Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-12-17


an ambition to capture Constantinople,
and when, on the death Of his father,
he became sultan he recruited for that
purpose an immense force. Won Ham
mcr, in his history Of the Ottoman
empire says: mo such army had as
sembled since that which was mar
shalled by Xerxes. Large bodies Of
footmen crossed the Hellespont at
Gallipoli and the Bosphorus at Hissar.
In the region of Adrianople the coun-
try was covered with hordes Of horse
men speaking all known tongues and
armed with every known weapon
Cossacks from the north, Arabs from
the south, Koords and Tartars from
the east, Roumanians and Slavs from
beyond the Balkans. The roads from
the northwest were lined with trains
bringing supplies and siege machinery.
The cities along the shores of the
Black Sea had yielded to Mohammed;
those which defied him were in ruins.
An army was devasting Morea.
The Emperor Constantine believed
that the walls of Constantinople would
stand against any artillery the Turks
could bring to bear. 1.-THE stones un-
der our feet are honest" he would say.
1.-The Persian came thinking to batter
them down, but after many days he
fled; and search as we will, no man
can lay a finger on the face Of one OF
them and say: Here Chrosoes left a
scar Amurath, the father of Moham-
med, wasted months and the souls OF
his subjects without count; but when
he fled not coping block had been
disturbed in it's bed. What has been
will be again"
Constantine afterward chided him.
self for having neglected an opportu-
nifty offered him long before by a Da-
clan named Urban, an officer of can
non, who had worked in the foundries
of Germany. Urban claimed to have
discovered composition Of metals
which was capable when properly cast
of sustaining an immeasurable strain
and from which guns Of enormous CAL
iber could be constructed. The price
| which Urban asked for his secret and
his services was so high that Constan-
tine declined to pay 1t, and the Dacian
| went to Adrianople and laid his pro-
| ject before Mohammed, who entertain
ed It and built him a foundry in which
he cast a cannon which was used to
batter down the defences Of CONSTANT
nople. In reference to this great gun
| the historian says: Pioneers preced-
ed 1t grading the hills and leveling the
road; then on a four wheeled carriage
two men stood beating a drum; their
sticks looked like the enlarged end OF
! galley oar. The drum responded 10
their blows in rumbles like dull thun-
der from distant clouds. Sixty oxen
yoked in pairs were driven by men with
sharpened goads. This team pulled
thirty carts chained together as one
wagon. On these the great bronze
cannon was loaded. 1t was steadied
by $50 laborers who walked alongside.
1t was the largest piece Of ordnance
ever cast. For bullets great pieces of
limestone were used. They were twelve
spans in circumference and the charge
of powder used would throw them
mile. The first missile from the great
gun missed the gates and went between
the two towers into the heart Of the
CITY. where 1t destroyed a house. Be-
fore the gun could be loaded again the
besieged made a sortie, drove the Tur-
kish gunners away and captured the
big gun. But they had no means OF
moving it, and they did not know
enough to spike it. They succeeded
however, in temporarily rendering all
the Turkish guns. including the big
one, unavailable by demolishing the
carriages.
| After several days the cannon OF the
Turks, including the great gun, were
remounted and turned against the
Christians. Some balls passing over
the defences," says Wallace, "plowed
into the city; and as definitions OF
force, the sounds they made in going
were awful. Both the towers were hit
: and they shook as if an quake
were wrestling with them. The all
whitened with dust and fragments OF
crushed stone and great cracks ap-
peared in the walls.
Constantine still held the harbor
which the Turks were unable to enter
because of great chains stretched
!. across the entrance. Unless Moham-
med could gain entrance for his ships
to this harbor, he could not complete
ly environ Constantinople and deprive
its people of the means of an exit tc
J Italy.
The sultan was equal to the emer-
gency. He followed the example of the
Crusaders who finding they could moi