This Remarkable
Piece Of Ordnance, Constructed By An American Named Labram By The
Help Of Tools Manufactured For The Purpose And Of Books Found In
The Town, Took The Shape Eventually Of A 28 Lb.
Rifled gun, which
proved to be a most efficient piece of artillery.
With grim humour,
Mr. Rhodes's compliments had been inscribed upon the shells - a fair
retort in view of the openly expressed threat of the enemy that in
case of his capture they would carry him in a cage to Pretoria.
The Boers, though held off for a time by this unexpected piece of
ordnance, prepared a terrible answer to it. On February 7th an
enormous gun, throwing a 96 lb. shell, opened from Kamfersdam,
which is four miles from the centre of the town. The shells,
following the evil precedent of the Germans in 1870, were fired not
at the forts, but into the thickly populated city. Day and night
these huge missiles exploded, shattering the houses and
occasionally killing or maiming the occupants. Some thousands of
the women and children were conveyed down the mines, where, in the
electric-lighted tunnels, they lay in comfort and safety. One
surprising revenge the Boers had, for by an extraordinary chance
one of the few men killed by their gun was the ingenious Labram who
had constructed the 28-pounder. By an even more singular chance,
Leon, who was responsible for bringing the big Boer gun, was struck
immediately afterwards by a long-range rifle-shot from the
garrison.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 350 of 842
Words from 93587 to 93840
of 225456
