New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-09-20
Existence Kept SO Secret
Only Few in Germany
Knew of 1t.
SPELLS DOOM OF
ALL FORTRESSES
German Declares Single Weapon
Would Destroy Every Fort
in the World.

Bn.,.g. sept. Is. II q 81. too car.-
~ a'trEiEc to base general predictions
incoming War IL Tic iGJure uDor
Uha; the .acsccmcnta 81 INC present
great We. l,.n b0-sr. Olo pred .c,ion,
however, tor5 seem fairly justified al
'rady. That Is thar thc day of 1917.
rcssc, has PASSED.
the uc,; f2-ccnt metre l6.S-iuc..)
siege gun o. 'hc Gcrm.u forces ap-
pears 10 have demonstrated it's ability
70 denol!rh the strongest iortiiIrat.GE7
ever made. Pictures rt The deMo.:!io~
at iicEc bear s.Ikg~ tcgt,uony 20 .hr
power of this row ara. : single prC-
jcctilc demolished Gttr-.y walls o. rr.
inforceG cement and stce., .lppca ops
steel towers and piled tho mass upr.
The forts defenders.
This new siege gun has been the ST.
prise Of The war II has beer repeat.
eddy asserted that no nation has any
military secrets that are not in the
possession OF all other important ma
tions, but events have proved not only
that the existence of this terrible
weapon was not known 20 foreign NJ
tions. but that only a limited numbc"
Of high army officials in all Germany
had 50 much 80 heard OF il. A member
of the Rcichstag, whose name is not
given. is quoted as follows in German
paper:
Reichstag Kept Ignorant.
"The fact that the German army pos.
sessed such a gun was as much Of
surprise TO the Germans as to foreign
crs. for It's construction and nature
l,a ait IL
handed. so that even in the empire
only limited number knew about It.
When the trials were finished and a..
was ready 20 begin the construction Of
the new gun. the problem presentP"
itself of making this wonderful work
oc wa: without attracting any atten'
ion.
"Morc than forty officers participated
in the preliminary discussion over the
preparation Of the military budget for
the consideration of the budget com
mission OF the Rcichstag. When the
subject Of arms was reached the head
~ thia GeOartment requested that this
part OF the budget be not debated at
that time.
AT the close Of the session he told
me conidcntially that new siege gun
was in consideration. The GENERA.
Stat. he said had urgently requested
that rot a word be said about the mat
ter in the budget commission. Not even
the officers. they declared, Khe" OF
what was being done.
Gun Does Not Wear Out.
"The request OF the General Staff
was ohs,r rived. Then work on the new
run hogan. A number Of them are al
Tcadv at the front and others are IN
tho arscnals. Six weeks ago, as mem
her os ;hc commission on arms: ! was
~ Gun factory, and was informed
that any number of tubes and prOlec-
tiles for the guns can be finished IN a
worry brief time. not to mention the
great supply on hand,
II asked whether these guns wore
tbemselves out quickly, and was as
surrd by an expert that there are not
enough forts in the world to wear out
Il single gun
Chicago, Sept. l9.-Louis Gathma"n,
= German resident of Chicago, IS said
~ have invented the new German siege
cum and shell used with such discs
trors results 10 Belgian and French
Notifications.
Refused by United States.
This Chicago invention is said to
have been rejected by the United
states government, except for coast
defence. after series OF tests h"id
IT the Sandy Hook experiment; sta
ton in 1898.
The inventor is said TO have taken
his device to Germany. and later 10
lave sold it TO the krupps.
Ga;hmann was at one time con-
nncted with Northwestern University
and * said 70 have invented the gun
shortly before the Spanish-American
War.
Roger b. McMuien and his brothers
bcIpcd finance the early manufacture
of the shells for experimental pur-
noses. The first shells were made IN
a small Chicago machine shop. Later
the United States government appro-
priatrd 100000 to test the invention.
and a special gun was built to hurl
the gigantic proiectles. which were
Is inches in diameter, weighed l,So0
pounds and carried more than 500
hounds Of guncOtton or ntroglycerin.
Tho first shells were four feet long
and built f. two sections, which
screwed together. In the tests at Sandy
Hook the proiectiles were success
fully hurled Twelve miles.
fol