The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1908-09-02
AWES Army Men
TESTS SHOW POSSIBILITIES OF
SHOOTING WITHOUT NOISE.
lnaudible at $50 Feet Appliance At
tached to Service Rifle Meets Sue
cessfuuy Every Trial.

At Springfield, Mass, in the pre-
sence Of committee of United
States Army officers, Hiram Percy
Maxim, the veteran inventor, Mon
day demonstrated beyond all doubt
that the noisless gun which he has
contrived is success. He proved
during the tests held both in the
Armory and in the fields near North
Wilbraham that his new gun can be
fired within one hundred feet Of a
person without detection by him.
To make clear to the minds Of the
officers the tremendous revolution
whic this gun would cause in war
fare, Maxim utilized little cricket
which was found in a bush. The Of
fcers could hear the cricket chirp
at distance of fifty yards. And
thcy heard it chirp even when the
Maxim gun was being fired.
Those present at the test, which
was the official Government one, were
Mr.. Maxim, Major Morton, Captain
Allen, Lieutenant Meals, Henry
Southey, city engineer of Hartford
Conn. and six enlisted men.
The party went to the Armory
where tests for penetration, noise
lessness and accuracy were conduct
ed. One of the soldiers, cracksho
with the rifle, fred the regular army
gun several times, the explosion!
ringing out above the noises of the
factory where Uncle Sam make!
small arms. Then Maxim adjusted
his "noise-killer" to the weapon.
The sharpshooter took aim at :
target far down the yard and pulled
the trigger. From the white, plate
more than a hundred yards away
there came a sharp, metallic ring
The bullet had ploughed into tn
steel-but not a sound excepting
soft one, as of fingers swapping
came from the gun.
Then, slowly, a slight Kissing, 81
slight as to be hardly audible. wa
heard, and the officers looked al on
another in bewilderment. The sold
ier who did the firing looked at tn
weapon in his hands and held it from
him an instant, then laughed in
childish way.
The Party adjourned to the fields
, Forty regulation cartridges wer
given to the marksman: The officer
posted themselves 1000 yards fror
where the sharpshooter stood. an
, he was given the word to fire. NJ
thodically he sped bullet after bul
let into a distant target, each tim
the service gun emitting roar tha
. was audible 5000 feet away, in tn
village.
After Maxim adjusted the "noise
: killer" the soldier fred again, an
eight times he hit the target. Al
the time the officers were comm
+ closer to him. They could hear tn
steel projectile smash against tn
target, but nothing else. Finally
, when within $50 feet of the soldier
! they heard faint sound. It was th
hammer of the gun striking tn
!, cartridge. But they heard no:hin
more, nor did they see either smok
or fire coming from the weapon.
;, Not contented, Maxim invited tn
:, experts to the lake near North Wi
braham One of the soldiers wa
; posted across the water, 1--WE hun
dreo yards distant. A target wa
erected near a little booth he occu
pied Eight times he heard the steel
: jacketed bullet plunge into and fiat
ten on the disc. but he heard no othe
sound, although the place is wilder
ness and even the low murmurs o
the town Go not penetrate it.
The officers made calculations an
agree that the gun is seventy-fou
peri cent noiseless. It was moody
cogitating group that returned t.
the amory late that day. The mel
bore no air of triumph. Each nro
badly was thinking of the dreadful
possibilities shut up in that littl
secret device which had been adjust
ed to the ordinary service gun.
An idea of the severity of th'
tests may be gained from the fac
that forty grains of sn1oke1ess pow>'e
were used in each cartridge. ch2rg'
lcapable of hurting bullet more
than 1900 yards with fatal results