Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1898-07-28

Gomez during the past two years and
Is now in the United States on a fur
ioush, had long service with these
modern instruments of destruction.
we worried the Spanards terribly
with them,' he said, for they did not
Know anything about such guns and
thought the devil was after them surs-
~ The noise of the report on the
uls charge OF dynamite gun Is moth
ing Ike that which accompanies the
discharge Of an ordinary field piece
ne proJectile does not ACQUIRE its
fG't velocity the instant it starts to
leaNe the gun tube, but accumulates
SPEED as 1t approaches the muzzle.
rms Is accomplished by a sort of
double discharge one to start the
plolectile--not too suddenly-aud the
other to accelerate its speed. 4 yio-
lent start might explode the protectile
before II left the gun When once a
projectile is started 1t may receive
violent impact without exploding.
This is illustrated by rolling along
the floor ball, such, tor instance. "a
Is used for bowling. and then giving
1t kick, along the direction in
which it is rolling, which gives Il
great increase in speed. The ball has
not been Jared rs severely as II would
nave been had the tull speed been
given 10 Il all at once. The only
noise made by the DISCHARGE is a deep
sh-sh-sh-as the projectile scars out
on its flight. When It strikes. how
ever, there Is report and commotioa
enough. Everything In the way Is
annihilated | think we could drive
the Spanards out OF Cuba il only we
could cry sh-sh loud enough. That
sound makes even the best of them
turn green. | speak of the dynamite
annihilating everything In the neigh
borhood when II explodes, and 1t does
usually, although have seen some
strange cases when though It des-
troyed life, 1t did not mutilate. We
had been throwing a few pounds of
dynamite into town to put the
inhabitants into a proper sprinting
spirit before making an attack. When
we got there we found only silence
and ruins. The air was still, the leaves
did not rustic the birds and the In
sects even were hushed. Some fowl
lay dead just within n broken gateway
where | entered, and the white bellies
OF some goldfish showed in garden
pool. They were dead, too. When I
went inside the house, whose thick
walls were still standing but which
had no roof, l found six bodies, all
o. Spanish soldiers. One of these
was nearly naked and though the man
was dead there was not even a scratch
on him. Here and there over the
body was little discolorment, 30
that the skin was botched, though
not abrased or confused, The blood
seemed to have setteled in spots all
over him. Circulation probably WAS
checked the instant of the explosion.
With the guns we had and the
charges We were able to use we had
little trouble in putting villages and
small towns to sleep, but the heavy
walled towns withstood our charges.
IL we could have discharged ton
pounds of dynamite instead OF one
pound we should have ruined every
obstruction we chose to fire at. Our
guns had a range OF about 5000
yards, but we could not expect much
accuracy at that distance. The guns
had to be fired at an angle of too
great elevation. We could beat the
Spaniards shooting. however, for we
could hit the province We fired at,
and generally the prefecture. Always
we could stir up terror and desolatiOn
confess that the first attempts we
made at ending the war with dyna-
a. though we might end it by annihi-
lating the wrong sIde-that is our
selves; for we soon found that in the
hands OF noyices a dynamite gun Ia
about as dangerous at one end as at
the other For in lance, we were try
ing 1t at long range one day. The
captain Of the gun forgot to lock II In
position after he had sighted It. On
firing the powder charge in the right
tube for the initial explosion the gun
turned up It's tail, put down It's head
and discharged into the ground, blow
ing out hole large enough for a well
and kicking half a dozen somersaults,
That forgotten lock cost four lives
We had a lot Of trouble keeping sur
piled with dynamite, too, and were
nervous about handling It. The
NERVOUSNESS wore off after awhile.
however, and we used to sleep on
dynamite-or with It on the ground
beneath us, as we lay on our ham
mocks.'