Cooke's Weapon May Be Melted Down!

[Diane Merkel]

Police have also agreed to check a rumour that a .50- calibre cap-and-ball flintlock belonging to Lieutenant William Winer Cooke was turned in and is slated to be destroyed. If true, the weapon would be of extreme historical importance, given that Cooke, who grew up in Hamilton, died next to Custer in 1876.

He was the author of the famous "last message" to Frederick Benteen that read: "Benteen. Come On. Big village. Be quick. Bring packs. WW Cooke. P.S. Bring Packs."

Police say people must not lose focus on why Hamiltonians want to get rid of guns.

"The people of Hamilton have an intolerance for gun violence," Leendertse said. "If we save one life, that's worth more than any history."

The section above is from the bottom of this article: tinyurl.com/zlecb

[Treasuredude]

Oh my Gawd! When was the last time you heard of someone being murdered with a cap and ball flintlock? You'd have a better chance using a steak knife. Oh, I probably shouldn't have said that... I don't want to give them the idea that steak knives should be banned.

[El Crab]

Cap and ball flintlock? Sounds like someone is confused. I assume they're referring to a cap and ball revolver, and not something older than that. Why would Cooke have a flintlock? Or. better yet, why would a flintlock use a cap and ball? Or vice versa? I'm no gun expert, but aren't they both primers? Wouldn't be akin to saying your car has carbuereted fuel injection?

[markland]

The big thing is whether these yahoos are going to start going through museum collections or any other historical collection looking for "violations" to their laws. As the cap and ball pistol is clearly an artifact, if authentic and not a reproduction, it should fall into a special exclusion bracket. And if they do not have any means of excluding historical artifacts, then it is a poorly written law.

Just my two-bits worth.

Billy

[crzhrs]

Billy:

I couldn't find any other place to say it . . . but congratulations on your "promotion".

You provide us with losts of information in an objective and fair manner . . .

Crzhrs

[dogsoldier]

This is so stupid. The police should just turn the weapon over to the museum themselves. I can't help but feel that George Bush is behind this. Oh, he'll deny it and make someone else take the fall, but he's behind it, mark my words...

[weir]

dogsoldier said:

This is so stupid. The police should just turn the weapon over to the museum themselves. I can't help but feel that George Bush is behind this. Oh, he'll deny it and make someone else take the fall, but he's behind it, mark my words...

the famous right-wing conspiracy who threatens your life...

[dogsoldier]

I was going to respond, then thought better of it. And although this is a response, it's missing my usual sharp wit and humor. Basically, I'm tired of wasting it on you.

[weir]

dogsoldier said:

I was going to respond, then thought better of it. And although this is a response, it's missing my usual sharp wit and humor. Basically, I'm tired of wasting it on you.

Good

[Steve Arnold]

Bunkies,

A couple thoughts about this "Cooke" gun.

The story that came into the newspaper office said it had been turned in by Cooke's family. Trouble is, he has no family in the City of Hamilton any longer. His closest descendants in this area is a great-grand-neice who lives in the next city over.

Secondly, if the gun is a flintlock, then there's no way it's a Cooke artifact. Took old to have been any use to him. Might, stress might, be an old family artifact that's filtered down from pioneer days, but I doubt it.

If it's a cap and ball revolver, then maybe it might have a connection to Cooke's Civil War Service. A pistol like this was sold at auction by one of his descendants in Alberta a couple years ago. It fetched, if I remember right, $65,000 US.

Bottom line here is that unlike American cities, Canada has been relative free of gun violence until just recently. Now we're seeing incidents of drive-by shootings and young blacks blazing away at each other in shopping malls, so I applaud the efforts by police to get guns off the streets. This particular program, however, is netting weapons from the bad guys, only from honest citizens who are turning in museum pieces they don't understand.

I'll make some inquires of the local police and see what I can find out and report back.

Steve Arnold

[maqua]

It would be a real tragedy if the Cooke pistol were lost to history!!! Believe it or not, though, there was a case a few years ago outside Philadelphia where a guy shot and killed his neighbor over a parking space in the winter with a repro cap-and-ball percussion pistol. He had just shovelled out the spot, his neighbor took the space, so the guy went in to his house, got his repro pistol, and blew him away!!

[El Crab]

maqua said:

It would be a real tragedy if the Cooke pistol were lost to history!!! Believe it or not, though, there was a case a few years ago outside Philadelphia where a guy shot and killed his neighbor over a parking space in the winter with a repro cap-and-ball percussion pistol. He had just shovelled out the spot, his neighbor took the space, so the guy went in to his house, got his repro pistol, and blew him away!!

Were there any cases where a guy was angry, went into the nearby museum, got a weapon from a case, and killed someone with it?

I can understand wanting a gun-free culture, but this statement from the article is ridiculous:

"If we save one life, that's worth more than any history."

Guns like these sit in glass cases or in a private collection. They never get fired and they are of value due to their history, not their ability to fire a projectile.

[Diane Merkel]

Steve Arnold, thanks for posting your message.

Here's a follow-up to The Hamilton Spectator article:
tinyurl.com/g8tqt