The daily Alaskan., 1914-04-29
NARROW ESCAPES
t5ldson Maxim Has Figured In
 Some Peri.9uS incidents.
LUCKY AT CHEATING DEATH,


 ed, Was th5 Means of savina Hi
 Lifa-A Magazine That Got Its Sec
 ond Wind
 One Of Jhe most thrilling adventure.
 in my experience took place at the gov
 crumeut proving grounds at Sandy
 Hook, N. d.. when the United States
 government was testing maximite be-
 fore adopting it.
 Near a light frame building in which
 | WIS filling shells with maximfte a ten inch gu was being tested. A num- bor of shots had been fred from the | big gun Just as ] had concluded my 1 "orE aud started fyr rlc wharf to take 1 lhn goraruwaat Aug for New York. the 1 signal woe sonnGod for another shot, ! was walking along stretch of rail- way track directly behind the sun.
 Al ,h.t uls,a-t remembered that several years before. when enc of these guns was being te..ai. tlr brcach,ock had blown ou,. passed through the bamlr"ao- ""1 Etl.rd six officers and @cu. but argued with myself that the i tchawcc was infinitely remote that the 1reecu.ock would a- blown out of the present gun ou ths discharge at the E-r- instant ] Was .n range, but upon Ia sudden impulse ran with au my might.
 The gun w@s a.#hrrgcd l looked round just in umn to soc inc huge Jrccc..ooE rasS through a building near the one lu which [ had been at work. IT. came up lHo track. striking and breaking one nt .lo Tails over which I had uLssrd Y r-raehntcd against the top of thr old ~aa... fort and glanced high iu.1 tne vtr x shower of stones and debris 0g1 over a wide area and many fwagmnnts struck lac ground clos. ta mn.
 l walked back tu 0aa stone of the ac- ril.ll and ..ua .0t tlr windows In the little lUH.s where . Had been filling ua~'mtt. .a...s wa.e completely r.dd.-d '..l partly .amad cylinders of l saose.ass powder That had been blown l tggG j.. -u aaae lH #ua.-~r curious expert .u.n at Sandy .... turing ~.re trials 1, of sre Maxim automatic machine gun.
 Lm.-- 1.. s."u.. .asls tn which inc gm WAS subjected #Hs .ac intended 10 ! simulate what m.rns occur in making l . landing unu .an s"saora. where tue mechanism o. ga. -w might get ulleI ! v..a sand T-. -.-. is known as the sand tn.u"
 Tho -u- ...ua ....d .t U.a time was Dt .H. N.. using black -urDowdar ar.nlI-s. ..r 1t WIS before -le intro .....n. D. m.s.'a-+ powder. There .a- s. mm@ ...ray in tan recot of aa GHwo. ."r @.@g 0a. of sand ou.l he .aru"o info inc mechanism -.rloa5 Mur.agtu4 ni.h thc working I tle sum- The commanding officer did not ar- i've to -ee l.e e"a fired until after the oa.j .H oh#... ... completed the test. .c then ala...1 aal demanded that .c firing s..a.# oa continued for bis : ononr T.. .na"a#1 vr the expert rn.1. board l..uraG. saying that E .a gum had r..s.3 Through the test - lmlHn.y ard that .o was t.0 bad to 'e .l moro t... wns absolutely ncces- sr rg, wtta is mechanism filed with z Ld Ea- inc commander insisted. S A schooner was approaching near 5 - Iiao ot ire. The commander said 3S on.g wanted to see few rounds 5S ed and chat the firing would be com .SS a,cI before the schooner would come e thin rau-e. Accordingly a belt of SS rounds was inserted, and the firing 0 gun. Atterunrh#ns fifty rounds were a ad tac command WAS given Cease 50 .ug." but taa gun kept right ou. It s cgwari lg0.ed that the trigger was .elci by sand. SD thgt it was impos- iS le tJ stop the ggH The schooner e ne .u.u range. and the bullets flew iS ,r aud around aer. Iy assistant, who was firing the gun. SS his best -p work the trigger and & 9 it. It ajd ung occur to b.m on the 1s tant to ug.imJor the gun and swing - round so as to bring the schooner a of range. As thc sun fired at the a of 15J shots a minute the firing 0 s all over inside half q minute.
 o~tu@gte.y uo damage was done. ou the same sun was undergoing a q test at Annapolis, Md.. l came P near being killed by it. 1. he gun bad passed successfully 1ugl a severe sand test but the r .er iu raHrga waated to see wleth- .H }, rogd put enough sand into the 70 stop it. SD he had the gun box "S q full The gun fired about l5O Ie lds and then stopped Ny assistant AI w down the sGr2-that is to say, 2 ed the trigger so that it could not M gu.cd aud began clearing the gun 16 linking that the gun was safe, I Just @hout t0 step round in front - C Suddenly ]. fred d dozen or Le p sho,s so close to mc that my Ri les were scared by the powder dri $. Ha Q oE t5a tests made at Annapolis to fife a Maxim gun vertically 91 the air. We had fired a couple of - .ni shots in this manner when LIT