The small arm of the previous period, the old “Brown Bess,” used in the
British army for 150 years, was a muzzle-loading, flint-lock musket of
the crudest make. The only important improvement made in it during that
long term of service was the substitution of the percussion cap for the
flint lock. This took place in the last period of its use. A
breech-loading rifle was also invented about this time. This was the
“Needle Gun,” of which 60,000 were issued to the Prussian army in 1841,
and which was first used in 1848, in the German war with Denmark.
The Colt pistol had appeared before this date. The idea of it grew in
the mind of young Colt when he left his father’s silk mill and shipped
as a boy sailor in the ship “Carlo,” bound from Boston to Calcutta.
While on this voyage the conception of a revolving pistol came to him,
and he whittled out a rude model of one with a penknife from a piece of
wood.
[Illustration: SINGLE ACTION ARMY AND FRONTIER REVOLVER--THE “COWBOY’S
FRIEND”]
[Illustration: THE ORIGINAL PATTERSON MODEL, 1836]
[Illustration: OLD MODEL “POWDER AND BALL” REVOLVER USED IN MEXICAN AND
CIVIL WARS]
[Illustration: GUN MOUNTED ON LANDING CARRIAGE WITH SHAFT ATTACHMENT]
When he returned he sought in vain to interest his father and others in
his idea of a pistol with a revolving cylinder containing six chambers
to be discharged through a single barrel. This boyish notion won no
converts, and at the age of eighteen he went on a lecture tour on
chemistry, under the dignified title of Dr. Coult. These lectures met
with success, and he used the money made by them in developing his
pistol, which was in a shape to patent by 1835. Patents were taken out
by him in this and the following year in the United States, Britain and
France, and in 1836 he established the “Patent Arms Company” at
Paterson, N. J., with a paid-in capital stock of about $150,000. This
was a bold move by the young inventor, then just escaped from boyhood.
[Illustration: PACK SADDLE FOR CARRYING AUTOMATIC MACHINE GUN AND
COMPLETE EQUIPMENT]
[Illustration: AUTOMATIC MACHINE GUN MOUNTED ON LIGHT LANDING CARRIAGE,
AMMUNITION CHESTS OPEN, SHOWING HOW FEED BOXES, ETC., ARE CARRIED]
Young Colt tried in vain to interest government officials in his new
weapon, their principal objection being that he used in it the new
percussion caps instead of the time-honored flint-lock. But success came
during the Seminole War of 1837, when some of the officers, who had seen
the new revolving pistol, decided to give it a trial and sent to the
factory for a supply.
Its value was soon proved. The Indians looked on this weapon that could
be fired six times after one loading, as something magical. It was too
much for their philosophy and the war soon came to an end. At a later
date it was used by the Texans in their war against Mexico, and from
that time on every Texas ranger wanted a revolver. It has ever since
been the favorite weapon of the cowboy and frontiersman.
[Illustration: AUTOMATIC PISTOL--GOVERNMENT MODEL, CALIBER .45
In this model the slide remains open after firing the last cartridge.
When reloading the arm in this position, insert the magazine, then press
downward the slide stop (to the rear of the trigger as illustrated). The
slide goes forward, inserting a cartridge without any movement of the
slide by hand. The slide stop is operated by the thumb of the hand
holding the pistol.]
[Illustration: POLICE-POSITIVE REVOLVER
Adopted by the Police Departments of the principal cities of the United
States and Canada.]
[Illustration: AUTOMATIC PISTOL--POCKET MODEL, HAMMERLESS
The action of this pistol is automatic except that the trigger must be
pulled to fire each shot; continued discharge will not result from one
pull of the trigger.]
But wars ran out, the market closed, and the “Patent Arms Company”
failed. What put Colt on his feet again was the Mexican war a few years
later. General Taylor offered Colt a contract for one thousand revolvers
at $24 each, and though the young inventor was looked upon as a ruined
man he took the contract, got together the necessary capital, and built
a factory on the Connecticut at Hartford. From that time on there was no
want of a market. The “Forty-Niners” took revolvers to California,
foreign governments sent orders for them, and armories were built in
England and in Russia for their manufacture. Colt died in 1862, but the
Civil War had previously opened a great market for his pistols, and
before the conflict ended the Colt factory at Hartford was in a highly
flourishing state. In the following years the revolver became a prime
necessity in dealing with the Indians of the West, and a school-book
statement of that date was to the effect that: “The greatest civilizer
of modern times is the Colt revolver.” Another writer, speaking of the
“Peacemaker,” an effective weapon produced after 1870, said: “It has the
simplicity, durability, and beauty of a monkey-wrench.”
[Illustration: AUTOMATIC MACHINE GUN MOUNTED ON TRIPOD, SHOWING BELT
PASSING OUT (RIGHT SIDE)]
Machine Guns.
The revolving idea was applied to guns about 1861 by Richard J. Gatling,
the first Gatling guns fitted for use with metalling ammunition being
produced by the Colt Company in 1870. These guns had ten barrels
revolving around a central shaft and in their developed form were
capable of being fired at the rate of one thousand shots a minute. The
first of these to be used prominently in warfare was the French
mitrailleuse, used by France in the war of 1870-71. The Gatling soon
made its way widely, and its rapidity of fire became a proverb. If
anything moved quickly it was said to “go like a Gatling” or “sound like
a Gatling.”
[Illustration: AUTOMATIC GUN MOUNTED ON AUTOMOBILE]
Other guns of this type are the Hotchkiss, the Nordenfeldt and the
Gardner, and a more recent one is the Maxim, which, after the first shot
is fired by hand power, continues to fire shot after shot by means of
the power derived from the explosion of each successive cartridge. In
the early form of the revolver the empty cartridge cases had to be
ejected from the cylinder singly by an ejector rod or handy nail. In
1898 a new type was introduced with a lateral swinging cylinder which
permitted the simultaneous ejection of all the empty shells.
Near the time of the Spanish-American War appeared what is known as the
Colt automatic gun, operated by the action of the powder gases on a
piston and lever near the muzzle of the barrel. This could be fired at
the rate of 400 to 500 shots a minute, and by reason of its light weight
could be very easily carried. The British used it effectively in the
Boer War.
Today the Colt Company manufacture revolvers in which the simultaneous
ejection of the cartridge-cases and recharging of the chambers is
combined with a strong, jointless frame; automatic magazine pistols in
which the pressure of the powder gases, as above said, is utilized after
giving the proper velocity to the projectile, it requiring only a
slight continued pressure on the trigger for each shot; automatic
machine guns firing at will single shots or volleys while requiring only
a slight pull upon the trigger; and the improved manually-operated
Gatling gun firing the improved modern ammunition. The cartridges are
carried on a tape which feeds them with the necessary rapidity into the
barrel.
What would be the history of the European War without the machine gun is
not easy to state, but as a highly efficient weapon of war its quality
has been abundantly proved.
* * * * *
How does the Poisonous Tarantula Live?
When the National Guardsmen from all over the Union were concentrated
along the Mexican border, many reports were sent home of thrilling
experiences with tarantulas, to whose bite the natives of Mexico, Italy
and many other warmer countries have ascribed a disease called
“tarantism.” The Italian peasants believe that this disease can only be
cured by a certain kind of music.
The tarantula, like many other members of the spider family, is an
expert in the making of burrows. Its burrows are artfully planned. At
first there is a sheer descent four or five inches in depth, but at that
distance below the surface the tunnel turns aside before dipping
straight down again to its termination. It is at the angle or elbow of
the tunnel that the tarantula watches for the approach of enemies or
prey, like a vigilant sentinel, never for a moment off its guard, lying
hidden during the day, if nothing disturbs it, and coming out at
nightfall to seek its prey.
Unlike most other spiders, it hunts its game without the aid of webs or
snares. It does, however, possess the ability to spin the silk which we
have all seen other spiders make, for, in digging its hole, it makes
neat little packages of the dirt it has scraped up, bound together with
silk and slime from its mouth, and flips them to one side out of the
way. When it comes to hunting, it makes sure that it can pounce on its
prey, by building the entrance of its hole about two inches in diameter
and up from the surface an inch or so, so that it can spread its legs
for the leap.
How do the Indians Live Now?
The Indians of the United States are now largely gathered into
reservations and their former dress, arms and habits are being gradually
changed for those of the whites. Civilization is invading their homes
and driving out their older characteristics. This is especially the case
with the large numbers now dwelling in the former Indian Territory, now
Oklahoma, although those confined in the reservations of Arizona, New
Mexico and Montana are clinging more to their old modes, as is shown in
the accompanying illustrations.
In ancient times the body was covered with furs and skins according to
the seasons, but now the white man’s clothes and blanket have generally
superseded the native dress; though the moccasin of deer or moose hide,
and, in the wilder tribes, the ornamental leggings and head-dresses are
still retained. Their dwellings are made of bark, skins and mattings of
their own making, stretched on poles fixed in the ground. The arms of
the wilder tribes consist of the bow and arrow, the spear, tomahawk and
club, to which have been added the gun and knife of the whites. Canoes
are made of logs hollowed out, or of birch bark stretched over a light
frame, skilfully fastened with deers’ sinews and rendered water-tight by
pitch.
[Illustration: MORE PICTURESQUE THAN BEAUTIFUL
The Apaches, formerly one of the most powerful and warlike of the Indian
tribes, are now confined to reservations in Arizona and New Mexico.]
[Illustration: A PICTURESQUE CAMP