Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1912-09-20
CAMP FIRE.
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SHELL GOES LONG DISTANCE NJ:
Interesting History Of 12.lneb D..
tile Used in Spanish War. ''s'
Travelled Four Miles

Screaming out its defiant messa,.
OF possible death and disaster '', %
inch l,000-pound shell was sent 60
the Bay OF Santiago on the fatae,,
morning of July 3, 1898. from one ~ =,
the battleships Texas. Iowa o. y
diana. The shell Travelled dist.
OF fatween three and four miles an5
found lodgment in the side of a roof
nil just behind Moro castle tbo
charge being une2ploded. 1t now 70
poses peacefully on the sidewalk n
front Of store in Carson stroot
Southside, near Twenty-seventh street
but minus the charge.
Thousands of people pass the srot
daily, but little or no heed Is given nv
them to this interesting relic Of Tn.
Gle Sans encounter with the oue.t,ms
great power of Spain.
The shell was shipped on October
20, 1899, by Capt. Surgeon James Mo
Kay. United States navy, to his father
Stephen Mckay, of this city, and ia
much priced by the latter as a relio
and souvenir.
Capt. Mckay gave an interesting de.
scription of the circumstances attend.
ing the firing and finding of the shell
He states: tThe shell was fired from
the Indiana or Texas from a distance
OF between three or four miles. and
1t was doubtless fired at the eastern
battery, a concealed battery of several
old bronze cannon situated in a hol.
low in the bluff, and only visible from
several miles at sea. Our ships paid
great attention to this particular bat.
terry from noticing that, while the
muzZles Of the cannon were visible
over the embankment before firing,
they disappeared simultaneously with
that operation. Now from the excel
lent habit drilled into the men OF the
navy of overestimating rather than
doubling the strength of the enemy,
they decided the battery must be com
posed of modern rified disappearing
guns. and acted accordingly. Every
now and again, and when the ships
seemed most quiet, one or another
would drop carefully calculated shell
in such close proximity as to keep the
artillerists working the guns in a state
OF constant terror. This shell. from
it's position, must have flown over the
guns and men at just sufficient height
to clear the ridge and plunge into the
hill beyond. 1t missed its mark by
II fhA HIM.
dreds of holes, some large enough to
form a cellar for large dwelling,
scattered all about and within the
battery. the dismounted, crippled and
half-buried pieces, and the general
wreck made of nature in the entire
vicinity. speak only too eloquently OF
the excellent craftsmanship Of our
gunners, and the splendid conduct OF
our ships in general.
when Admiral Sampson visited the
aforementioned battery some months
after the surrender, he smilingiy told
how they had been fooled by the
strange disappearing qualities of the
old guns. Many of thes old pieces
dated back to 1718 and were masses
of most wonderful and beautiful hand
carving, but the gun carriages were
not more than 100 years old. hence the
parts did not at and the recoil mech
anism (great buffer springs) being
useless the piece on being discharged
would bound back into the air the
full length of the carriage Us feet)'
The muzzles were visible over the
cement before firing, but their re-
bound fight carried them far out OF
sight, hence the disappearing guns
which deceived our men for a while
The shell, singular to relate, shows
but slight marks of its impact with
its rocky billet, another proof OF the
care with which American projectiies
are fashioned Pittsburgh Dispatch
LNbara cha GRAY Hairs Came From