doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com MICHAEL MC INTOSH'S GUNS

Some survivors view the accumulation as a detriment and are worried about how to get rid of it and they might appreciate an interested party getting there early with some cash.I've seen it happen.

I decided to stay out of this until the "hissy fit" period was over. Hey King: Just what was that Cuban jail like??
Jim

Yeah King,inquiring,ok nosey, minds want to know.

Not that my friend and distinguished Southern Gentleman George Lander needs defending, but I also met the late Michael McIntosh along with Gene Hill on an Orvis tour back in 1990, if memory serves. At that time, both Gene and Mike were drinking good scotch whisky and smoking Pall Mall's (Gene also a pipe) and both said that we were all mere custodians of the good guns that pass along in the lifetimes of mere mortals.

Mike helped me find and authenticate an HE 12 Fox, a Becker bored 32" 10 lb. cannon that had been "restocked" and he could have asked for a 'finder's fee" but didn't-

Just as with the great split cane rod makers now gone: Jim Payne, Everett Garrison, Paul Young, Gary Howells and others- and with great writers: Gene Hill, Robert Ruark and now Mike- sure there are some vultures waiting to pounce before the dirt has been shoveled onto the grave site- BUT my friend George Lander is NOT in that group- He just asked a logical question- If Michael had "written in a vaccum" so to speak about fine doubles, both side-by and O/U's- but only owned and shot a beat up Model 1897 Winchester, we wouldn't need this Pissing derby about his guns and the possible disposition of same.

The late George Bird Evans, in writing about his wealthy Phila Mainline monied friend Dr. Charles Cadwaller Norris of Fairhill (Bryn Mawr area)- was given through Dr. Norris' kindness one of his two Purdeys- which was treasured for many years, now in other hands I am sure- But GBE also mentioned that Dr. Norris' relatives when seeing the estate sale of his library- "Never realized what ol Uncle Charlie had" they thought of his collection as just "hunting stories" I surmised. GBE also wrote about an eccentric bachelor who stated in his will his house with the contents and the library were to be burned by the fire department as a practice fire- the books to be destroyed rather than have them end up in the hands of profit seeking dealers after his death- extreme example yes- but I understand the point-

I'm wondering how much his wife got for the diving gear.

In the hurry to defend, excuse, ignore or even joke their way along, it seems the point was missed for many.
That being the insensitive nature of the inquiry re the timing. Would have been nice were the question followed with a reasonable...and short, "You're right of course, I'm sorry" rather than an added explanation of "why I really did nothing wrong" attempt at track covering.
And, of course, this is not the only BB in the world and, perhaps, some may well have been fed up by the insensitivity shallowly covered by comments somewhat rampant.
But why on Earth try to understand how others may feel when a friend dies..."I want to have my question answered, Dammit!"
That is the sad world of today.

As I first mentioned, I expect the disposition of any of MM's belongings are in capable hands who will advise and respect the family and friends thru any grief period they find necessary. I understand it is nice to put a limit of a month on grief and then "end it, for Christ's sake" but all mourn differently.
Respect should be geared to those given it rather than defined by those spitting it.

GBE did have his pick of three guns owned by Dr. Norris....He was notified by the family to come to Fairhill and choose. The operative thought being the family made the first move. Had the word been wider back then by the Internet I expect that Fairhill's phone would have been ringing off the hook...for guns or books.
But...GBE would not have been calling, of that I guarantee.
He was a different sort in that regard and of a different time.

And I expect that the Interent would have ensured more such early grabs with "stuff" owned by Gene Hill, Jack O'Conner, Ol' Elmer or a host of shooting folks past on.
The Internet has made the six degrees of seperation idea all too common and many folks use it and other selfish reasons to glean among the lilies.

Hissy fit identifiers and classy wadded pantie comments indicates that many here seek not to consider past their own front bead...that is your right, sad tho it be.
It is also indictitive of more than you realize.

It would be nice if more folks would consider treating their fellow man as well as they treat a fine scattergun....with a soft glove, at times.

While doing a follow-up of my revolution coverage, my boss after too many lunch martinis in Toronto phoned me in Havana and asked if I had made contact with the dissidents. Trouble was, I had made contact under unanticipated circumstances. They had taken me to a roadside for execution because they felt I was providing Castro international publicity. Cooler heads prevailed.

I sluffed off the contact question because I knew my phone was tapped. A government soldier stuck a sub-machine gun in my ear when he pulled me over while I was driving a car a few days later and took me off to a jail for subversives in suburban Havana where prisoners included a couple Americans. The drunk tank at No. 11 in Toronto was worse than my cell.

I was able to be useful because the lengthy disappearance of an US operative had raised serious apprehensions about his fate. I knew the guy---the CIA is always where reporters gather---and I was able to get his message to his employers that he was alive. He was released.

Ramble Past, very well put. Could not agree more!

JC

Quote from King Brown:
"The drunk tank at No. 11 in Toronto was worse than my cell."

You seem to have an unusual in-depth knowledge on jail cells in various locations. How on earth did you find time to write? Are we eventually going to see you on that "Jailed Abroad" TV program?
Jim

Times have changed from when most reporters had bottles in their typewriter wells, employers tolerating as long as they were out of sight, having themselves survived the hard-drinking so much a part of the craft. I quit cold-turkey in 1966.

Seriously, if you were doing your job properly you were going to jail, mostly for political indiscretions: on the wrong side during a labour dispute, in the wrong place during riots, revolts and revolutions, even for talking to the wrong people.

But 50-50 for just raising hell. I remember being in No. 11 with a great reporter, a former hard-rock miner who was shaking the bars and yelling for his lawyer. From the back of the cell came a familiar voice, "I'm here, Norrie."

Liquor was a big part of my education; I'm lucky to have survived it.