INFERNAL MACHINES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1801, 22 January 1884, Page 4

INFERNAL MACHINES.

The most powerful infernal machine made is what is known as the eight-day machine." Like the "ticker' it can, however, be set from one minute upward. A machine of this description recently made in Philadelphia was fourteen inches hijfli, siv inches square, and cont.iincd the equivalent of threes thousand pounds of gunpowder. It can, however, have either a siju ire or spherical slnpe. Ibis made, of gahanisud iion or stout tin. Tne. clock movement is so arranged that it can be taken out and away ftom the machine and connected again at a moment's notice. The opeuitor, if lie desires to divert suspicion, carries the empty cm in his hand and the clock movement in his coat tail pocket. The explosion is caused by detonation. A sliding door of brass, drawn by a screw attached to the movement, when it anives at the slot in the small brass disc, springs upon a delicate glass vial made of a hair tube. The vial which contains a powerful acid, and is hermetically sealed, in breaking allows the acid to escape, This causes the detonation, and the explosion follows. The wire on the top of the movement, which is held in place by a rubber band, connects w ith the cap. The acid inns into a chlorate of potash combination. This machine can be sunk in water or secreted in any liquid or compound — in a box of oranges, a keg of nails, or a loaf of bred, The force of the explosion would be sufficient to tear the laigest building in the woild to atoms. If placed in the basement of the capitol at Washington and set off not one stone would be left standing upon another. A most peculiarly-constructed ond deadly machine is '" the little exterminator." It is two inches high and four inches square, of thin sheet brass, nicklc on the inside aud outside, and has no hd, only a minute hole in one corner. Tlio machine is filled with a volatile, the fumes of which cause instantenous death. The pnnciple is the same as that of the ancient Chinese " stink pot" used by them so effectively in warfare with pnatc-.. A tinn hi ass tube runs in through j the small hole in the corner having upon its outer end a screw cap. Upon the cap is a dclccate watch movement. A spiing fall*> in to a slot and ideates a minute steelspiing saw, which is operated by the movement and saw* oft the delicate tube. Tins establishes diicct communication with the oxygen ot the air, which ignites the volatile. The most sickening perfumes pour out fiom the box-, killing oveiypeisou within a radus of 100 ft. The sensation of this volatile is like that I omse<l by cayenne pepper. Theieis an 1 intense burning in the month, eais, sind j eyes, (i in 1 aiound the head. R'&piration is snatched away as if by a puff of hot air. Expeiiinents have i)een made upon cats. They died m less than thice sec nd« Theie is a large cla=s of infernal machines know r .is " bottle machines." The mo-t oidhiuy are closed in pint beei bottle-*, which can be conveniently can led in the coat pocket. The nock of thij buttle is heini.;ticaUy scaled witli a lubbci oik, thioiiL'h which uuisabiass tube dnided into two puts by a thin metillie disc, u-uallv made ot btass. The top compai tment of tlic tube is shut oft fiom tne an bv means of a screw cap, tlnough which, in tuin, lim-s a key. Also contained in the. upper eompai tment is a .small vial ot powoiful acid. By tinning the key the \1 il is bioken and the acid tailing upon the disc eats into the powder, which is packed closely. The time of explosion depends upon the thickness of the disc The acid, the instant it comes in contact with the powder, explodes it. A huge number of these machines wcie m.xdo tor the Nihilists, to be used at the coionation of the C/ar. The newest invention, and one winch has met with much fax our at St. Petei&burg, is what is <a\led the "hat eKplodcr." Two exceedingly thin circular discs of sheet bi ass, h.ning a layer of powder an inch thick, aic soldered and nvited heimctically together, and sewn in the top of an oulm.uy hat. The entire weight of the machine, although it contains the equivalent of SOlbs of powder, is only lG)/s. The hat is waved or tlnown iij) into the air. Falling, it explodes. The de\ice looks for all the woild like two pancakes stuck together. A gieat many hand grenades are made in Is'ew Yoik. They are hollow bills of iron, tlnough ■which nuis a tube, surmounted by a button. The button is lead. The gienade falls by force of giaxity upon the side on which is the heavy lead button. The button is picsscd, breaks a vial of acid, and the acid cau-.es the explosion. A grenade three md a- half inches in diameter contains the equivalent of one hundred pounds of powder. The eight-day machine has been made to contain Gieek fire whicn is set off by the clockwork, burning down the building in which it is placed, In this instance there is no explosion. It is wonderful to what extremes of ingenuity the inventors of infeinal machines have gone. Machines ha\e been, and aie being, made in the shape of chunks of coal. They explode when thrown on the firo. One inanufactuiei has made a no\el machine in the shape of a satchel. The handle connects with a vial inside, or with a spring falling into a slot. Lifting the satchel or touching the handle explodes it. Not long ago, in New York, a machine of the pancake pattern was so constructed as to be made into shoe soles. Walking on the soles for some time causes them to explode, and woe be unto the unfoitunate possessor. The demand for infernal machines increases constantly, and from the most unexpected quaiteis.

Cos'NEOTrorT has been the scene of ninety-seven murders and only sevea hangings, in the last twenty years. At Mattoon, Illinois, David Woods and Ins te.un were attacked by a swarm ot honey bees and stung to death. A KiiLTtOAD now under construction in North Caiohna is to be operated by coloured people. It is called the Wiinington, Wnght&ville, and Onslow road. A Dur.t, ix the Aik.— Few balloon voyages can compare, for exciting and perilous incidents, with one which was peifonnetl at the time of the siege of Paris by the well-known M. Nader. That gentleman left Tours for Paris with Government despatches at six in the morning. At eleven he was within view of the capital, and, while floating about three thousand metres above Port Chareuton, a second balloon was observed on the lioiizon. M. Nader afc once displayed the Fiench flag, and the other balloon lesponded by exhibiting the same colours. Gradually the two balloons approached one another, being drawn in the same direction by the same current of air. When they were separated by only a short distance several explosions were heard. The strange aeronaut continued to fire shots at M. Nadar's balloon, the " Intrdpide, " which began to descend rapidly. The French flag had by this time been taken in by the other balloon, and the Prussian colours were exhibited instead. Those who were watching the affair from the Fiench lines below, and who now baw the character and object of the pursuer, cried out that Nadar was lost. But they were mistaken. He had scrambled from the car up the network of the balloon, on the first shot from the enemy, apparently to stot a hole made in the tissue ; and he now descended as the balloon righted itself, and, on a quantity of ballast being thrown out, again rose high into the air. Shots were then fired in rapid succession from the Intre'pide into the Prussian balloon, which suddenly eank to the earth with headlong rapidity. Ou reaching the ground a detachment of Uhlans, who had wathed the combat from the plain, picked up the jeronaut, and rode off to the Prussian outposts. M. Nader then descended in safety At Charenton. — Cassell's Illustrated History of the Franoo-GerwfW War,