Arizona republican., 1912-12-02
RELICS
 0F THE PAST
The Arbalest or Cross-bow With Which Disputes Were Settled In Europe In the Early Part of the Middle Ages.

Those who are interested in old arms
 will find two fine specimens in the shape of arbalests or cross bows at
 Balke'S Big Curio store. The arbaIest is sometimes erroneouSly called the arquebuSes of harquebusS The aruue-
 buss is a later arm, the idea being de- rived from the crOsS-b bow and it re- sembles the arbalest in shape with the difference that it has no bow. The arquebuss came into use after the em-
 ployment of gunpOwder It's invention datss from the latter part of the fif-
 teenth century.
 The cross bow is q very ancient weapon. just how ancient is difficult to say. These specimens were picked up
 hy MT. Bake at the castle of the Po- niatoWskis in Poland though no mem
 Der of the family has lived at the castle or anywhere else in the czar's dominion for more than a century. The
 last Poniatowski that visited Russia
 went there as an officer of the polish division of the Grande Armee. got as far as Moscow and then turned back as history records. The family has since resided in Paris
 But the furnishings of the castle of the POniatoWskis have remained intact
 throuh generations, or they had re mained intact until MT Balka visited it and made terms with the caretaker
 with reference to these crOSSboWs and some other portable articles. The older caretak kers got some sort of an hOno- rarium from some source but the one
 MT. Bake dealt with said that he had received nothing and that he had to live; he would dispose of a few things here and there that would not be acCountin.
 The arbalest is of the general shape of a rifle stock. Much more work has
 been put on these though than the
 maker of any modern rifle ever puts
 on his manufacture The wood looks
 like mahogany and is in laid profuse- ly with ivory and silver
 The weapon is a little less than three feet in length A groove runs along the top of it and through this groove the 'quarrel'' or bolt is shot by the re- lease of a mOnstrous bOwstring, a rope more than quarter of an inch in di- ameter, made of sinew The how which runs through the head of the arbalast is of stiff steel, something like the leaf of a heavy wagon spring. The ends of the bow string are attached to the ends Of the bow and even when at rest the string is taut. The loading of the machine. that is. the drawing of the string into the notch from which it is released by an intricate sort of a trig- ger is a task for one of mans size and perhaps no man ever lived who could accomplish that task without mechan- ical aid. These arbalests are loaded with kind of lever attached to block with grooves into which the string fits The fulcrum of the lever is a strong ring fitted to the end of the weapon. The lower end of the lever being placed in that the top is pulled backward forcing the block with the captured string back into the notch. With even the aid Of the lever it takes a strong man to load" the ar baIest Another device for leading is winch which is a part of the weapon. The bolt made of the sane kind of wood of which the weapon is made Is about eight inches long and has
  "quarrel" Another form of bolt has a sharp iron head. The force with which it is discharged was so great that the heavy armOr of the middle ages was no defense It could be shot through an elephant So deadly was this weapon that there was a church edict against the use of it except when | Christian troops were warning against "infidels'
 The weapon itself is a very heavy 1 one, heavier than any firearm ever ! made with the possible exception of the old arduebuss the lever used in I loading" is almost as heavy. Only about two shots could be discharged l in a minute. The arbalest was intend ed chiefly for use in attacks upon fOrtresses. Later when they were carried in battle and used by the knights, -at-arms attended them carrying the weapons and loading them | for the knight who was something of 1 a sharp shooter. Provision was made 1 for shooting with accuracy for these arbalests have graded sights much fin ! CT than those used on the muskets em- l ployed in the civil war.
 There was probably lighter and less affective and less elaborate, cross band 1 carried by a large division of troops There were 5000 of them at Poictiers. How old these two arbalests are can
 only be conjectured but they are prob ably not less than 500 years. They would hardly have been made after the introduction of the arquebuss into l European warfare.
 FACE CABINET CRISIS.