Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-23
GUN DEVICE BLAMED
Failed to Prevent Discharge
Before Breech Was Locked.
OPINION OF GEN. CROZIER
Military Funeral for Victims of Fort
Monroe Tragedy.
SERVICES HELD UNDER TREES
1900 Artillerymen March Behind
Procession of Caissons-Bodies
Shipped Away.

to operate when sudden and powerful
pull was given by an artilleryman in
attaching the lanyard is now laid the
responsibility of the accident which cost
the lives of eleven men at Fort Monroe,
Va, during the battle practice Wednes-
day.
Such is the conclusion of Gen. Crozer,
chief of ordnance, United States Army,
who attended the practice and who has
been in touch with the inquiry made by
the investigating board
Never before i'm the history of the army
had the device failed to work. The pos
sibility of it's occurrence was demonstrate
ed however, by Gen. CroZier himself
shortly after the accident by test made
of all the guns which participated in the
practice.
In another gun in the Inflated De Russy
battery the device was found defective
when Gen. Crozier applied unusual force.
such as was never deemed necessary in
tests and. examinations.
Gun Pronounced 30. K"
Just before the accident the gun was
pronounced by officers to be in proper
condition. In April a coast artillery Of
ficer on inspection duty, reported that
its premature explosion was beyond the
range of possibility. Steps will be taken
to improve the device.
THE accident occurred" said Gen. Gro
Zler, through the premature discharge OF
the gun. Interest now centers in the de-
termination of its cause and the possibil-
ity of preventing future accidents from
the same cause.
The gun was mounted on disappearing
carriage. and the firing mechanism is de-
signed with the object of preventing the
possibility of discharsing the gun until
after the breech block has been closed
and locked and the gun shall have been
no HoN RIG go fSrr
position
las the men who were directly concern
ed with the handling of the firing mech
anism were killed, it is only possible
to arrive at conclusion as to the cause
of the accident by inference from what
could have happened. coupled with such
evidence as can be obtained from onlook-
ers at a little Instance from the gun.
Examinations Show Defect.
AN examination of other guns Of the
same class at Fort Monroe, made after
the accident. disclosed the fact that there
was one gun which could be fired before
the locking Of the breech block by a
sufficiently sudden and powerful pull in
the proper direction upon the lanyard.
THE firing mechanism is somewhat
delicate, because of the lack of sufficient
space for the utilization of larger and
more robust parts, but 1t was supposed to
be sufficient to Withstand all reasonable
usage The operations of loading and fir
ing are conducted with extreme rapidity,
in the praiseworthy effort to make good
time record, and it is a necessary conse-
quence that the motions are made with
great force and violence.
In this case it appears that the COM
mand to trip the pawls was given and the
gun started to rise to the firing position
before the breech block was pushed home
preparatory to rotating and locking it,
and before the lanyard was hooked, SO
that the man whose duty it was to hook
on the lanyard had to do it while the gun
was in motion.
Testimony is to the effect that he had
some difficulty in hooking, making sew
eraf passes in his attempt to do so, and
that he finally succeeded in getting it
hooked just the gun was passing out
of his reach, when the explosion imme-
diateIy took place. 1t is presumed that he
inadvertently chung to the lanyard and
grave the sudden pull which, in the case
of the neighbOring gun with which 1t was
tried, proved to be sufficient TO defeat the
safety object of the mechanism.
No Previous Failure Reported.
This particular model of firing
mechanism has been used for several
years: in drill and at target practice it
has been operated thousands of times
and by hundreds of men, under the SUI
pervision of dozens of officers, but no
instance Of failure has been reported.
At drill the primer only is used, without
powder charge, so that premature s1S-
charge would mean only the harmless
explosing of the primer. 1t would. how
ever, be the duty of the officer In charge
to report such occurance. AS his own
safety and that of the men under his
immediate command would be involved
it is entirely probable that no instance of
failure has been allowed to escape.
1T seems likely that continued use and
cleaning of the mechanism has worn and
rounded some of the parts to permit Its
failure. under the violent pull which was
probably given it.
".All the mechanisms were tested for
safety shortly before the firing COM
menced, and all were apparently In
proper condition. 1t is probable that In
testing the officers subjected them only
to stresses which they considered such as
they would be likely to meet, but which
were less than the violent pull which it
is supposed caused the accident, and to
which, in an effort to reproduce 1t, the
mechanisms of the other guns were
afterWard subjected. OF course, IT is en-
tirely possible to SO change the mechan-
ism as to prevent the particular accident
which occurred
That the discipline and morale of the
officers and men of the garrison were at
a high point is shown by the GOODNESS
and devotion with which those able to
move Immediately set about extinguishlng
burning powder grains and removing por-
tons of the next succeeding powder
charge, in danger of ignition, and also
caring for those who had been too badly
injured to take any part in this work.
1.-The instance of the young officer whose
leg had been broken, apparently by the
projection against ii of the body OF one
of the men who were killed. in directing
that attention should first be given to
others more in need of it than himself, is
significant of the spirit of the entire gun
detachment.
"Erratic Powder" Not to Blame.
AS to the statements appearing in GER
tain papers to the effect that the acct
den was due to the use of so-called ''er-
ratio" powder, Gen. Crozier declared it
absurd.
"Erratic powder" he said, lis SO styled
because it is found to be unreliable in
power for velocity. One shot might carry
above the target and another fall consid
erably short. Accordingly, it is con-
demned for service use.
"It Is not more dangerous than any
other, and had it actually been used yes
terday the ignition would probably have
been Irregular and the disaster less APP
palling Since Col. Townsley and every
man and officer in his command were
anxious to make new record for hits, it
is certain he would not have risked
missing the targets altogether if he had
the least suspicion that the powder was
not perfect
AS to the reports that the War Depart
men had recently ordered some of the |
poUder condemned If WAS stated that the |