The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-08-07
SCARED TO DEATH
Gunmaker Wesson Was Fright
ened Into His Grave.
He Received a Black Hand'' Let
ter Last Fall.
THREAT OF DYNAMITE.
Believed That His Home Would
Be Blown Up.
Feared That Men We're After
His 100000
THREAT OF DYNAMITE

Springfield, Mass. Aug. Daniel
Baird Wesson, the aged gunmaker who
died Saturday, accumulated upward of
$50, 00o. 600 during q long lifetime. This
wealth was the cause of his death. It
became known today that the principal
member of the firm of Smith & Wesson,
revolver manufacturers. was on the
verge of a nervous breakdown for sew
eraI months after the receipt last fall of
Black Hand" letters threatening to
blow up his home with dynamite
Mr.. Wesson's family laughed at his
fears, but the aged millionaire could not
be relieved of anxiety. The fear that
men were after him for his money and
that at any moment he might be blown
to atoms clouded the last months Of his
life. He was literally frightened into
the grave.
Mr.. Wesson lived a quiet life here. 1t
was the uneventfuI life of a home-loving
man whose chief passions are his work
and his family. He took almost no ac-
tive CART in the affairs of the city.
/ But his modesty and diffidence did not
! indicate a weak personality. On the con-
trary Mr. Wessons s nature was a strong
one, and in his younger days his likes
| and dislikes were so emphatic
/ that they often made him unrea-
n
! his pet aversion, and he would not EN-
| plOy one in his shops or in his home. The
/ application blanks which employees we're
| requested to Ill contained the question,
Are you q Roman Catholic?" and an
! answer in the affirmative was consider
/ ed sufficient reason to bar the applicant
from employment in the Smith & Wes-
son shops.
But Mr Wesson broadened in his
/ sympathfes. and one day in a newspa-
/ statement that "the present mayor of
/ Springfield is the best mayor the city
/ has ever had. and as the mayor hap
pened TO be William P Hayes, a young
Irish lawyer and a Roman Catholic,
all hopes of Mr.. Wesson supporting the
"A. P. A" rapidly vanished. Since
that time the servants employed in his
household have been of every nation
aiity and religion.
Defeats Labor Movement.
Mr.. Wesson's strong hand in control
of his factory once turned a labor
struggle into laughable fasco and
/ administered a stunning blow to the
labor union movement in the city. At
the time Springfield had more labor
unions for its size than any other city
/ in Massachusetts and when labor said
1t was going to unionize the Smith &
/ W esson factory 1t seemed as if no
force was strong enough to prevent
that thing being brought about.
But Mr. Wesson had not been
gauged correctly. 'sThe Smith & Wes-
son factory has never employed a
union man and it will never be union
lied" said Mr.. Wesson grimly. Il Will
discontinue the business first
Nevertheless. enthusiatci prepara-
tions were made to form the union and
q charter was sent for. Then for the
first time in fifty years the Smith &
! W esson revolver factory closed down
for purposes of organization." No
tices were posted to the effect that 1t
| would reopen as soon as a. large num-
Der of It's employees expressed a desire
to return to work, but said employees
| must have no sympthy with the move
ment to unfonize the factory.
The employees knew that Mr.. Wesson
| meant exactly what he said and they
became panic stricken Consequently,
| the morning after the lockout three
| quarters of the men fiocked into the Of
| fee to apply for their old places. The
| trade union had lived just one week
How He Became Gunlnaker.
It was only because of his strong will
that D. B. Wesson did not become a
cobbler instead of gunmaker- His
father wasa cobb1er and he was de-
termined that Daniel also should peg
shoes for a living. But the boy had diff
ferent IDEAS and he was forever rigging
up some sort of gun. He risked his life
firing off pewter nodded barrels attach
ed to a whitfield butt, and he begged tc
be allowed TO learn the trade of his
DIOt46T VINO WAS S4HSIIiLn at NOfJ1-
bore But Daniel had been putting the
backs Of shoes on upside down and 9TH
erwise doing poor work to show his
distaste for the cobbIer business, and
his father said that q man who could
not learn to make good shoes certainly
could not learn to make good guns and
| refused to let him go to North boro.
Then Daniel set resolutely to work tC
save all his money, and when he was X
years old bought all his time from his
father for S15O-that was all his father
said the boys services for three years
were worth-and began to work II
Northboro as 4 gunsmith- The parts o1
a gun were given to him and he was
told to put them together, and so wei
did he do this that the first gun was
bought a few hours after it was made
| This established him as gunmaker.
Devoted to His Family
1t was to his family that Mr.. Wesso1
turned for his chief pleasure. He wa.
devoted to them all. children, grand
children. great grandchildren, cousins
nieees. nephews and even SECOND
| their interests and ready to bear theil
burdens. As in most large families
there have been skeletons IN the closet
and he sacrificed a great deal to keel
! the public from hearing the rattle o
He viii stand by his family
through thick and thin" said a mem
Der of it recently, and sometimes they
impose On hiTn, and that hurts hin
deeply He wanted his immediate
family around him and ever had opeT
arms for the babies. for he loved chill
dren dearly.
His wife had been his constant com
pani0n and until her health failed he
she accompanied him on all his busi
ness trips. even II he were TO be gon1
| only two DAYS. Their marriage wa.
romantic, for they practically eloped
In q fVso-wheeIed chaise they wen
driving one day in Northboro, which
was her home. and suddenly decided
/ 10 go 10 the minister's and get mar