UNUSUAL GUNS

Hokitika Guardian, 9 April 1932, Page 6

UNUSUAL GUNS

PART OF POLICE MUSEUM. MEMENTOES OF CRIME. WELLINGTON, April 5Anyone with time to spare and a passion for detail could write' a laiye volume on the firearms exhibited at the police museum in Johnston feticet. Most of the pieces are small; some have been connected with crimes and others have merely been taken over by the police. Included among: them are pistols and revolvers of most unorthodox design. From the massive weapon of the old English highwayman to one of the latest small ingenuities from Chicago, the development of the small firearm is made clear in this interesting room at police headquarters. Leader of the pistols, perhaps, is the large and heavy piece supposed to have belonged in 1800 to Tom or Samuel Nock,, a 'highwayman, who "<as hanged at Newgate. This old muzzleloader, complete in its case with variour accessories, is a weapon ol enoimous bore and remarkable workmanship. People seeing such a gun would probably for the first time fully appieciate the force of the expression “to blow n mail’s brains out.” Coni routed with its muzzle and “your money or your life,” the choice would be a quick one. Another equally large and fearsome weapon is the patent nine-cham-bered pistol with a trick hammer that strikes either on the upper barrel of comparatively small bore-Or the shorter and much larger barrel below, used, in the alternative, for a charge ol grape shot. Both these guns are more pieces of ordnance than pistols. The wrists that could hold' them must have been cast in ihe same mould. Other pistols and revolvers are of various designs. Some have curved stocks, wonderfully carved, of different ;and often fantastic shapes. The metal-work—iron, steel or brass—on some of the guns is engraved with ornamental figures. Two tiny duelling pistols of identical size and design bring with their small presence a clue to the atmosphere of far-off days when personal honour was a thing of dangerous consequence. They clear up to some extent the mystery of so many duels having taken place without particularly serious result- 'bo hit a bass' drum with them at five paces would he no inconsiderable feat of markmanship.

DECEPTIVE WEAPONS. More subtle and dangerous is a small and iiijnocent-looking woman’s purse. Opened in the usual way it seems to ho an ordinary purse, with small pockets for money and papers. It i'nensures about five inches by three. But the ttlfcr with a special catch, reveals a six-chambered cylinder and a striking mechanism. A small hole in one end, really the muzzle of a dangerous small-bore revolver, is the only outward clue to a lethal weapon. In the same case are a few other trick gunw, of which one is a flat and circular revolver from Chicago. In the 'same case with it is the pistol used in 1919 by the murderer of Constable Budding and the stiletto supposed to have been used by Chun, in 1889. After his release from prison Chemis committed suicide on the top of Mount Victoria.

In an adjacent case are a- collection of safe-breaking instruments. One large implement used for attacking safe doors lias something of a history. There were once some men in Auckland who were suspected of various crimes. A piece of a damaged safe was sent down to Wellington, but the marks upon it "’ere rather faint, and a. large safe opener, the one lying in the museum, was thought to have been left behind by these criminals. Some time afterward a. gang was arrested for getting into a bank in Australia, over which it had taken quarters, and it was found to lie the same gang that had been in Auckland. A of the instrument’s work, a large piece of sieel with jagged edges from the front of a safe door, stands on top of an adjacent cupboard. On an upper shelf of the same case is a reproduction of the first criminal identification card transmitted by telephotograph. The card is of the usual sort. with photographs, thumb prints, and other particulars, and it was sent over land-lines in America on April 18, 1925.

“MOONSHINE” LABELS. . Another tall cupboard contains 1 110 bottles used in Southland for “moonshine,” or illegal whisky. The label on one of them is embellished with u picturesque skull and cross-hones, aci outpaced by the contra ffirtory words. “Guaranteed Free from poisons." The legend is "ergo bibanius,” a "happy thought, and the brand is “"hi Hok>>n„i.” Further inscriptions oil .the same label are: “Passed -all tests except tlm police. Bottled by me for you. Pro,luce of Scotland. Supplied to nil snakecharmers.” Half hi* inch of limber .fluid in the bottom of the bottle shows that the remainder of its contents was popular. A more austere label appears oil a business like sealed bottle ol whisky branded “Awarua Special. ,Jn an adjoining case is a sparse and sandy wig, with some flesh-coloured grease paint, brown dve and paitd brushes. They were taken possession ol by the police in 1915 and laid been used for purposes of disguise by a prisoner who was ixeiitonred to a total ol 21 years’ imprisonment. There arc some iargo plaster casts of the prints of hobnailed boots which were produced in the trial of a man named Bardie lor the murder of a Ch-iese at bas'd,\ in 1928 The boots responsible lor tinprints tie alongside, and the bullets

that brought the unfortunate Chinese to his end. A CRIMINAL MISCELLANY. Handbags of different types, and a prisoner’s improvised key with "huh he opened locks, appear on another shelf in the museum. The sandbags and bludgeons are dangerous-looking things, and they are appropriately near to a collection of bricks and iron used us missiles in tlu- general strike in 1915. (Masks, spectacles and coining outfits, the 1 al-tcr more elaborate, are all neai]y ticketed with tlic-ir origin, and there is a collection of Chinese articles which have been seized from time to time in raids on opium-smoking premises and paknpoo joints. A stout paper bag 'lllll of (small crumpled pieces of paper serves as an example of a pakapoo “bank ” Ou a hover shelf of the same cupboard is a small collection of Japanese and Chinese swonl-stieks, in which a dangerous rapier is eoiieealed in a. sheath so that the whole has the appearance of all ordinary walkingstick. The collection of illegal gamhliug machines and games is an extensive one, and there are dishonest machines 'of several different types Forbidden games are well represented. Mfnoug the most interesting are three' small “poker machines,” formerly in use at the seaside. The obliging officer from t-lm Criminal Registrat ion Bureau pressed a lever to demonstrate. Three lives s Nd, up in a flash. “Welt, well,” he said “You’d he a long time getting that il vou wanted it!’