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Show I II' HERE'S A NEW GUN THAT SHOOTS, NOT TO KILL, BUT TO SAVE. IT IS INVALUABLE FOR USE AT SHIPWRECK? IS?. 9! Huge Eeas hurled three lifeboats against the steel sides of the heavily 1 rolling Volturho. smashing them to gM, blt' when that unfortunate steamer 9j became a blazing hulk in mid-ocean fl a fesv weeks ago Two more of the niali boats were, presumably, sent H to the bottom by the mountainous H waves after they had been swept tm away into the shrouding mists. More than 130 men and women who were Hj In those boats lost their lives. H Tl' rescue ships that had arrived Hi promptly in response to a summons H b' wireless were able, a few hours H later, to take off the remaining 600- Hj odd persons aboard the Volturno Jh H m1l boau. They were able to do H tnl because the tossing of the Hi waves had grown less violent, and UH! lhlr turbulence had been still fur ther softened by pouring - flood of oil oer the troubled waters. But there is little reassurance in the reflection that, had the Voltur-no'i Voltur-no'i boats never left their davits, In all probability every sou! aboard the burning ship would have been brought safely ashore. The story might have been vastly different. If the waves had continued or increased in-creased in violence, there Is small chance that any one aboard the Volturno Vol-turno would hav got off safe. Why" Because all the efforts made to get a a line aboard the floating fire-box proved fruitless. At one time the Carmanls. had maneuvered to n point only fifty yards from the Vol-turno's Vol-turno's stern but no line was passed aboard. The fault, If fault there Is, seems to lie In dearth of equipment of tho ten rescue ships that hovered about the vessel whose passengers" and crew they had come to eave. It is astonishing that not one of those boats possessed apparatus that could throw a line aboard the Volturno. Vol-turno. The United States revenue service tugs A ushnet and Snohomish, Snoho-mish, It is said, are equipped with a lifeline gun for which a ranr. of 2,000 feet is claimed. Tho Acush-net Acush-net has been stationed for some, time at Wood's Hole, Mass and the Snoh'-mish at Port Angelea. Wash. The inventor of this gun, a man named Hall, declares that Its con- trlvance was inspired by the wreck of the steamer Valencia, which went ashore in Puget Sound Although Al-though the steep, rocky shore was hardly more than a stone's throw away, while a rescun vessel stood off a few hundred feet on the other side, no line could be got aboard the pounding wreck, and the more than 100 persons aboard lost their lives. The gun which Mr. Hall says ro- suited from this disaster Is a breech-loading affair which launches launch-es into tho air a heavy weight to which is attached s light line. It is designed to he mounted on tho rail of any vessel, and risk of dan-serous dan-serous recoil is overcome, It Is said, by the apodal construction of this patented device. The effective range of the gun Is said to be 2,000 feet, Which Mr. Hall declares Is 500 feet rurther than is necessary unded actual working conditions. There 8. of course, little need to argue the advantage of being able to pass, a line to or from a doomed vessel to connect it with the shore or with another vessel, when the seas are eo high that no lifeboat an be launched or stand the least chance of surviving if 11 oncc reaches the water. The description of the Hall lifeline life-line gun given here is based on the Inventor's own statements. It is constructed of bronse und "is mounted upon a peculiar type carriage car-riage so that it can be shipped into ihe rail at any given point, forward or aft, of any vessel." It can bo loaded and fired. It Is claimed, as easily as .my sporting shotgun and by comparatively inexperienced men. The simplicity of tho gun mechanism, according to Mr. Hall, enables it to l,e placed in position to fire the line in a few moments. The charge Is carried in an ordinary ordi-nary brass cartridge, which is Slipped into the breech and the breech snapped shut Then tho twenty-pound fhot to which Is attached at-tached the line is slipped Into the muzzle The mechanism of the car-riage car-riage allows the gun to be pointed In any direction and elevated at any angle. The whole operation of loading and aiming the gun says Mr. Hall, takes about two minutes. The line in a continuous length, is held specially devised cylinders, and is lu different sizes for differ ent uses. When ready, a Jerk of the firing lanyard sends It away on Its high, curving flight, until it falls directly across the docks of the wreck, where It is made fast. Tho heavy main cable- to support the breeches buoy, or life car. and the two lines for drawing the car to and fro can then be hauled across the Intervening stretch of water and the work of rescue ullowcd to proceed pro-ceed quickly. The United States llfesaving stations sta-tions all along the Atlantic and Pacific Pa-cific coasts employ a certain type of lifeline gun which, it is alleged by the inventor, has an effective range very much less than that of the Hall gun This beach gun, declares Mr, Hall is an old muzzle-loader, specified spec-ified by the navigation laws of thirty thir-ty years ago. He says the recoil sends It spinning end over end whenever It is fired. A recoil such as this would obviously make th use of this gun often Impracticable when the only base to which the if he apparatus could bo attached ws ttlt the rail of a vessel. f fan. pt A Mild Diversion. Dr "My wife is treasurer at our house Br, and it's difficult for me to hold out ar any money. However, she .some- s times trusts me with a dollur WH ii and I contrive to hold oat the ae change." iJna "Doesn't she remember to as- u , l foofJ f0Not always. I create some mils I 'ifcl! diversion to oc upy her mind distract her attention " Mh de,,' -How do you manage It? tQrJ father had set lire to the house- H, ..ju8t0ne kiss,- IrrTrcd th- ' bTkheeepPr:tty stenographer po.. .ftoy nroo?. at retal,," It .d. MZ. J So hs took a job lot, W sggW I jH J |