The Glenwood post., 1908-08-29
ARMY OFFICERS AsToNIsAEp Rv
SUCCESS OF THE
INVENTION.
SERVICE RIFLE USED
NEW ATTACHMENT DOES AWAY
WITH sEvEkTY-FoUR PER
CENT OF NOISE.

SpTlnPHeld, MaSS.-ln tne presence
of a committee of United States army
officers. Hiram Percy Maxim, the vet
eran inventor, has demonstrated be
yond all doubt that the noiseess gun
which he has invented is a suqAss
He proved during the tests held 10th
in the armory and in the fields near
North Wilbraham that his new gun
can be fired within $50 feet of per
son without that person hearing any
noise excepting one sounding as if
someone were swapping his fingers
To drive home to the minds of the
officers the tremendous revolution
which this gun would cause in war-
fare, Maxim utilized little cricket
which he found in bush. The officers
could hear the cricket chirp at a dis.
tance of fifty yards. And they heard
it chirp even when the Maxim gun
was being fired.
Those present at the test, which was
the official government test. were MI
Maxim, Acting Commander Major
Morton, Captain Allen, Lieutenant
Meals, Henry Southey, city engineer
of Hartford, Conn, and six enlisted
regular army men.
The party went to the armory,
where tests for penetration. noiseless-
ness and accuracy were conducted.
One of the soldiers, a crack shot with
the rifle, fired the regular army gun
several times, the explosions ringing
out above the noises of the factory
where Uncle Sam makes small arms
Then Maxim adjusted his noise
killer" to the weapon. The officers
stood about, waiting anxiously; a
couple of the soldiers smiled in an in
credulous way.
The sharpshooter took aim at a
target far down the yard. He pulled
the trigger. From the white mi Al
plate more than 100 yards away there
came sharp metallic sound The bul-
let had plowed into the steel. but not
sound excepting soft one, as OF
fingers swapping, came from the gun.
Then slowly slight kissing, so
light as to be hardly audible. was
heard and the officers looked at one
another in bewilderment The soldier
who did the firing looked at the
weapon in his hands and held it from
him an instant, then laughed in a
childish way. He realized that he had
In his possession a weapon with which
he could slay from the housetops
and have none know from whence the
bullets came. The party adjourned to
the fields
Forty regulation cartridges were
given to the marksmen. The officers
posted themselves 1000 yards from
where the sharpshooter stood and he
was given the word to fire. Method
cally he sped bullet after bullet in
distant target. at the time the ser
vice gun emitting a report that was
audible 5000 feet away in the village,
He was then signaled to and Maxim
adjusted the noise killer" Eight
he hit the target. All the time the
They could hear the steel projectile
heard no other sound. Finally, when
heard a faint sound. 1t was the ham
mer of the gun striking the cartridge.
But they heard nothing more. nor did
they see smoke or fire coming from
the weapon. u
Maxim, grim and jubilant, raised hH
hand. The cricket was chirping. 81
eral Of the officials, divining his phr-
pose, hurried away and reported that
thew could hear the chatter Of the in
sect $50 feet away.
The little fellow made merry 30
hard that even the click of the ham
mer on the cartridge could not be
heard
Not content Maxim invited the ex-
perts to the lake near North Wilbra-
ham. One of the soldiers was posted
across the water, 500 yards distant.
A target was erected near little
booth he occupied. Eight times he
heard the steel jacketed bullet plunge
into and fatten on the disc-but he
heard no other sound. although the
place is a wilderness and even the
low murmurs of the town do not pene-
trate 1t.
The officers made calculations and
agreed that the gun is "a per cent
noiseless. They consider. however,
that hardly leaf stirred during the
test, and that when the Maxim inven-
tion was fired none Of the spectators
stirred. Had there been a rustling OF
leaves. or had there been talking
among the officers and men. the click
of the hammer or the recoil of the
trigger could not have been heard.