The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-08-17
WORLDS NAYIES
WILL DISAPPEAR
When This New Gun Is Fired at
the Right Angle.
NOTHING LEFT OF TARGET.
1t Had Been Constructed with the Great
est Care by Experts hut the Pro-
jectils Anihilated

Washington, d. c., Aug. 1.-THE
most powerful projectile in the world,
which has just been satisfactorily test
ed at Sandy Hook, will confirm the
opinion of the experts who declared
that coming wars will be brief, as
either one side or the other will be
totally anihilated, and the nation that
has the biggest array Of deadly weap-
ons will be the survivors. Had the
great rebellion been fought by troops
armed with such modern weapons that
struggle would not have lasted four
years. In less than that time both the
northern and southern forces would
have been reduced to nothing. AS the
wars Of the future will no doubt be be-
tween opposing nations and empires,
the theatre of operations will be the
ocean. and the battles will be between
armored ships. The nation or empire
the best armed that can bring into the
fight the most deadly weapons will be
the victors. This being true, the Unit
ed States need hav.' no fears, as this
new gun Is of such tremendous killing
power, Of such a colossal capacity for
destruction that no fort nor warship
ever constructed will be able to with
stand its deadly force. 1t is consider
ed a marvel of power, and at a recent
test of the invention at Sandy Hook
the war department experts were
simply astounded by the result achiev-
ed.
INVENTOR A PHILADELPHIAN.
The inventor of this modern inven-
ton in cunning Is Mr.. Louis Gathmann,
a resident of Philadelphia, and he has
named it the Gathmann Aerial Tor
pedo Gun. 1t has been formally adopt
ed by the United States Ordinance De-
partment, and this country now pos
sesses the deadliest weapon ever
known. The test made of the invention
at Sandy Hook, while extremely sue
cessful, did not represent its full ca
pacity for destruction, as the shells,
which form the principal feature of the
new killing machine, were fired from
a regulation twelve-inch army rified
cannon, the Gathmann gun being not
yet complete. While the full capacity
of the Gathmann gun Is 600 pounds Of
explosive, on the occasion referred to
but 1876 pounds were used. The struc-
ture or target on which the shell was
tried was the work of army and navy
| experts, and was of such a nature that
it could have easily have resisted al
| most any ordinary attack.
A regiment would have been safe
within it's walls had the ordinary ex-
plosives been used, and could have re-
PEELED any ordinary force within range.
One shot with the Gothmann shell,
however, completely annihilated the
| ta nd Of hn ahric WI "a r
ried several miles. The gun was caro-
fully placed in position, and when all
was ready Mr.. Gathmann fired the
shot himself.
TARGET HAD DISAPPEARED.
At first the shell rolled somewhat
and then went straight to the target
and struck it with an explosion the
detonation of which as heard ten miles
away. 1t shook the ground on which
the gun rested. When the shock was
over the next thing as to study the
effect upon the target. But-there was
not vestige of the target left standing
1t had been blown to atoms. Literally
wiped out. Other tests were made
subsequently,, and always with the
same result. The new gun to fire these
shells is a veritable giant, being 44A
pounds. 1t has an eighteen inch bore
but can in an emergency be safely
mounted on a twelve-inch gun car
riage. The torpedo shell which this
monster was made to hurl weighs 1,7OC
pounds. 1t is made in the shape of a
cigar and carries 600 pounds Of gun
cotton. The muzzle velocity is about
1900 feet per second and the shell Is
fired from the gun with smokeless
powder made for this kind of work by
a special formula. The inventor called
the attention repeatedly Of naval ex-
perts to his gun, and finally some OF
| them became interested in 1t and made