The Washington herald., 1916-07-25
SEEN AND HEARD
BY GEORGE MINER

new 1ofK, july Alt will be renefnoered
that the last Yep" that attempted to raid London
did not do it. The big airship did not even get
over her would-be quarry. She was shot to
mouth of the Thames along with many hundred
pounds OF dynamite which would have blown
halt of London off the map If it had ever been
let loose the way it was intended to be- ..
Since then no "Zeps" have attempted to raid
London, although "Zep"t raids had been up to
that time of almost weekly occurrence there
for more than year The reason is that the
English now have an airship gun which is an
effective Zeppelin destroyer II has recoil
and therefore can be mounted and fred from
an airship with accuracy
And thereby hangs tale
This recoilless gun is now owned by an
American who sold the rights to it to the Eng
lish government after our government had been
pleaded with to buy it and had turned it down.
There is just one of those guns in this coun-
try. 1t was first given practical test here
recently in the scout boat maneuvers of the
naval militia off Block Island. The navy of
hcers in charge of these maneuvers, Commander
Nelson and Lieut.. Commander Kimberly, were
highly enthused the effectiveness Of the
weapon So, too, were the civilians who took
part in the cruise among them Mr. Orson Mum,
the owner of the Scientific American and de-
voted yachtsman.
The naval officers were still overflowing with
talk about it when they got back to New York.
1t seems that the secret of the nonrecoil lies in
the fact that the gun shoots from both ends at
once so that the recoil is nullihcd. The rear
end OF the gun discharges sand or bird shot
which is caught and stopped by a steel screen
while the business end let's loose ball or she'll
as the case may be-
They tell me that this double explosion so
counteracts itself that glass OF water along
side the gun is not even spilled by the shock
For this reason the gun can be fired from a
soaring airship without knocking it to piece. or
from a scouting little speed boat without turning
it turtle. In other words it is exactly the
weapon that airships and fast scout boats have
been hunting for. But England the
patent and not the United States.
Jack Stone gets the royalties from England,
after begging Our government for nearly year
to take the gun at least give it trial All
the satisfaction he could get was series Of
postponements and the unwinding of a prodigious
amount of red tape.
England bought the rights to its manufacture
one week after the gun presented and Jack
Stone is now getting royalties that ping up
so fast they make him dizzy. He will probably
Jack Stone comes from Burlington, VT, and
started life as drummer boy in Bert Water
mans up there Then he was the drummer in
a circus band. Then he got job as advertising
clerk in the business office OF the New York
Herald. From there he transferred to the
business office OF the Paris Herald.
And it was there. in that stuffy little coop at
40 Avenue de rOpera, that good fortune came
and lit on both his shoulders at once.
1t was Sunday and very much to his disgust
he assigned to do the Sunday trick Only
one clerk kept on duty on Sunday for hardly
any one ever in, while on week days the
place always busy with visiting Americans
who came to register and get their mail Only
one man came in all that Sunday. He was a
stranger to Paris and he needed lots Of informa-
tion. Jack was only too willing to give it to
him, for while he is naturally polite, on this
particular Sunday he was very glad to have
some to talk with to kill time
The visitor stayed for a couple Of hours and
was so impressed with Jacks CHEEKY manner and
bright talk that he took a great fancy to him
and asked him to dine with him at his hotel
When il came to exchanging names Jack found
he had made friend Of Dan O Day. the attorney
for the Standard Oil He dined with the manipu-
lator OF legislatures, met Judge O'Day's daugh-
ter and subsequently married her. As every one
knows, Miss O'Day was millionairess But
the funny part of it was that the day after the
memorable Sunday James Gordon Bennett saw
fit to dispense with Jacks services because he
closed up the office ar hour earlier than the
specified time to keep his dinner engagement
with O'Day.
His future father-in-law was so impressed
with Jacks business ability that he backed him
in manufacturing type-setting machines out Of
which Jack made small fortune. After that he
was prosperous in everything he undertook, so I
doubt if he really ever very much regretted losing
that SIS dollar week job advertising clerk on
the Herald.
When the war broke out he became the dis
trlbuting agent at the front for the big banking
house OF Parr Brothers of London, than which
there IS none bigger in England EXCEPT the Roths-
childs. The commissions on this work for the
last year and half have netted him large sum.
Then he heard of this recoilless gun and promptly
bought it.
The rest Of the story have already told