The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1921-07-21
SOME OLD GUN

Through the favor OF our friend,
Seth Johnson, of Mt. Morris, we have
come into possession of an old flint
lock fowling piece, or as it is now
better known, shot gun. We have
long wanted to get hold of a flint
lock and this comes pretty nigh salts
flying our aspiration, except that,
unfortunately, the gun has been
somewhat modernized. The old fash
ion pan that held the powder has been
removed and the gun changed into
pill tirer, that is to say, instead
of the flint striking spark into the
pan and thus discharging the gun,
steel point has been inserted into
the hammer and arranged to set off
percussion pill which in turn dis.
charged the gun. The pill gun fol-
lowed the flint lock and perhaps
slightly antedated the use of the per-
cussion cap. The latter has for quite
a good many years been rendered
obsolete by the "breech loader" and
now there are many of the younger
generation who never saw a percus-
sion cap, to say nothing of a flint
lock gun, and yet the Revolutionary
War was fought with flint lock mus
kets and the Civil War with percus-
sion cap muskets, some of the latter,
particularly those which at first were
bought abroad, having been rebuilt
from flint locks. The old gun which
Mr.. johnson gave us is in a remark
able state of preservation. having the
old hammer that held the flint and
being in the exact shape as when
new with the single exception of the
fc in ut
least one hundred. years old and pos
sibly considerably older. Then, too,
it came into the possession of the
owner had it, although they owned
London, England, by gunsmith
Whatley and bears stamped upon the
barrel the imperial crown. But if
we are not mistaken, there is still
more interesting history connected
with the old gun. Burned into the
stock in large, plain letters are the
letters G ID and what is known his
torically>as a broad arrow. Now the
board arrow was the peculiar in
sigma of the convict or penal depart
ment of the British government, par
ticularly designating that branch of
it which had to do with the transpor-
tation Of cOnvicts to the penal settle
ments in Australia and elsewhere in
the British colonies. 1t may be re-
membered that the last survivor of
the old prison ships, her sails bear
ing the board arrows designating her
use, her quarters heaped with the
shackles that were once attached to
her human cargo, has been shown
within recent years at many of the
ports Of the United States. Now,
then. in our mind, the letter c on
the stock of the old gun stands for
convict, the /. and ID for something
else and the board arrow plainly in
dicates that it was issued by the
British government for use in connec-
ton with the deportation of GRIMM
ais to the penal settlements. AS it
is fowling piece, it is not likely
that it was used by guards. 1t is
more likely that it was issued to
officers for the killing of game when
ashore, or possibly was issued to the
convicts when they were marooned
upon some wild and unknown coast
in order that they might provide
themselves with living. A whole
field Of interesting speculation is
opened up to the imaginative mind
by this old gun. Some of those con-
victs became progenitors of the aris-
tocracy of the present day, in the
countries where they were sent; some
of their sons bear titles perhaps, and
Hold Onw says George Lacure,
who has been looking our copy over,
wake Up! Come out of it! We
gotta get this paper out on Thurs
day. You can't write complete
history of Europe, Drip and Trip, and
besides, everybody amt nut on old
relics, like you are"