SNEAKY GUNS I: Gun Canes

They’re hidden, they change shape, they’re just plain sneaky.

This episode we look at cane guns.  They are mostly a product of the industrial revolution, the Victorian need for curiosities, and a reaction to urban crime.  Cane guns were a way of hiding a firearm inside a walking stick or cane.  

Everybody has seen sword canes and they were uncommon, but not unheard of in the Georgian and Victorian eras but gun canes are even more uncommon than other gadget canes.  But as scarce as they were overall, they were popular with a segment of the population starting in the 1840s Europe as late as the 1920s.  Slowly over the years, governments put into place laws about concealed weapons so sword canes and gun canes fell into disfavor and even outside of the law in industrialized countries.  

Most cane guns were hand made by small workshops in limited numbers, but a few major companies such as Remington, made gun canes that are now highly sought after by collectors.   

Most gun canes encountered are either late percussion era items (1840s to 1870) and early cartridge guns (from 1860 onward) nearly all of which were rim fire guns from .22 to .32 commonly, although there are a few exceptional guns such as the 410 center fire.  Rarer even in this obscure niche are flintlock, repeater, and air gun canes as well as combination weapons hidden in a cane and detachable stock canes.  

Generally, they are single shot devices although there are a few scarce pepperbox types, which tend to be rather bulky in anything but tiny calibers.  Sometimes, the pepperbox gun canes had an integral spike bayonet tip, but they are extremely rare.  There are a very few late period magazine repeaters and a few also sport attachable rifle stocks, but again they are very rare.  Cane guns were even produced by airgun manufacturers, which were nearly silent in comparison to cartridge cane guns.

The vast majority of cane guns were simply novelties and a tribute to the Victorian love of mechanical gimmicks.  They produced canes with a wide variety of attachments and uses such as concealed swords, compasses, hidden compartments, glove holder, whistle handles, mini telescopes, cameras, and the like.   

That is not to say that gun canes were never used, but certainly they were seldom encountered.  It was just a lot easier to just pocket your small revolver when you went out for a stroll if you were concerned about an encounter.   Simple sword canes are far more encountered than projectile weapons in a cane.

One added feature of gun canes is that they could be used as a parrying weapon or even a club once they have been discharged.  They were often embellished with expensive handles of gold, silver or ivory being a statement about status as much as having any practical walking value.  Assassins, footpads, dacoits, muggers and garrotters beware or at least try not laugh too much.  

Ultra-rare segmented cane gun air pistol in case with pump

 As far as using them for RPGs such as Call of Cthulhu in the Victorian, Edwardian or 1920s.  I suggest you use them sparingly except as a psychological quirk for a player, a fantastic prop in a mystery, or an embellishment for a bad guy NPC.  

They have a good surprise factor and can be deadly at close quarters despite having no sights, being in small calibers, generally single shots, and requiring a bit of practice in working the mechanism.  Stay tuned for more Sneaky Guns articles following this one.

                                                                                     CoastConFan

If you like this Victorian weapons blog post, also consider some of my earlier blog entries about Victorian weapons and crime.

     Apaches in Paris  AGun, a Gang, and a Dance

     Apaches in Paris?  Part II  Consider theGentleman Cracksman

     The French Apache Moves to Chicago! Part III How It GotThere

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UPDATE 10 Nov 2011:

See my other Sneaky Gun posts of the Sneaky Guns Trilogy

     Sneaky Guns II: Combination Guns

     Sneaky Guns III: Small and Sneaky Derringers

COASTCON 35 IS WITHIN 6 MONTHS OF EARTH

CoastCon, the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s science fiction, fantasy, horror & anime convention will arrive in only six months.  It will be held at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum in Biloxi MS, 16, 17 and 18 March 2012. 

The media guest is Lindsay Wagner, the original Bionic Woman, who has appeared on television and in movies for decades including recent shows such as Warehouse 13 and Alphas.

The writer guest of honor is Timothy Zahn, a Hugo winner and prolific writer of several series including the Black Collar series, Cobra Series, Conquers Trilogy, and Star Wars.  He has also written short stories and novellas one of which, Cascade Point, won a Hugo in 1984.

Please visit the CoastCon.org website for more information about the convention and for updates.

                                                                                                CoastConFan

FAKES, FUN, AND LEAD CODICES

Make your own Unspeakable Cthulhu Codex

I love a good prop or fake, but when one tries to sell the item as original, then that goes beyond a hoax and into the area of criminal fraud.  When these appeared earlier in 2011 with a lot of press hoopla, I had strong suspicions about them being fake.  Somehow, they just didn’t fit in with finds of that period, but I held my tongue while actual experts viewed the images since my Hebrew and Aramaic is pretty shaky.  Most of the text was lifted from other sources and many of the images were as well.*  Well, we can learn something even from counterfeits and fantasy objects.
                                                                            CoastConFan

Please note that these are not intaglio (carved into) the lead, but they are convex, which means they were cast from a master mold.  I think it would be an easy matter to make a Cthulhu Codex using the same method.  I don’t encourage you to use lead it has toxic fumes.  You might try making the reversed master out of plaster, carving it while wet.  Then use Femo or another polymer clay to make an impression.  You need only paint and age and you have a page for your Unspeakable Codex.  You could try casting with a metal such as zinc or safe casting metals, but be careful of getting burned.  Frankly, polymer clay is a better idea because you can tweak up the impression for more detail. 

*For example the head of Helios and Alexander as found on Greek coins and the star bursts are common on Hebrew coins, see the so called Widows Mite.  Check out some of these links about the lead codices and some legitimate scholarly criticism:

http://rogueclassicism.com/2011/03/30/lead-codices-silliness/

http://aramaicdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/08/lead-codices-genuine-forgeries.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Lead_Codices     

Check out this YouTube video:

CASE STUDY: JOHN CARTER, CAPTAIN, CSA

Insanity, delusion, amnesia, guilt, and wealth

Found recently is an early image of Captain John Cater, CSA who after the Late War, prospected in the Arizona Territory, finding a vein of gold and perhaps something else.  He later retired to a small house in New York State along the Hudson River, dying on 4 March 1886.  He left a peculiar will behind and a quantity of documents, which were discovered over the course of years.  Among many peculiarities of his life was his tomb, which was specially constructed while he was alive to be unopenable, except by a mechanism located within the tomb itself. suggesting he also had a fear of catalepsy along with the delusion of time and space travel.

John Carter, Circa 1862

He claimed to have been chased into a cave in Arizona while prospecting by marauding Apaches where he astrally projected himself to another planet he called Barsoom.  There is some conjecture that Barsoom was actually Mars a half million years ago, which meant that he believed he not only projected himself over millions of miles but over hundreds of thousands of years in the past.  Carter also had selective amnesia, claiming to have no memory of a time before the Civil War.   

Being wealthy, he avoided being sent to a sanitarium and hid away in his cottage in a remote area until his premature death in 1886.  His death certificate has disappeared as well as nearly all records of his life outside of this photograph and some military records with the Virginia cavalry.  Carter obviously had an accomplice who destroyed documents, dropped off packages of documents over the years and sometimes masqueraded as Carter “Uncle Jack” after his death.

Outside of his well written delusional dreams, which were subsequently published as fiction by Edgar Rice Burroughs, a few records, and this photo, there is no proof that John Carter had even lived.  His birth, baptismal, and most military records and, most curiously, his death certificate disappeared.  There have been rumors that John Carter became an immortal, not just on this world, but also on several worlds over a huge span of time.  That conjecture dwelled upon too deeply might just land you a billet in the Arkham Sanitarium.  This image is part of an exhibit at the Rhode Island Museum of History about the history of mental treatment of delusional persons.

                         
                                                                                                CoastConFan

Project Gutenberg has free downloads of several text modes as well as some audio books of the following books:  Princess of Mars, Gods of Mars, Warlord of Mars, Thuvia Maid ofMars, Chessmen of Mars, Pellucidar