The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-04-19

The Big Eight Inch Gan aud Carriage VIII
BE Taken Down This Moruing-stxtesn
Carloads of Rock for the FORTH. cations.
The Fort to Have Telegraph and Tsle-
phone Connectiou.

Carloads OF Rock Tor the Forth cations
The Fort to Have Telegraph and Tsle-
phone Conpection.
The government dredge Ajax
which came Up from Fort
Casweii Wednesday evening trans
fsrrsd the bag eight inch disap-
pearing gun and carriage to Mr.. Louis
III. SINNERS barge Louis H" yester-
day The work Was easily and sue
cessfuly accomplished by the urecge's
powerful derrick. After the gun and
carriage We're headed. the barge was
towed at . p. m. 10 the C. r. * Y. V.
depot on Point Peter. n sixteen car
loads Of crushed granite which arrived
from hr-AAry for the work on the forti-
fcaeions, were loaded into the hoaL. The
barge finished loading last might and
h gun and carriage and the rock Will
be towed down to Fort Caswell this
morning.
When this gun is put UP. Fort Cas-
we'll viii be equipped with four eight
inch disappearing guns. and We learn
that a battery OF mortars Is also to be
QdCN ~ 4C III III ~ACaAS<
The American schooner City OF Bal
timore, Captain Tower. from New York.
consigned to Messrs. George Harriss,
SIN & Co, arrived at Fort Casweli
yesterday with 5000 barrels of cement
for the Qualifications now being oom-
pleted, with h addition of the EN-
placement for the fourth disappearing
gun.
AT THE FORT.
The Southport Standard OF yester-
day says:
The unusual activity with the work
On the fortffication has progressed and
continues with undininished vigor, and
even now it is safe to say that the port
is we'll protected, which will be per
fected and added to as time passes
until this port-the key to the state
if fortified against any enemy by land
OF by sea.
A corps Of engineers reached here
last week and have been pushing
the work of placing to~rpedoes and IN
Meeting the same by cable TO the sta
'tion in the old fort.
The dredge Ajax, attended by the
tug Cinthia, which does ON
the river opposite Fort Anderson, was
down this week, dredging a cable way
from the channel to high water mark
from where the ca(ble Will be extended
to the station in a concrete passage
way.
The e~mplacement for the new 10-inch
disappearing gun, which is expected
soon, is not completed, but the work
is progressing rapidly and in case OF
necessity h gun may he mounted
temporarily upon the structure in Short
time.
The two government boats, Easton
and General Thorn, are. very actively
engaged i'm transporting supplies and
material to the fort. Enough force
to operate the work has been secured
by the government, and the 300 men
together, with the battery of soldiers
WHO are by mo means idle. make old
Fort CasweN n of the busiest places
in America at the present time.
1.-THE telegraph lime from Southport
to Fort Caswel was completed yeSter
day afternoon, operations over the Line
beginning at 5 O'Clock. The distance
ITO the fort in a direct lime lis slightly
over two miles, but the distance aroUnS
by the wire is about three miles. TIL.
messages Ito distant points from tht
fort, are transmitted here by MI. V. S
Stevens, the we'll known operator, ovel
the Southport and Wilmington line.
THE government is constructing e
| telephone line from the fort to Captain
| Craighill's office, ON the Reservation
which work will be completed by thu
last of h week, the phone is to extenE
| Standard:
over the telegraph poles.
"A soldier writes as follows to The
Standard:
The arrival of fifteen recruits has
swelled our number to about its ful
size, thirteen of them are from Coldm
bus, Ohio, and two from Atlanta. Ga.
What a glorious time we are hav.
ing singing sand and sod. Some o.
h recruits are no feeling very we'll
owing ito vaccination, but the careful
attention they are receiving from DIR
Wilson, Will soon put them in condi.
ttfon for their share of the work tina
is keeping us busy TO make camp lf.
a pleasure, If such is possible.
Seven members of the engineer CORDS
one sergeant, one corporal and fv,
privates are cafmped IN the old fort
and have been very busy laying cable
for h torpedoes that are to protec
h river.