Unfortunately for the plot of this adventure, the use of a tuning fork as a weapon depicted here is not feasible. First of all, using sound to destroy a structure and everything in it requires knowledge of that building's resonance frequency and each item inside. The fork depicted was of a solid piece, therefore capable of emitting a single note. This means that the maker of the fork would have to have known the resonance frequency beforehand and manufactured the appropriately tuned device. A corollary to this is that a new fork would have to be made for each building destroyed. Second, the sound waves produced by each tine of the fork are 180° out of phase with each other, meaning that the further from the vibrating end of the fork you get, the fainter and less energetic the sound (for the same reason, Artie's demonstration for the skeptical general Caswell would not have been possible from across the train car). Amplifying a tuning fork's sound is done by resonance at the base, not the tip. Third, the larger the fork, the lower the pitch. A giant tuning fork could not emit the high-pitched tones depicted. It's possible that such a large fork could produce sounds in the range below the level of normal hearing (i.e., below 20 Hz), waves which are known to have unusual effects on the human body and senses, formal studies of subsonic vibrations and their effects did not begin until the 1960s. Finally, the demonstration in the closing scene is completely impossible as each shattered item has a different critical frequency.
When West is attacked in the Arcade Warehouse, the tight black pants of one of the thugs rip straight up the rear, revealing his white underwear.
Penny scales were manufactured starting in the late 1880's. In 1903 they could speak your weight by finding the right track on a phonograph record.
Artie, as gas inspector, says he is not Little Lord Fauntleroy. The serialized novel "Little Lord Fauntleroy" was first published in 1885.
Towards the end when Arte is in disguise as the gas inspector it appears to be a different actor. Ross Martin appears as Arte in disguise after the fight scene when he leaves with Jim West.