Show MARYLAND TREMBLED twelve inch breech load ing rifle explodes A dozen naval officers and oral nance experts narrowly death gun cotton shell prematurely explodes while a test is being made washington june 10 the state of maryland trembled last evening as the result of an explosion u pounds of gun cotton at the government proving grounds at indian head A 12 inch breech loading rifle weighing pounds and worth was blown to piece the armor covered bomb picot in which the spectators take refuge while the tests are made was wrecked and a dozen naval and ordinance experts narrowly escaped with their lives the final test was abeln made of a guncotton gun cotton ebell invented by a chicago man and through some unaccountable error the shell exploded in the gun wrecking the monster and its carriage and throwing bome of the pieces more than a mile down the potomac col oneill the ceef ol 01 ordnance oi the navy and several united states naval officers of and naval attaches from the various foreign legations bad taken ref use on a navy yard tug mile from shore lien anderson who had been directed to fire the gun by electricity when the signal was given from the tug bad gone behind a high earthworks or but about yards from the gun he and the other spectators were unhurt though a massive piece of the gun weighing mony tone flew through the air with frightful velocity and struck the water within hundred feet of the tug if the spectators bad gone into the bombproof as they usually do when lucli tests are made they would all have been killed for a big piece of steel struck it and ripped through the twelve inch armour M though it bad absen sy much paper A great bole was torn in the ground gun ethod and the buildings at the proving grounds were badly shaken not a particle of the massive gun or its cartridges remained since last september the ordinance experts of the navy have from time to time been making testa of this gun cotton shell A dozen or mere blank shells have been fired during the winter generally with great success and the officers were confident that when the final test was made the shell would leave the gun safely and carry its loaa of explosives far down the river the virtue of this shell was that it was expected safely to carry a charge of gun cotton large enough to wreck a battleship or a fortress for a distance of from six to ten miles according to the power charge by an ingenious arrangement ran gement in the point of the shell a vial of fulminate ot mercury was ex peeler to explode the pun cotton up to this time no successful shell of this kind k baa been invented and if the shell had been successful it would have revolutionized and warfare those who saw and heard the explosion from the tun feay it was something terrific first there was a rambling of the earth and then the full clap 0 the awful explosion broke A thick smoke covered the gun and in an instant an enormous piece of steel came eurick aur ah e air and snuck the water the spray in every direction when the men looked 8 11 creat hole where the run uada the smoke floating anay in beai he ai for several minutes the sound of the explosion reverberated the hill this was the largest chahye of run cotton ever fired or attempted to be fired from a powder gun the government paid about far the gun blown up and it was built especially for these teate A shell abot tro abic gun wae expected to perforate 21 inches of deteel at a distance of 1500 yards and to travel from 6 to 10 miles before loisine its momentum |