The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-02-27

$4,000. The gun. however, burst on its sec
ond test. Ii was of eight-inch calibre,
t tSe' @ and s5ftae inches
at the muzzle and weighed fifteen tons.
The steel and alloys were poured into ver-
teal mold with spiral action, thus allow
ing the metal TO cool from the center first,
and giving IL a strength impossible of at
tainment by any other means. 1t was an
vented by DIR. Calling, that enlarged that
bore nearly an inch. 1t passed through
tempering processes (but remained several
days in the heat-longer than was intended
awaiting the arrival of General Miles and
the other experts to examine iD, was rified,
breeched and turned as are other guns. Ii
differed from them In being cast In one
solid piece, something that has been un-
successfully tried many times before. When
IL was fired IL broke in numerous pieces,
and the doctor abandoned his experiments;
In an interview with Gath several
years ago DIR. eating said: The chemical
and anatomical part of medical education
gave me bias toward explosives and
wounds, my family having an inclination
for the army. l acquired little fortune OF
$4,000 by my drill and lost ii in the early
Indiana railroads. i also laid out additions
to towns like Indianapolis and Decatur, Ill.
and when the civil war began l was OF
both sections. and the losses OF life by dis-
ease rather than wounds caused me as
physician to harbor the idea that 10 shorten
war would be to ameliorate Ii. This idea
i got from looking at the boxes or dead
bodies In the Indianapolis depot con.
execution I'm a brief space, by revolving
series of barrels loaded with particular
ammunition and shooting double range
HIS PERSONALITY.
Another article printed in October, 1899,
thus describes the doctor: HE is mild,
gentle and modest to a fault. In fact he
looks more like a benign and learned COL
Iege professor than the father of gun
which has filled hundreds of thousands OF
graves, and which is admitted to be the
dead1iest weapon ever invented, firing as
it does 1000 shots a minute. Tall and
broad-shouldered, smiling and calm, an
easy talker and a charming host, DR.. Cat
ling is well described by ex-senator Ed
monds when he said of him: He is fine
type of a pure and true American gentle
man and a son of whom any nation should
be proud.
"An old resident of Indianapolis recalls
an amusing incident OF the days before he
achieved worldwide reputation as an
inventor. "A narrow escape from death
caused him TO study medicine and to take
a degree in that science. Diligent in this
as in. all things, he soon became a most
skfllful practitioner. but continued to de-
vote much time to Inventions When he was
married. a few years before the war. to
the reigning belle and beauty of Indian
apoiS and near relative of Governor Wal
lace, the gossips gravely nodded their
heads and said TO one another: We'll, we
hope she VIII make the doctor stick TO his
profession and not go frittering his time
away on these trifiing Inventions He
didn't follow their advice, however. but
changed from the profession of curing to
that of killing, or. as his enemies might
have said. the young physician simply
changed his method of killing
CAS- matter of fact the chief object of
DIR. Calling i'm inventing his terrible gun
was to destroy life but to preserve it,.
During the civil war DR.. Calling followed
closely the progress of the contest. He
noticed that where one man was killed In
battle five died OF disease, and he felt that
IL he could invent a gun which would do
the work of 100 men the other ninety and
nine could remain at home and be saved
to the country. The sequence of events,
however, has not justified the doctor s
humane conclusions. His friends in In
diana when they realized the terrible power
of the weapon tried 10 dissuade it's inventor
from manufacturing them. but the doctor.
firm in the belief that his invention would
make war less terrible, persisted. and after
exhaustive tests the gun was finally
adopted by the United States government -
DIR. Calling, while resident OF Indian
apolis. married Miss Jemima Sanders.
daughter of a prominent physician He
served three terms as president OF the
American Association of Inventors ana
e.