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Show Ccvm n n v's 'Snook Gun Born in Chemist's Mortal k " & $3: used by Cortcz now. r ? in mvdSlOU Of MeXiCO. evolution of the stone-throwing ivXrl'd VL ' N ' TjfS Missouri Hie ferial 'Society ,ri i:u' sio- as broad in ' i E ; v leaps and bounds but long stretches of ' .l ;rjr y ars lay between such bounds. Hu Cnrion us2 ddinst ' I 'v Indians by early ' - ; x settle o3tIvOuis. . Wissoun Historical Society " I8?I,S I Bpook gun the biC I gun that bombarded Paris from a distance of seventy-six mile end killed many noncombatants has been found out. This, according to the word of the German kaiser If such authority moans anything to the war-stricken war-stricken world Just now. The gun granting the kaiser has hinted at a truth was built by a great builder and in a great plant the Krupps. t Js the most tcrrifyln,,-weapon tcrrifyln,,-weapon the world has ever known, and. according to experts, the most useless from a military viewpoint. Except that It carried a O-ineh projectile over a distance dis-tance of more than seventy-rive miles, nothing as yet Is known by the world. Perhaps some day the interesting facts will bo revealed. I3ut the world, long since grown old to wonder, unbelievable unbeliev-able things, and erstwhile impossible things, will not be much astonished. Invnr juiii, n uitic me Krcai weapon was in process of making no one on this continent is supposed to know and likely no one docs know How many men and how much materials were used, or in what manner was overcome the difficult problems of Its making, all remain to be only guessed at. How much of a task proved that of transporting trans-porting it or what vast amount of explosives ex-plosives was necessary to send the inch shells speeding into the French i capital like-wise remain questions only I ar be guessed at for Germany Is not announcing much regarding it except j that such a gun during the first few 3 days of the big Teutonic drive towards the sea really was in existence and that it bombarded Pails Huge Gun a Tailure. Whatever was Intended for it to do 1 In the way of destruction was little I ehort of a failure. The shells it ficnt I over to tho French center did a mlnl- -ca mum In property destruction. But, true, 3 they took many lives of men, women 9l and children. They maimed many othors. Perhaps after all It paid the M kaiser fair return on the investment. 1 Perhaps after all the Joy aroused by a the knowledgo that by the cannon's f great Are radius he was enabled to m spread tho propaganda of German 3 frlghtf ulncss was worth to him all in ""-J, tho way of cost and endeavor tho Ger- I man Government had invested in tho ;3 monster cannon. j Nevertheless tho huge gun failed in a its work. Pointed toward Paris it was not aimed j at Paris. It was aimed at tho hearts fl of the French people. But it did not ja reach the mark in the way it was cx- 01 fjccted to. The people were not tcrror- M stricken and demoralized. They did n ot tire of the struggle, Not a 1 rcneh- .'.w man nor a Frenchman s wife nor x ,M Frenchman s sod nor daughter lot,l Development of Enormous Ordnance that Throws Murderous Murder-ous Shell 75 Miles Grew from Accidental Acci-dental Fall of a Stone in Fourteenth Four-teenth Century. heart or spirit because of the big gun's seventy-six -mile bombardment Aimed at the heart of France. Its projectiles missed the mark. The big ?un proved a worthless, costly piece of war machinery. But doubtless the kaiser laughs, for it took lives. And that's his business. If the dropping of such long-distance shells into Paris did not bring terror to the peoplo there It produced wonderment won-derment not only In the zone affected, but throughout the allied world. Until tho kaiser's message of thanks to Krupps. sent almost a week later, the people at large refused to accept tho Frenchman's view that the mlllcs had really and truly come from the mouth of a monstrous, mysterious German gun stationed approximately more than Eeventy-flve miles away. Among those who scout tho theory are leading ordnance and atmospheric experts of the United Stales. The former claim It to be Impossible to build a machine that would hurl a 9-inch projectile such a distance, tho latter contend that atmospheric conditions condi-tions are such as to bo proof against a shell of such caliber traveling a distance dis-tance of seventy miles or more. Inventor Scouts Story. One of the most eminent Americana to scout the story is Erall Gathmann of Walbrook, ML, son of the inventor of thj Gathmann gun. liich itself Is a masterpiece In the way of war weapon. Ho advances the theory that the aieiU t ere sent from alrcrafts or from a hidden hid-den gun. mounted rot a great dlsta-ies from Paris. For a gun to shoot a. shell such distance dis-tance it would bo necessary, u wae stated by others, to send the missile at such an angle that it would reach a height of thlrlj-livc miles, and because of this, it was pointed out. it would be. impossible to perform the feat. At such a height, it was argued, the atmospheric pressure Is reduced to r.lmost nothing, or. to be exact, to about ono millimeter of vacuum, and this condition wouil ie3troy the laws of physics necessary to be considered by the operator. The temperature at such a height is credited cred-ited with being from H8 to 150 decrees de-crees below zero But in face of all argument thy such a p;cject Is an Impossibility, Im-possibility, it would seem that ?uch impossibility im-possibility has been overcome. But, after all, the world Is r.ol amazed for it has, especially during the progress of the present world war, :rtually ceased to be amazed over the accomplishment of deeds heretofore believed impossible. During tho progress of the war uncounted un-counted numbers of seeming lmposslbp-Itles lmposslbp-Itles have been overcome by Inventive genius in the making of war machine and systems of fighting. Along no line and this Is not discounting the achievements achieve-ments of the tank maker, the submarine subma-rine builder, the airplane inventor or the bomb builder has greater Mrldc in developments been mado than that by which ih- cannon has been brought from the stages it was Ir. prior to 101 1 to tho perfection reached when tho Krupps turned out the giant "bombard" which recently threw Ita shells into I'aris. But leading up to that achievement, however, wonderful developments have been made, both blnce the beginning of the world war and durin-r a decade and a half prior. It has been within tho last forty years that the weapon tho world thinks of as a cannon has receded re-ceded many times the improvement It was civon nrior to th'it. Civil War Pieces. s one is permitted today to view the cannon which was In gcDtral use even during the American civil war, tho more Is one struck by the crudeness and jualntness of the machine. And those used prior to the 00s ate. of course, found even more crude, both in fashion and size. From tho muzzTe-Ioaoing weapon, specimens of which are ft the Missouri Historical Museum at Jeffcrsoa Memo rlali St Aouis, the cannon leaped into the great machine of todr.v almostovcr-night. almostovcr-night. While those ucd for coast defense de-fense and on ships duri is the civil war and the half century prior showed certain cer-tain improvements over the type Used on the battlefields, they were as vastly inferior to the weapons of today as the field cannon of that time was from tho artillery used on the "lines' now. During the early part of the past century cen-tury the -white man was launching Into the fuY Industry of the Middle West. P! a king trips up and down the river iratllcUing with the Indians. Upon their loats and above their fortified Lradln CLdTLTLOTL used by Filipinos "at outbreaks of insurrection,. Hfi55ouri Historical 3oczefy prsts cunnon of the most Improv.vl type of tho day were stationed. They were often used against attacking ravages. One of these guns, now at JefTerson .Memorial Is about 2 feet Ion?, is a muzzle loader, and v.as tired by touching a hot Iron to a small vent at the 'butt end' of the barrel. It Is of brass and c.'.rrled a Uv-lnch ball Gun-Bhnllar Gun-Bhnllar to this have been captured during dur-ing the last twenty years from the Philippine islanders. Amon the ejualnt cannon on exhibit are also two culvcnns, w hlch w ere brought by Cortcz from Spain on his second imasion of Mexico in the sixteenth six-teenth century. They are ma-Jo of bronze, are about 2 feet long and shot L-lnch balls They are elaborately carved and bear the Spanish coat of arms They arc muzzle loaders and were fired by means of the hot Iron. Powder a Back Number. While these weapons nre crude, they arc little more so than the old civil war field plcre. While the civil war cannon were larger, being 4 feet long, and shot a '-'-Inch ball, they were muzzle loaders nnd were tired by igniting the charge through a "touch -hole." Other forms of explosives are used In cannon new, few plccei being in use where powder alone provides tho pro-relling pro-relling power. The high cxplosle or lyddite shells and time shrapnel are used. The former is for ranging and demolishing cover, the latter for do-structlop do-structlop of the army personnel. Cannon in siege work have been the most important factor of the nghtlng forces. They al?o are ured for laying dewn barragef as aid to infantry attacks. at-tacks. This has become a regular part of offensive work. At the same time It Uol3 beeome a regular part of defensive work, for the side that is attacked also lays down a barrage before the enemy. Not tho least of thoro nations thut have given much time and thought and effort to tho perfection of cannon is the United States. Except in the case of Germany's spook gun. no nation has rivaled the United States in making tremendous weapons. Perfection wae all but reached in the making of the monster ie-lnch disappearing gun to help guard the Fanama CanaL It Is the biggest of its class in the world and is capable of throwing a projectllo twenty-one miles. The gun proper weighs 300 tons and was shlppod on a 1 1 ,ii ii of fourteen spe'-hJly constrncted cars. Not a long time ago this country also designed a '.'Va-incb howitzer which was claimed to be more powerful than any 11 or 12 inch gun made. It has a range of nearly ten miles and Is. in size, such as to be transported by tractor. trac-tor. Needless to say Its wheels are of tho caterpiller type, to make It possible for it to be transported over any kind cf ground. But If the United States has matched ether nations ir. the work of fashioning tremendous weapons, it has not outstepped out-stepped others, by any means. From the beginning of the present war thousands of mighty guns have been put in use. They havo been of hundreds of types. ' he greatest Improvement all alon tro line has been In the perfoftion of carriages car-riages and methods of transporting, method of range finding, and ability for long distance and powerful delivery. One or the greatest guns In US by the British forces, to be hauled from place to place, required the ue: of a specially special-ly built tractor of incomprehensible rower It i? greater and bigger than the ' Uusy Berthas" of the Germans and a shot from the monster wreaks terrible havoc among tho enemy. The I'ritlsh have perfected many other tvpc guns ranging from the small machine I lece to those so gliunntlc that it rc-'U'lrcs rc-'U'lrcs specially Lullt railroad cars to transport them Likewise the French have 'gone tho limit' In making powerful and accura'e suns Some of those employed by ,h; French are so huge that, like those on war vessels, the muzzles aro large, enough for a man to crawl in. The3C are transported on railroad cars. The barrel alone is of such length that as many as twenty-eight men, sitting hide si.jr i -nub! be comfortably rcatfd i. it. The French also have made their howitzers and other styles of cannon reach the same perfection as have tl big gun. The Russians, the Austnans and the lapanese also have perfec ted giant and effective weapons. No nation has "u.-passed "u.-passed Germany. With her powerf.il weapons she has reduced many forts that otherwise were considered unde-mollshable. unde-mollshable. She tore her way through Belgium during the early days of tho war by the aid of her giant guns. From a distance of many miles the monsters did their work with precision. True, that in many cases the fortifications were so woll constructed that it required r.ot a little time for her to carry out her work of breaking them down. But fhe broke th?m down- In short, the improvements that ha 1 been mado in big armament since cn . t threw stone and burning liquid from the end of a beam, the force to which wae given by a 'spring' of catgut- Little Improvement was made in the weapon for more than 2i"X vears, except ex-cept that In the meantime it was made larger and considerable more force 'as given. Where, in its early stages, tho implement was able to throw only sma.l stones a dlstanco computed at 350 yards, i', later was made sufficiently large t- hurl rocks weighing as much as 800 pounds each It was not, however, until about tho fourteenth century that a steo of any great Importance was taken in the evolution of the weapon. This came with the discovery of powder. First Explosion, cf Powder. Historians differ as to Just where the i i powder weapon was developed. Coir, Co-ir, dental with the discovery of powder by Berthold Schwarz in 1380, the Mors gave to the Spaniards the secret of explosives ex-plosives From tho Chinese the Moors laimed to have borrowed tho idea. The Chinese. In the first place, were caid to have been In possession of the secret for many hundred years, having 'ong before found that by tying rockets on their arrows they could give them more Heed and force. In spite of such possible early work ;n the East, the use of guns. large or small, was not general until after the time that Schwarz made his discovery. This ho did in a way that undoubtedly imprcrsed upon his mind that certain elements, when compounded in a certain cer-tain way and then ignited had the ability abil-ity to turn loose a spasm of hidden forco that was sufficient to do extraordinary extraor-dinary things. Compounding a mixture of saltpeter and charcoal during an experiment, Srhwarz accidentally dropped a s'.one Ir.to the mixture which was In a mortar. At tho same time a spark was struck and came into contact with the mixture. The stone was shot out of the mortar with considerable force, greatly to the. surprise of tho experimenter and gunpowder gun-powder thereupon was 'inentcd.' Thin is claimed to have given birth to the idea ot 9hootlng a project ilo, by means of powder, and Is credited with being the first step toward the development of-tho of-tho modern firearm. From this is traced the obsignation of some typo of cannon can-non being called mortar and for guns, bcth large and small, having had funnel-shaped muxxles during tho first several sev-eral centuries of us. Others 3how that from the ideas the Chinese arc credited with, bj which they were able to add impetus to their arrows, the Moors In a few eentriiK do eloped crude artillery used by theaH later in the tlcge of Cordova. ThiB was in 1280. To the Spaniards e.u 1 the Moors are said to have- impiriedj the secret and for their gem-ro;it7 thj ll were made to buffer when. In UOJ, ';) Spaniards, under Ferdinand IV. ture4 tho weapon of tl re upon them and tcofc I Gibraltar. Accepting either of ;h f !alrr.s -.s t) ? the origin of the principles of using fl powder In a weapon of war. It renuta I only to acre.:- tlv.t the French were "J-.e i first nation o adopt the ur-e of the I cannon in warfare. They put It in first II use In 1338 in the siege of Puy Gall- I laumc. At Crecy. eight years later, the I Cngllsh had three small field vurj. I These were mado of longitudinal ears I ! ound together with rings, being fa:h- I loned somewhat on the order of a barrfel, though having a funnel-sliapa J mouth or muzzle. The cannon shot I atones and were mounted on acavy wooden frames They were called n.or- I tars, or bombards. Until this time the cannon was little more than an open-momn, tnin-acil tube, from which a rock could b thrown in tho general direction In which the piece was pointed. The strength of the gun was little considered. Then began the development of a gun with a bore and made of wrought iron and bronze Although iron projectile! took the place of stones. It was not until well toward the seventeenth century that the desire for heavy shot gave way to tJiat for greater accuracy. Then various nations began to make weapons weap-ons that would throw shot not exceeding exceed-ing 150 pounds in weight. This was the beginning of modern ordnance. Kace of the Nations. In the sixteenth century Europe was buy adopting Improvements. Germany stpped forward with her first invention inven-tion of considerable Importance by devising de-vising the case shot. The Italians in-xontcd in-xontcd shells and fired them from mortars, mor-tars, keeping the mode of construction In the seventeenth century Hollanl began to make mortar shells. Sheahn invented tho hand grenades and followed fol-lowed his up by building the first howitzer ever In existence The French followed close upon Dutch heels by inventing in-venting a mortar throwing projectiles weighing as much as r5o pounds. In tho early part of the eighteenth century England made the longest gun. It fired a ball that weighed twenty-five pounds. Tho weapon was given great length on the theory that such would Increase its shooting power, but a series of experiments brought disappointment to the British ordnance men, for it was proved that the shorter tho gun the farther it would shoot. The greatest improvement of all wai made In lTiVi by Gribeauval. cclcbraioC French expert He perfected variola guns, each made of such size and materials ma-terials as to adapt them to various service, such as field, siege, garrison and coast. One was a howitzer shooting shoot-ing a ball of only six pounds. He made gun carriages lighter, instituted a fix1'1 ammunition system and added various devices and improvements that caused tho Flench artillery to bolt far ahea l of the performance of any other nation of the world. it was with Grlbeauval'a improve 1 system that Bonaparte took Toulon, with which he let go his great gun? in the Cul-de-Sac Douphln against tho Church of St. Roch. with which ho reduced tho French revolution to a thing that was. and with which he wo.i victories In Italy Among guns he used were those shooting s-pound. 10-pound and 2 1-pound balls. Little relative change In cannons and the handling of them was mado then until In the Boer war. It was then that tho sy stem of massed artillery was done away with- Tho advent of the telephone permitted this, Just as it has permitted various other changes in military mil-itary and commercial systems of the world. Now, instead of artillery belnj bunched, it Is spread out, communication communica-tion being maintained by telephone. Tills inducer the size of tho object for enemy guns 1 |