Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 March 1886 — A WONDERFUL GUN. [ARTICLE]

A WONDERFUL GUN.

Tests of a New Piece of Ordnance That Is Expected to Throw a Ball Fifteen Miles. [Kalamazoo (Mich.) speciaL] . A remarkable gun, one that renders armor-plated ships of about- as little protection as wood, has just been tested here. The first trial was made with the smallest gun, which burst. The second trial, with a 55-caliber gun, was more successful, sending a 24-inch steel ball through a solid steel plate! 3-16 inches thick, imbedding the ball eighteen tnehes in very hard wood. In third trial a 74-inch ball was used, and the target, composed of fourteen thicknesses o£ boiler plate, 64 inches, firmly attached to an oak log, was perforated, the ball penetrating the log a distance, of four feet, the passage through the jron and steel being perfectly smooth. There is but slight recoil. In this powerful gun the powder is so well used that the entire power is concentrated on the projectile. Two pounds of powder were used in the heaviest test. The inventor claims this gun will send a ball fifteen miles. j -•- j, Georgia can beat Kansas on sheep stories, and tells of fifteen sheep looked together by oockle burrs. » — Lord Salisbury lias declined a dukedom. . THE cable cars in Kansas City cany weather signals.