They had been made from batteries, alarm clocks and gelignite, a gelatin dynamite or "safe" explosive favored by British safecrackers.
But not a single gun was fired; since the few ancient artillery pieces in Apia were unsafe, police simulated the salute by exploding 19 charges of gelignite buried in the sand.
Though the two, Francis McGirl, 24, and Thomas McMahon, 31, are pleading innocent, detectives testified that they had traces of gelignite explosive material, sand and paint from .