| Show GUN SEVEN FEET LONG WEIGHS 32 POUNDS GARDNER Me Saturday Ben Ben Bycraft Bycraft By- By craft craf of Gardner one of ot the signalmen who install block signals on the Boston and Maine railroad is the proud owner of ot otan an unusual gun It I is seven feet long bong and weighs two thirty-two pounds According to family tradition this gun was made by a famous English gunsmith during the martial martal activity preceding Marlborough's campaign that so successfully successfully success success- fully tuly culminated at Blenheim BenheIm at which battle batte it took a prominent part pat Later it I was wa with wih Wolfe Vole at Quebec and traveled down into the states to speak its is piece Inthe in inthe inthe the early part of ot the te revolution The gunsmiths gunsmith's 8 mark is now considerably dimmed by age but appears to be two crowns crows about abut an ich fh apart on the lower end of ot the barrel and below each crown is a a pair of ot keys crossed Ben says that they took the gun into the family tamly homestead at Swanton Vt about a century ago and ad hung it I up on the wall in the hall ball hal as the barrel was so BO BOlong long that they couldn't get got it into any of ot the other othe roms rooms There Ther it hung until a a. afew I few tew months ago when Ben wanted to told bring l some o the of gun rh the down fellows to s Gardner down there He about had i ithe the gun and they tey wouldn't believe bleve him So S one day he went back bak up to Swanton and brought the gun for the satisfaction an of ot the crowd that quickly gathered gathered the ia-the inthe hotel hoel office filled tied with admiration and wonder at this mammoth of ot the gunsmiths gunsmith's gunsmiths gunsmith's gun gun- smiths smith's art what wha I call cal a a long gun said one admirer Three rhee feet shorter than It was yesterday yesterday yeter- yeter yester yester- day said Ben Come on now how do you make mae that out Well Wen you see Swanton was wa a little littletown littletown town tow one hundred years ago when my folks got the gun gu in the side door and ad hung it I up in the hall hl But Bt Swanton's grown up O then h and when I went g back u up home O ome the h other e day I found the house next door had ha been built bult up so close that the th gun wouldn't come out the thedoor thedoor thedoor cose door and I had ha to get the saw and cut three feet off ott the end of ot it Its It's Is I's only seven feet teet long now and you can ca see the saw marks there at the end of ot the barrel You see its it's Is I's so long now nw that its it's Is I's a bother to carry around but Its It's Is I's nothing to what it I used to beI beI beI be I only got it to show you fellows that I wasn't lying but I thought Id I'd Id never get It i down dow here First thing thIn happened happen d when I was wa taking n it to the railroad station Some one l et lf yelled yelle to me from the e house and I turned r round roud kinder sudden Knocked down dow three children and a policeman with that gun gnand and most got gt arrested Then I couldn't get into the smoker with wih the thing so I had to sit in the h baggage car the whole trip with a dry l pipe l eaga in a my mouth ul Bens Ben's grim features never once relaxed not even when the man behind the desk smiled and when asked what kind of ot a agun agun agun gun It was wa-s. wa he continued They say that its it's the grandson of a cannon but I dont don't know much about it My folks brought it over from England when the boats got long enough and they say its it's been in a lot of wars but I Icat cant can't cat swear to that Did you ever know of any one oe firing fring that gun Bud Lee fired It once at a turkey shoot up in East Est FaIrfield said BenThe BenThe BenThe Ben The turkey was thirty or forty rods off ott but when the crowd had picked Itself Iselt up after the gun went off ot nobody bothered to look for the bird v What happened to Lee asked aked a a. man who was trying tIng to lift the te gun to his shoulder Oh Bud died said Ben you You never shot that gun yourself did dd Yes once There was wa nineteen Inches of powder and shot in i the barrel that had been there some three years year and my brother and I wanted to get It out out We thought the easiest way would be to fire the thing off of Mother said she didn't think wed we'd better but we did my brother and I. I We took the gun out into the back pasture and tied ted it I to the corner atthe of at the rail rai fence tence Then we chained her down dow tight with wih a big heavy heay ox chain and ad tied a long string to the trigger My brother and I got as far away as w we could shut our eyes and yanked the string The air was ws full ful of ot flying dying fence rails for fifteen minutes and it was so rais dark that the chickens bagan to go to roost rost We never found that chain The gun was out in the woods wood back of the hay barn bar with wih its is nose tucked tucke three feet deep in the dirt and it took my brother and me three days and a half halt to build that fence up again You dont don't want to sell sel that gun do you asked a stranger A fellow offered me for tor that gun once and I told him he hadn't money enough in his family to buy that gun away from me He wanted to take It down to a museum in Boston but I was wasa wasa if he got it down a little afraid that i once a there some one would get to lying about it I. I You haven't got any more big guns gns up there In Vermont have you Well Wall no I dont don't know of ot any just now But its it's is a big place Everything is Just naturally big up there in that part of ot Vermont Now theres there's hogs they have some mighty big hos hogs up there When I Iwas Iwas Iwas was back this last time time I saw a hog that was too big to go in the scalding kettle finally had to build a fire around so they the mill pond and put him in there That mi must have been a big hog said tb the stranger a Big hog said Ben Sixty live feet r without f counting the screw In his long bong con tall ThIngs grow fast tast up there too continued tal inu Den Ben n nu gow I knew a fellow who a cucumber vIne one mornIng planted if I told wouldn't believe m me i and you u you ou how fast tast that vine grew Fast Grew t fast That ht td did fellow ll it chased the end of ot that vine T on horseback for tor three miles mies and a half hal before he lie could catch cath up with wih It |
