Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-05-17

lock, worked on the principal OF an hour
glass, which can DO set to drop bomb.
Tho balloon which will be used can be
compressed into a bundle three feet square
and weighs rs To 100 pounds. This can
be filled and made ready for an ascension
in ten minutes; the ascent and descent
require eight. although have studied
all the latest improvements for directing
balloons, have found none of them work
able against wind said she. "Ascen-
sions near an enemy's camp would conse
quently be very risky, as in descending
one could be carried into the camp hy con-
trary winds and held or shot as q spy.
have taken many photos from various
heights between 500 and 2,o0o feet. These
are very minute i'll detail, but by enlarg
ing magnificent results can be obtained.
Such method of spying would become
productive of excellent results. Balloons
have this advantage, that no cannons can
be trained to reach them, and even so the
balloons do not offer enough resistance to
be perforated. They can only be pierced
by rifle balls with corrugated tips
Lieutenant Wilson of the photographic
office will carry east with him plan for
destruction. He received it recently from
a bearded tourist who claimed to have
passed several winters and summers in
the latitude OF the klondike. "That fell
low was certainly a wonder" Lieutenant
Wilson said. II really believe he was thor
oughly in earnest. though his plan had no
parallel in history He came to me one
afternoon and astonished me by asserting
that his underwear was lined with buffalo
hides. This chap was not long in getting
down to business. He said he had cold
air invention that was simply marvellous.
While he was trayersing the yerdant fields
of Kansas in the summer he declared he
let a bag of this chilly atmosphere explode
and. 10, the verdure was frost bitten.
These Spaniards are marks if you only
know the way to go about it, said my
caller. IT'S an easy matter to manufac-
ture this cold storage stuff, and it is all
yours, and your enemy will fear you for
ever. Now, these little manufactures do
not occupy SO much space after ALL You
could locate one on every battleship in
the navy or in the tents of the command
ing officers General Miles would not need
one, because wherever he goes there would
be a frost. Suppose we get our warships
conveniently close to Havana and the forts
roundabout. Let us attach our tunnels to
rent and draft of 90 below zero would
issue forth. The Spaniards do not know
anything about a freezing temperature,
and they would die in their ignorance
You could go about the capital of Cuba
the next day and gather up icicles every
where. Let the cold wind blow on the
soldiers and their faces would freeze "
William S. Mcdowell of Williamsburg.
Do, - Al,
school, has plan which will, in his esti-
nation Mt least, prove of great service to
our forces in their operations in Cuba.
Tho plan is to make possible at a mo-
ment's notice movable fort behind whose
protection the infantry and the light artil-
lery may advance with safety upon Span
ish troops intrenched behind sand forts or
in woods These movable forts are to be
made by the clampng in position on the
caissons steel plates three eighths or half
an inch thick, feet high and wide enough
to extend or 10 inches beyond the wheels
on each side. group of caissons thus
equipped, Mr.. Mcdowell thinks, will
make shield imperyious to everything
except shot from the heavy Gsldpieces,
and one behind which a considerable body
of troops may advance with speed and i'm
munity from danger until within "a short
distance from the enemy, when the plates
may be separated and Calling guns placed
in position between them and the soldiers
deployed for an advance, the length of
which will be materially reduced and the
number of men who will fall greatly de-
creased. The advance of this fort. the ia
Their of tho plan continues, may be made
very simple. If the enemy is not partcu-
larry aggressive the caissons may be drawn
by horses in the usual manner, but il it is
necessary to move them forward under fire
another mode must be adopted The
whiffletrees are then to be placed at the
yoke end of the tongue and tho horses
hitchod with their heads toward the cais
son instead of away from it. The progress
will then be virtually one of backing, but
the fact that the horses advance will in
crease the rapidity of motion. When not
In USE the plates may be slowed away in
the baggage wagons
Young Wife-But aren't YOU the man r.
gave some cake to on Monday?