Show FORTRESS MONROE ION lon I 1 roe ROB SEP 22 the board of engineer officers ers are energetically pushing forward their experiments peri ments upon the ironclad iron clad target near the fort six shots were fired this mis morning mornin an and d the effect of the smooth bore nul and rifle projectiles thrown by the rodman guns la is astounding on one occasion today to day a fifteen inch solid shot struck the upper plate of the target in nearly the same indentation made by a rifled med projectile crushing in the tho iron and penetrating several inches into the stonework another shot a rifled dyer projectile about pounds struck the upper edge of the plate and glancing off into the granite wall imbedded bedded im ii itself almost out of sight amidst crumbling fragments of the crushed blocks of stone atone heavy pieces of granite weighing hundreds OL ot pounds were thrown thrown a distance of over fifty yards by the violence of the shock and fragments frai ments of stone were scattered over tho surface of several hundred yards the eleventh and final shot was fired this afternoon it was aimed by capt 0 B reese I 1 recorder of the be board ard directly rec t ly at one end ol 01 the target unprotected te ct ed by any armature and where in aa addition dd to the usual thickness el eight ht feet it is braced and supported by b a heavy granite abutment the shot was pronounced an excellent one by the officers and with the scene of ruin anci and havoc it created terminated th the e experiments for the day accurate views in three diffie different rent positions of the damage lone done the target were tal tah talen taken en by a khz photographer employed for the purpose A critical examination of immense breaches in it and around it were broken blocks of stone and wrecked iron dowels and tag gels geis fissures anti and crevices with the projecting mortar were seen in every direction above the iron armature while the strong wall bulged out lna ina in a manner almost impossible to comprehend the shot of the rifled twelve inch shot was transmitted to the t it e stone a abutment and there although the damage was wai less hea heavy vy blocks of granite were moved from their position and left in a battered condition gen 13 arnard barnard remarked that this shot shofu satisfied him for the present and the firing was then discontinued discontinue discontinued A until tomorrow to morrow eleven shots have been so far fired from froni tha the 15 inch smooth boro bore and the 12 inch rifle rodman guns and the target as it now stand stands presents a faithful and suggestive commentary upon the waste of material and means which have been BO so idly bestowed upon they the present resent manner of buil bull building dille stolle stone an and brick fortifications the target is a crumb ling mass of ruins even now save where the iron plating with its nearly penetrating indentures have protected the granite wall and before the firing can bo be resumed the useless and dangerous wrecked material must be removed av y r 1 times A formidable WEAPON experiments mita wilt the Chass epol musket A curious experiment with the se ot musket adopted by the french military military commission appointed ine lne the different inventions odthe of the breech loaders has just taken place at th ecamp of chalons A letter in in the franci france gives the following account general dAute marre the president ordered a company of eighty foot chas deurs armed with the tile gun in question to be placed at four hundred metr metres estrom from a large target representing the front of a squadron of cavalry in the rear and to the right of the Chass eurs was placed a detachment of guides at four hundred metres also from the line of fire on a signal given by the president the latter charged at a gallop and at the same mon moment lelit the others commenced ninin firing by files at the target the object oft of the e trial in question was to ascertain by counting the shots fired and the balls received by the target while the cavalry was going over the distance of four hundred metres or in other words the effect produced by a fire of infantry infantis infant fy on a squadron charging the guides went over the distance in thirty nive five secondo second an extraordinary rapidity for horsemen heavily acou tred and in a troop the infantry fired during the same saine period three hundred and twenty shots and the target was struck one hundred bundred and sixty times or by more than fifty ner der cent of the bullets the lie ile experiment was repeated the second time and with exactly the same result the effect of fifty per cent of the shots is terrible also as in half a minute eighty sent seat three hundred and twenty bullets at the enemy that is exactly four to each inan man if eighty horsemen had really charged charged those eighty riflemen they would woul all have becar struck down on nn the way 11 |