Jim, I can't comment on artifacts because it's the first I've heard of them, and would only be interested if they were referenced to time, place, authenticity, principals involved etc.
As Sergeant Friday used to say, "Just the facts, m'am."
When I have a lead on a story, I start at the most obvious place to check it out, in the same way when the tractor won't start I check for gas instead of tapping on the solenoid.
An editor told me when I started on a provincial daily 60-plus years ago to forget motives, don't impute motives, just get the who, what, where, when and how and the motives will look after themselves.
I was not being facetious when I asked if Carlos Baker measured the chokes of the purported Boss suicide gun. The who, what, where, when, and how given in the previous posts overwhelmingly refute what biographer Baker wrote.
The Guns and Garden researcher states the gun was probably a W&C Scott Live Pigeon gun.
The pieces of chopped up gun held at the welding shop in Ketchum, Idaho are not from a Boss, (or a Beretta or Model 21)
and three generations of welders have not tried to profit from the artifacts.
Jimmy W. states his tape shows Hemingway's son saying the suicide gun was a Beretta or Model 21.
Abercrombie&Fitch has no record of Hemingway purchasing a Boss from them.
Two of Hemingway's close hunting buddies know nothing of him ever owning a Boss.
The Lloyd Arnold photos in the JFK Library show Hemingway with many shotguns, but no Boss.
It would appear the imputed motive here is to hold up Carlos Baker as infallable and beyond reproach. The overwhelming body of evidence is that this biographer probably filled in some gaps with a little bit of literary license. He wouldn't be the first author to commit that sin.
But in the end, I agree most with RHD45 who said this suicide was a thoughtless and selfish act. If he could not stand the pain of living and felt he had to hasten God's hand, it surely would have been less traumatic for his family if he had washed down a bottle of Valium with a fifth of Bourbon. If nothing else, the world would have one more tightly choked gun for ED1 to hone out and torch color. Excuse me, Ed just sells 'em. Master Gunsmith Ed Lander does the choke and torch work.
