The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-15
IN A CANNON BALL OF 1912.
" iRNING or the INTENDED AT.
TACK ON WiSHINGTON.
BAH DuS tp Near ~ ndensburE Yester.
day. and IN II Was a Parchment warn.
Ing the Patriot Army NJ . Contem.
plated Naval Attack on Washington.

WASHINGTON. Nov. li.-An old rusty
cannon ball. fired from British field piece
at the attack ON Bladensburg by the English
force under Gen. Ross and Lieut.. VAIN
wright during the War of 1912. hit a laborer
working a short distance otuside of that
town to-day and broke his leg The ball,
when examined, was found TO inclose a
roll Of parchment addressed to -the COM
manding officer of the American force de-.
Tending Washington and containing a
detailed account of the plans Of Admiral
Cochburn. the Comnander-in-C Chief Of the
British naval force then in the Potomac
and Of which the land expedition was part,
for his march on Washington and the de-
struction Of the national capital. The
communication was signed "Timson How
ard. mate of the American merchantmen,
General Stone, and victim Of the British
press gang"
John Key, the man injured by the cannon
bail fired ninety years ago. was one Of
gang Of colored laborers engaged in cutting
through road near BlaGensburg He was
working at the bottom Of a steep fifty-foot
slant, when the pick Of aborer at the top
of the elevation dislodged from the earth
where it had lain for nearly century
'ir' 'utNy WIN. ~ Iollf'i 'lb"H tIle mn
and struck Key with considerable force.
breaking his leg near the ankle,
After he man had been cared for and
put on train for Washin gon the foreman
Of the gang rolled the cannon ball to "a
nearby creek and removed some of the
earth and rust He noticed that the ball
was hollow. and not knowing that explo-
sive shells were rot in uae during the War
Of 1912, curiosity impelled him TO dig into
the interior of the relic with knife TO zee,
ns he explained later, how the powder IT,
the shell had with.tood the ravages OF
ninety years. After he had cut away tho
| dirt from the two-inch hole in the ball.
! his knife brought out roll of parchment ,
| yellow and discolored with age, but which
when unfolded proved to be the commu-
nication referred to. A considerable por-
ton of the writing was illegible. but enough
| could be read to make a fairly connected
whole.
The communication signed by Howard,
who, from the character and phraseology
Of the document was man of some eduoa :
| ton, explains that he had been impressed
into the British tervice shortly before tho
| beginning OF the war and had since been
compelled to serve against his country.
While acting as orderly 10 Admiral Cock
burn he had learned that the British CON-
| mander inc hicf int. nded to sack and burn
Washington and lay waste the surroundin q
country. A portion Of the writing says:
| with the aid Of God Almighty let all
patriots rally to - Washington
and - Marauders who are coming q :
rapine and murder defeated in
! former years regain through
naval supremacy r =" press gang out.
| RACES = lost before
| A postscript to the note explains that
| Howard wrote nearly one hundred Of tho
warnings, and knowing that the Americans
made a practice Of using over again tho
cannon balls fired al them by the British
I had slipped the papers into shells taken by
the land force which marched on Bladens-
burg in the forlorn hope that at least one
OF the notes might be discovered.
The cannon ball and the roll Of parch-
| ment containing the record of the patriots
futile endeavor To aid the country against
which he was compelled TO serve, vera
brought to Washington tonight by Thomas
| A. Byrnc of BladensburG and will he pre-
| sentcd to the National Museum as an ad-
dition to the already large collection OF
| relics Of the War of 1912.