The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-07-16

tWice.no furthgr favor vas Granted. and
he inaliY abandoned the whole question
In despair
The outbreak OF the war Of 1879, dem.
onstrated, however, that hls Ideas had
struck unsuspscted root IN the public
mind. Not only was line OF torpedCeS
-Or, as we now say. submarine mines
stretched across the main entrance OF
New York upper bay. but various per-
sons, az different times made attacks
With machines Constructed after Full
toms plans upon British shlps-of-war
lying IN Our harbors Zone were really
successful In action. yet their moral et-
feet upon the invaders was marked and
valuable. The enemy's ships fought ex-
tremely shy OF our rOadsteads, ana,
forgettui Of their own BOulogne expedi-
ton only elk years past, the English
officers showered invectives on the gov
eminent that permitted 81 ''Vlllalnous,
inVidiops, improper and cowardly q
means OF warfare"
At the close Of the war military In
terest sank Into allegiance, and Pulton's
devices, In all their strength and prone
Use, weakness and ineompletlon, were
cast aside as failures, TO lie forgotten
until the arising Of e new American
genius should give them life. In 1929
Samuel Colt, inventor OF the revolver.
took up the subject to pursue Il ardently
for the next fifteen years. In 1871, com
sldering Il a duty, to these threatening
times, he submitted his results to Pres
ldent Tyler, saying In the course OF 'hi9
argument: Robert Fulton
made experiments which prove that
certain quantity OF gunpowder discharg-
ed under the bottom Of a ship would
produce her instant destruction. That
discovery laid the foundation OF my
present plan OF harbor defense; and not
withstanding the failure Of Fulton TO
use his invention to much advantage, In
It's imperfect condition during the last
war, one glance at what he did perform
Is sufficient to convince the most incred.
ulous that IL his engine could be brought
under ease and safe control It must
prove an Irresistible barrier TO foreign
invasion.
"Dlscoveries since Fulton's time. corn-
bined with an invention original with
myself, enable me to effect the instant
destruction Of either ships or steamers
at my pleasure on their entering har-
bour, whether singly or In whole fleets
while those vessels 60 which am dis
posed 10 allow a passage are secure
from the possibility Of being Injured.
Ali this can do while myself In per-
feet security.
1.-THE whole expense OF protecting q
harbour Hike that Of New York would be
less than THE cost Of a single steam-
ship; and when the apparatus Is once
prepared, one SINGLE man Is sufficient to
manage the destroying agent against
any fleet that Europe can send"
The government received this repre-
sentatlon Hospitality, and series OF
eminentlV successful experiments was
soon begun under the authority Of the
secretary of war. AS will have been
gathered from the foregoing quotation,
Colt had definitely recognized what
Fulton had considered only to deny
the use OF electricity in producing sub
marine explosions. To Colt belongs the
honor Of having invented the first cleo
trio cable, for his mine cable differed
only In non-essentlals from tile sub
marlne-teiegraphi cable OF later days.
To him, too, must be given the credit OF
conceiving many Of the main Ideas con-
trolling modern submarine mine con-
structlon. He originated the obtaining
plan OF the machines in groups, each
group governed by a single brancbed
wire. He designed an electric-c circuit
closer, bV which principle contact-hr-
ing is produced to-day. And he even de-
vlsed a signal arrangement such as that
employed in our electric mines to tele-
graph the touch OF a passing vessel to
their stations on shore.
Strange as It seems, Colts fate differ
ed but slightly from that. OF his two
predecessors in the cause. His most
brilliantly successful experiment was
his last. Engineers aud naval officers
from that moment united to frown him
down, and when he died his secretu, un-
purchased, died with him,