Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-04-21
NARROW ESCAPES
Hudson Maxim Has Figured in Some
Perilous Incidents.


Perlous Incidents.
One of the most thrilling adventures
in my experience took place at the
government proving grounds at Sandy
Hook, n. j., when the United States
government was testing maXimite be-
fore adopting it.
Near a light frame building in
which l was filling shells with maxi
mite, ten inch gun was being tested.
A number of shots had been fired from
the big gun. Just as l had concluded
my work and started for the wharf to
take the government tug for New
York, the signal was sounded for an
other shot. l was walking along a
stretch of railway track directly be-
hind the gun.
At that instant 1 remembered that
several years before, when one of
these guns was being tested, the
breechlock had blown out, passed
through the bombproof and killed six
officers and men, but l argued with
myself that the chance was infinitely
remote that the breechlock would be
blown out of the present gun on this
discharge at the very instant l was in
range, but upon a sudden impulse l
ran with all my might.
The gun was discharged. l looked
round just in time to see the huge
breechlock pass through a building
near the one in which 1 had been at
work. 1t came up the track, striking
and breaking one of the rails over
which l had passed. 1t ricocheted
against the top of an old granite fort,
shower of stones and debris fell over
wide area and many fragments
struck the ground close to me.
l walked back to the scene of the
accident and found that the windows
in the little building where l had been
filling maxamite shells were complete
ly riddled with partly burned cylin-
ders of smokeless powder that had
been blown from the gun.
l once had another curious expert
ence at Sandy Hook during some trials
of the Maxim automatic machine gun
Among the severe tests to which the
gun was subjected was one intended to
stimulate what might occur in making
a landing upon the seashore, where
the mechanism of the gun might gel
filled with sand. The test is known as
the sand test"
The gun being tested at the time
was of the kind using black gunpow-
der cartridges, for it was before the
introduction of smokeless powder
There was so much energy in the re-
| coil of the barrel that a great deal OF
sand could be thrown into the me.
chanism without interfering with the
| working of the gun.
The commanding officer did not ar.
rive to see the gun fired until after the
| board in charge had completed t.
test He then appeared and demand
ed that the firing should be continued
for his benefit. The chairman of the
experimental board demurred, saying
that the gun had passed through the
test admirably and that il was too bad
to fire it more than was absolutely
necessary, with its mechanism filled
with sand. But the commander in
sisted.
A schooner was approaching near
the line of fire. The commander said
Il L. 90, fnt a
fired and that the firing would be
Icompleted before the schooner would
come within range. Accordingly {
belt of 333 rounds was inserted, am
the firing begun. After perhaps fifty
rounds were fired the command was
given Cease firing" but the gun kept
right on. 1t afterward proved that
| the trigger was blocked by sand, sc
| that il was impossible to stop the gun
| The schooner came into range ant
| the bullets flew over and around her
NV assistant, who was firing the
gun, did his best to work the triggei
and stop it. 1t did not occur to hin
on the instant, to unlimber the gur
and swing it round SO as to bring the
schooner out of range. AS the CUR
| fired at the rate Of $50 shots minut,
the firing was all over inside half Il
| minute.
Fortunately no damage was done.
When the same gun was undergo
| Il sand test at Annapolis, Md, / came
very near being killed by it.
The gun had passed successfully
| through severe test, but the officer
| in charge wanted to see whether he
could put enough sand into the gun
to stop it. So he had the gun box fill
ed full. The gun fired about 15C
rounds and then stopped. My assist
ant threw down the safe-that Is tC
say. locked the trigger, so that it could
not be pulled-and began clearing the
| gun box.
| Thinking that the gun was safe,
was just about to step round in from,
of it. Suddenly it fired dozen oi
more shots SO close to me that my
clothes were scared by the powder
| gases.
One of the tests made at Annapolis
was to fire a Mexican gun vertically
| into the air. We had fired couple OF
hundred shots in this manner, when
something struck very near us. II
then occurred to the officer in charge
that what go.s up must necessarily
come down. Firing ceased, and we
sought cover for a few minutes to
avoid the leaden rain.-Hiram Maxim
| in Youths Companion.