FIVE successive 1O-inch
shells, each carrying 200 pounds Of
gun cotton, have been dropped in a
rectangle yards long by five and a
half miles wide.
TIE NEW INFANTRY GUN.
The army that operates against the
Spaniards OF land will be provided
with rifles Of the new type, which
shoot as fast as man can pull the
trigger. The bullets are Of lead, clad
in steel coat. and leave the muzzle Of
the weapon with velocity of half a
mile a second. The soldier is able to
fire FIVE shots as quick as he can wink.
and in an instant he substitutes an
other set of fives for the empty shells.
The cartridges are fastened together
in sets of five with paper strings, and
each man carries 175 of them. The
little projectilcs have a range OF two
miles, and will go through 80 inches
of pine without iniuring their jackets.
They will pass through seven men
placed in line, and will pierce tree
trunk three feet thick. Up to 400
yards. owing to the rapidity with
which they revolve, they have an e1-
plosiyc effect. smashing bones to splln-
ters and tearing the flesh to pieces.
RENE BAclE.
= Miss Jessie Il. Parker. who has
just been elected mayor of Ken
dricks. Idaho, is said to be both