The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1921-06-01


are strange and instructive.
The old Spanish fort out on Lake
Pontchartrain, with the old guns
still mounted, is one of the many
popular resorts. There are nine Of
the guns, most of them in position
ready for use, just as they were
placed when the fort was construct
ed many many years ago. Some Of
the gun-carriages have decayed and
dismounted the guns. Trees, live
oak, that are now two or three feet
in diameter have grown in the fort.
The guns are Of the Oldest design
the U. S. ever made. There is hole
drilled in the breech Of the guns
with a pan for printing powder.
They were fired by using hot iron
rod to touch off the powder in the
pan, which fired the charge with a
report like the rending of noun
tain and enough smoke to be
seen for miles. But one of our
modern naval guns would demolish
the whole fort before the old guns
could be fired and even if they were
fired, they would do but little more
damage than a pop gun. A ball
from one of them would not travel
more than mile at best and then
do but little execution. The walls
of the fort are, perhaps, 5 feet high.
want to refer to the old museum
again. In the lobby of the building
there are some old guns,-two old
Napoleon brass guns used in the
civil war, one German gun and one
Tank used in the World War; also
one areoplane used in France. One
Saturday night. while the writer
was in New Orleans, some one went
in and loaded up one of the Napo-
leon guns and fired it across Jack
son Park and the river into the
city OF Algiers, striking house
passing through three walls and
lodging in the fourth. Luckily it
did not kill any one, but it knocked
the plaster off and it fell on lady
cutting her face considerably. The
police then spiked the guns and
started a hunt for the culprits. Hav-
ing had some experience with Napo-
leon guns, ! asked the policeman to
| let me drive one of the spikes,-a
thing l had not done for So years.
We spiked a gun on the field of
Murfreesboro under fire, but the
spiking in New Orleans was a tame
affair compared to my first expert
ence.
Another strange sight to the wish
tor is the construction of the graves.
No one is buried in the ground in
New Orleans. The vaults are all
on top of the ground. The Confed-
crate monument is built in imita-
ton of a mountain, on top of which
is a life-sized statue of Albert Sid
ney Johnston on horseback. The
mountain is tunneled and the vaults
are cut out on each side of the tun-
mel. Hundreds Of old Southern
veterans rest there. The mountain
is kept ever green with closely
cropped grass. The cemetery is a
veritable city of the dead, with
many wonderful monuments to the
memory Of loved ones gone to eter-
nal rest.
One may stand on the corner of
the main streets and see natives of
every civilized nation on earth, he
would be a linguist indeed, if he
could talk to them in their own
tongue. 1 visited many points Of
interest in the city: Tulane Uni
versity,' Audubon Park, Lee Circle,
Jackson Park, Beauregard Statue
Davis Park, two or three cemeter-
les, the River front and many other
places of historic note. There are
said to be $4,000 automobiles oper-
ated in the city, hundreds and hun.
dreds of miles of street railways, a
number of seaplanes and numerous
water craft of all descriptions
Men-of-war often call at this port
and vessels from all parts of the
world may be seen in the harbor
The register shows an average o.
sea-going craft arrivals of more
than 25 daily with departures Of
of about the same number. A wish
to the battleship Kansas was a new
page in the life history Of yours
truly.
After my visit to New Orleans
felt like the boy who started ou
one morning and walked until moor
through the woods and then return