Arizona republican., 1901-11-17
It seems that the long.nror

namite gun is at last a success. It
 will be remembered WARFARE that great things were MADE MORE promised for dynamite DREADFUL. guns in the Spanish
 war, and that the -e- suits obtained from a weapon of that character which was used by the Rough Riders from Arizona in the San tiago campaign were quite unsatisfac- tory It was the verdict then of off cers of the army and navy that 1t was inpracticable. and always would b., tc use the high explosives in artillecy. ..owever, a new dynamite gun of de structive powers. exceeding those of any weapon yet designed, has just been secretly submitted to successful series of tests by a special board of officers Of the bureau O. ordnance of the United States army at Fishers isl- and, New York. For several years the government has been engaged in the creation on Fishers island of a verit- able Gibraltar which will render the eastern entrance of Long Island Sound impregnable to any naval attack. and 
 cities from New London to New York. In this great scheme of defence the dynamite gun covering the marrow channel between Fishers island and Plum island. will play a conspicuous part Owing to the secrecy maintained by the government relative to the character of these new works, the trial was conducted in private, and no news paper men were permitted to witness the tests.
 The gun which was built at Scran- ton, Pa, was recently installed in a battery on the island, and was last week reported ready to undergo its final trial prior to its acceptance by the government. It is a pneumatic piece, forty feet long with calibre of 15 in ches, Of the same general type as the guns of the batteries now in position at Sandy Hook and San Francisco. but embodies many new features designed to increase it's accuracy of fire and rapidity of action. A new type of fuse assures absolute certainty of ex- plosion of the shell both on impact with the water or the side of vessel and by delay action
 The trials were made in the presence of officers of the bureau of ordnance and civilian experts. This gun is mounted on a seacoast carriage, per hitting an elevation of thirty-five de- grees and a train through the full arc of the circle, the power for this pur- pose being supplied by electric motors placed under the carriage With the full calibre projectile it proved its abil- ity to hurl 800 pounds of nitro-gelatin, sufficient to annihilate any ship ahoat, a distance of about 3,e0O yards, with a degree of accuracy not excelled, if equalled, by the most modern type of large calibre rified guns. With smaller projectiles the range is almost doubled without any sacrifice of accuracy.
 Two days were devoted to putting the gun through an exhaustive series of tests. The first shot sent a 6-inch shell. carrying fifty pounds of explo- sive. a distance of 5.76S yards. bursting on impact and throwing column of water 900 feet into the air With a To- inch shell. loaded with 200 pounds of nitro gelatine, the extreme range was found to be 4.SsO yards. the shell ex- ploding under water with the desired delay action of two seconds. The test for accracy resulted in planting five S-inoh shells at the respective ranges of 5,045. 5.035. 5.020. 5.C4) and 4,sTo yards. all of which. with the exception of the last. would have taken decisive effect had the target been a battleship at the distance Cf about three miles. or about twice the limit of practical fight ing range. now generally accepted to be about 2.50O yards.
 Still more astonishing was the test