Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 July 1881 — The Growth of the Gun. [ARTICLE]

The Growth of the Gun.

Hunting for game was practiced with bow and arrow only, until in the sixteenth century the Spaniards contrived the arquebus or matchlock. Here the match was fitted to a “serpentin” or cock, hung upon a pivot, and brought into contact with the priming by a working substantially the same as that of the modern hammer and trigger. This was further improved by the German invention of a steel wheel with serrated edge, fitted to a spring, and made to revolve rapidly, the edge coming in contact with a piece of pyrites, and, by this friction, producing the sparks to ignite the priming. The use of the wheel-lock for sporting purposes was very general in the middle of the sixteenth century, and for a long time it was not improved upon. But necessity is the 'mother of invention. A band of Dutch chicken-stealers or of Spanish marauders—it is disputed which—being too poor to provide themselves with the hign-priced wheellock, and afraid to use the matchlock because its light revealed their whereabouts to the minions of the law, abstained from their evil practices long enough to devise a weapon better adapted to the needs of roost-robbers. The result was the flintlock, and the pothunting fraternity scored a long creditmark. The flintlock reached its perfection in the hands of “ that king of gunmakers,” Joseph Manton, in the early part of the present century, and it gave way only to a worthy superior in the modern gun exploded by percussion. The discovery of fulminating powders and their application to gunnery mark a moat important epoch in the manufacture and employment of firearms. The charge in the gun was at first placed above the fulminating powder, which was ignited by the concussion of an iron plunger struck by a cock. Then this plunger was dispensed with, and the iulminate was simply placed in the flash-pan. The successive steps are familiar to almost all gunners; the priming was placed between two bits of paper, and called percussion pellets; the fulminate was affixed to the breech by the newly-invented cartridge, and fired by a penetrating needle; then came the copper cap, and then the culminating improvement of the cartridge containing both the charge and the priming, and ignited at first by the pin, and afterward rim fire and central fire principle.— Forest and Stream

[From the Battle Creek (Mich.) Dally Journal.] Upon being spoken to concerning St. Jacobs Oil, our fellow townsman, Mr. Theodore Wakelee, said: I had been suffering with rheumatism, and obtained the greatest relief from the use of St. Jacobs Oil. It has also been used in my family for some time, and has never been found to fail in giving prompt relief. One day about a year ago, a medium sized gentleman, with a sharp, intelligent eye, was standing about 8 o’clock in the evening, on the side of the Bowery. A policeman came along. The gentleman asked the officer what the crowd was doing there, and the latter replied gruffly: “I don’t know. It’s none of your business, anyhow. Move on. ” “I asked you a civil question,” said the other, quietly. “I don’t give a ,” retorted the officer. “You move on.” “I won’t,” persisted the man firmly. “Well, I’ll take you in,” announced the cop, and he did. About a block from the station house, the two met the sergeant, who saluted the arrested man politely, while the cop looked on in astonishment. The sergeant asked, what the trouble was. “He was disorderly and I arrested him,” returned the officer averting his face as he spoke. “You infernal fool!” exclaimed the sergeant, “don’t you know who that is ?” “No,” said the officer, faintly. “It’s Commissioner Sid Nichols.” The cop fainted dead away. The joke was so rich that, after giving the fellow a good scare, “Sid” let up. But you can rely on it, he won’t commit the mistake of arresting a Police Commissioner again. -•■New York Star. [From the South Bend Evening Register.) When certain powers are claimed for an article, and everybody testifies that it does more than is claimed for it, to gainsay its worth is useless. This is the substance of the St. Jacobs Oil record.