The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-09-04
Souvenirs of the War.

The latest invasion OF Washington Is oy
the relic-hunters. From all quarters OF
the Union inquiries are pouring in, some
OF them by word Of mouth and some or
them by letter. for particulars as 10 the
disposal of materials of war Captured
by our army from the Spaniards. Most
of the relic-hunters are unwilling TO trust
to the honesty OF the regular curio-deal-
ers, who profess 10 sell souvenirs OF San
tiago and the like; but there seems 10 De
a general feeling that II the government
would set apart such weapons and &C
coutrements as il may not need Tor us
own use and sell them with certtil-
cate Of their authenticity they would COM
mand good market. II has even been
estimated that a Spanish rifle. which hau
been used in defending the enemys works
against the assaults OF our troops, would
bring a good enough price TO purchase
new rifle Of the best make for some Amer
lean soldier.
In other words. il is believed that the
government could take the entire stock Of
captured arms. obsolete ammunition and
equipments, and. with a little advertising,
dispose of them for enough TO purchase
an equivalent stock OF new and modern
material which could be put to immediate
practical use in our own army. Ihere
would be a precedent for this in the peri
odical advertisement and sale by the gov
eminent Of condemned weapons and am
munition. Most of this material is new
and has never been brought into use, bur
has been superseded by some more salts
factory device, In this way II is often
possible TO pick up an excellent rife. IN
as good condition as when IL left the fac
tory, for two or three dollars. which 1t
would be impossible 10 purchase az first
ffv.7a mn
Cutlasses, sabres, horse-pistols, cavalry
trappings. etc, are often sold thus for
mere song. and are bought by ready-made
clothing dealers and other retail mer-
chants who present them 10 their Gus
toners as souvenirs Of or premiums on.
large purchases. other lots are bought
by collectors who make a speciality or
furnishing museums, and also by junk
and curio-dealers, in whose hands they
are smeared and battered enough TO lend
a color of truth TO the labels pasted on
them. purporting to give a truthful ac-
count of the blody engagements in which
they have figured. Another trade Which
was pretty lively at one time. about the
period when more effective pTojectiles
were superseding the old IRON balls for
cannon and mortars IN fortficatiOps, was
in such spheres for use on the tops OF
gate posts. 1t would have paid the gov
eminent at one time, looked at merely
from the pecuniary point OF view. TO have
gone into the business of buying big NOR
tar-balls at wholesale and selling them
at retail for the ornamentauon of en-
frances TO gentlemen's country-seats.
Gen Flagler, chief of ordnance of the
army, has been advised by the ordnance
officer at Santiago that our government
will come in to possession of about 10000
small arms of all kinds as a result of the
Spanish surrender. Orders have been is
sued that these weapons be placed at
once on shipboard without the delay of
packing them in cases. This was done
SO that the men who will have to do the
work may not be detained needlessly in
the fever-stricken district The arms will
be brought to New York and placed in
cars for shipment TO the national armory
at Springfield. Mass. The ordnance Off
GERS will put them on board the cars with
out packing them in cases. merely taking
care that no gun shall interfere with an
other. The most recent reports from San
tiago show that there are but 5000 Maui
sers in the stock of rifles surrendered by
the Spanish These will be cleaned at the
Springfield armory and stored there. ar
least such of them as can be fitted for
further use The other guns may be sold
but the war department officers profess
to be not particularly anxious 10 adver-
tise that fact, as they say they have had
some unpleasant experiences with relic
hunters already, though they do not spec
ify wherein the unpleasantness consisted.
The property turned over to the United
States at Santiago included. besides the
Mausers, almost every other existing type
of rife The latter the government will
in all probability make no effort to use
again The cartridge-belts also. which
became the property of the United States
will be of little service. They are ar
ranged to carry the cartridges in clips
of five, and are not serviceable with our
guns. In the Kraig Jorgensen rife the
cartridges are placed in the gun one by
one, and the gun is so designed thai 1t
may be used as a single-loader. the mag
azine being detached or "cut off, for that
purpose Our cartridge-belts are deemed
superior in style, and even in the event OF
our adopting the Spanish type Of belt for
uniform purposes there are American de-
signs which in construction surpass 1t
in all the qualities desired IN such an ac-
coutrement.
The Bureau of Military Information has
prepared some interesting comparisons OF
the weapons used by the United States
and Spanish infantry respectively. The
Krag-Jorgensen rife has a calibre of 3
inch. while the Mauser has a calibre OF
.27s inch. The barrel Of each gun is in one
piece with wooden handguard. The weight
OF the Krag-Jorgensen empty. with bayo-
net, is 1924 pounds. and that OF the Mau-
ser 9 6S7 pounds. Both have the knife bay
onet. the Mauser's being an ounce lighter
in weight than ours.
II will be seen from the comparison
that it will not be practicable 10 use the
same weapons in our army except under
unusual conditions. 1t is proposed TO store
the serviceable Mausers at Springfield,
keeping them in order for use with the
powder and bullets which must be en-
ployed with that type Of guns Gen. Flag
Ter believes that they may prove Of ser
vice in emergencies when they could be
issued to special troops; these would then
have a smaH-arm equipment unlike that
OF the rest OF our military force, but this
condition was one which confronted our
army in the war with Spain. the regulars
being equipped with sg-JorEenssus.
while most OF the volunteer regiments car
ried Springfield rifles With the develop
ment Of the army incidental 20 the rarri-
soning az our newly acquired colonies. O.
may be necessary 70 maintain q large
force at a distance from the main body n
troops. Just a. England does, and in his
event the Soo9 Mausers captured az san
tiago and stored away at Springfield may
come 10 be OF real value.