The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-03-24

boom swung forward from tho bow.
The scarchiisht Is the Result or wnr,
Necessity was tho mother OF the In :
vcntion OF the searchlight. The little
torpedo bouts. the "Davids," made 1t
imperative that the water surroundinl.
a ship be illuminated at night. OrdI .
nary ships lanterns were useless. 40
tho Inventors turned to tho new ca,-
cium light, which was tho subject
OF much comment In tho commercial
world.
After the attack on tho New Iron
sides the naval authorities adopted
The calcium light on this vessel, plac-
ing largo and strong reflectors behind
The light TO cast tho rays for q Ercut
area over the sou. While these lights
were burning 1t was practically I'M
possible for the "Davlds" to attack
unseen.
During the bombardment of Fort
sumter. in Charleston harbor. in 1863
and 1864. the New Ironsides" ut nigh,
used the lights and Major General
Gilmore adopted them In his land
sioge OF Fort Wagner. Gilmore placed
The lights on Cummings's Point, and
when thoy were lighted tho whole
harbor was as light as day.
a Confederate soldier, who was In
Fort Sumter during the bomba rdment.
says: II read by 1t the largest typa
OF newspaper Che was three quarters
OF mile away from Cumm!ngs's
Poino. Our sentincls on the waila
were dazzled and annoyed by It. The
appearance of the light, thrown upon
the battered walls and arches OF Fort
sumter. was always striking and beau.
tiful"
This was the first use of the mod /.
ern se&rchlight on q larger scale. To.
day the lighthouses on the coasts OF
tho nations use these lights to show
the mariner tho way to safe port,
armies use them In night manocuvres
and Are departments of large cities uso
them to battle tho burning building In
light to show the firemtn where he
can best attack the iiames
Modern sapid-F1re Guns In Wurfnrc
There are many radical inventions
on this anniversary. Before the wal
cannon were not very effective, though
Napoleon placed much of his depend-
ence upon artillery In battle. The Idea
OF modern rnpid-hre guns began in
the Civil War
To-day there are cannon that Will
fire n missile weighing as much as m
ordinary automobile for distance OF
twenty-one miles. The cost OF a sin.
gle discharge from this mammotf
cannon is nearly equal to the cost
of an automobile.
The modern coast defense doc.
away with the historic entrenchment,
or former wars, To-day a gun magical.
ly rises for moment from a pit
fires it's missile and instantly sinks
out of sight and range, where tn,
gunners can reload. Tho modern
mountain battery can DO disassembled
and packed on mules backs to be car.
ricd ocver rough mountain trails. Its
reasscmblance, In expert hands, oc.
cupies but few moments.
The modern rapid-fire and machine
guns arc terrible ath-dealers. The
modern Danish "ReXer" rifle, rapid
fire gun. Weighing only eighteen
pounds, and operated from u tripod
rest. can fire high-power, small
cnlibre bullets AT the rate of 800 Il
minute. With this monster ten sol
diers could XIII 5000 men, allowing
six shots TO each denth. in ten min
utes.
The Maxim machine gun can fire
| 100 bullets minute, while tho Calling
| gun. equipped with an electric motor
| Will discharge 1,S00 bullets each min.
ute; or at range OF ono milo Il
will gnaw off n foot thick pine post
IN seven minutes.
Calling Gun Is Just Fifty Years Old.
so terrible was the effect of gun
fire in the Observation-Disclosures War, IN
which men were found with seventy
bullet wounds in n body, that the
surgeons invented u new name. mean
ing whole body honey -combed viii,
gun wounds" This is one of the nor
rible facts that cause nations to hest
tate before entering into war at the
present day.
The Calling gun had its birth In the
Civil War. DR.. Calling, OF Indian
apolis, conceived the idea The Con
federacy had similar rapid fire gun
which was so light that 1t could be
carried under n mans arm. 1t was
called the "Schoolneld' rapld-hre. II
was as lnrge as a mans coat sleeve
and about five feet long. II carried
!; ball Weighing n pound. and could
fire at the then unbelievable rate OF
forty times a minute.
Modern Revolver ~ Observing Its
Semi-CcntcnniaI.
The modern revolver is another pro-
duct OF the American Civil War
Samuel Colt, OF Hartford Conn. be-
came interested in firearms while at
sea, and devoted himself to perfecting
revolving cylinder pistol. Until The
coming OF the Civil War people were
satised with single-shot pistol not
having occasion to use an instrument
that would fire five or more times
without reioading.
Even during the first years of the