This story, initially titled “Outdated Haw,” ran within the April 1953 difficulty of Out of doors Life.
AS I WHILE AWAY my time within the sundown of life, right here within the lovely Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, I usually sit within the shade of a grand outdated oak outdoors my cabin door. Right here I doze and consider the previous and the great occasions I’ve had with my canine and gun. It’s been a protracted life, nearly seventy years of it, and a contented one.
Typically, as I daydream, I see in my thoughts a protracted, dusty highway, and on it a farm wagon drawn by oxen. Two teenage Iowa farm lads are perched on its seat, and every is attempting to rush the oxen, for they’re anxious to get to city and the day is drawing to a detailed.
I first noticed the image of that dusty highway numerous years in the past as I listened to my dad inform the story of the boys. He was certainly one of them; if I ever heard the identify of the opposite I’ve lengthy since forgotten it.
The lads had been despatched to the gristmill with a load of corn to be floor into meal. They’d directions to remain all night time and return early subsequent day, for the journey to city was all of seven miles, a very good afternoon’s journey for plodding oxen.
Upon reaching the mill they unyoked the oxen, fed them, and began without delay for the little village. Its identify was Newton, and it promised the boys some distraction, for they knew little of something however laborious work and laborious occasions. The 12 months was 1867 and the Civil Struggle was not lengthy over.
Within the village the boys separated. Father, who was fifteen, wandered alongside till he got here to a blacksmith store that bore an indication, “Si Miller, Gunsmith.” The hour was late and the store closed, so the boy peered by its window. There was an assortment of firearms in racks alongside the wall, and shortly his eyes fell on a good looking long-barreled Kentucky rifle.
He had longed for a rifle prefer it just a few years earlier, when he’d saved his mom, youthful brother, and three sisters from ravenous by trapping rabbits and quail, whereas his father and two older brothers had been within the military. The lad had seen loads of wild turkey and deer however had no luck trapping them.
Avid for a more in-depth take a look at the Kentucky, he determined to return to the store early subsequent morning whereas the miller was grinding his corn. When he appeared by the window once more, subsequent day, the smith was boring out a musket barrel, changing it for shot. Many troopers carried their muskets dwelling from from the warfare, had the rifling bored out of them, and so acquired an inexpensive scattergun.
The smith lastly seen the boy, smiled, and beckoned him in. “Nicely, sonny,” he mentioned, “what can I do for you?”
The lad spoke up and mentioned he’d like to have a look at the long-barreled rifle within the rack behind the bench.
“Gladly, son, gladly,” mentioned the smith, putting the rifle within the boy’s fingers. Then he added: “She’s a real full stocked Hawken, son, caliber about .40. She was a flintlock as soon as—made in St. Louis and carried within the fur commerce by mountain males. I swapped for her. Modified her to percussion ignition, rerifled her, rebuilt her inventory. Contact her hair set off and he or she’ll drive a tack so far as you may see it. I’ll promote her, lock, inventory, and 36-inch barrel, with a pound of Fg powder and bullet molds, for less than $7.”
The boy appeared glum. “Mister,” he mentioned, “that’s more cash than I’ve ever had in all my life. For my summer season’s work I’ve right here solely a silver greenback.”
“Son, you bought a rifle?”
“No sir.”
“Nicely, I’ll be durned,” mentioned the smith. “With all this sport hereabouts and you’ve got nary a shootin’ iron?”
“That’s proper, sir,” the boy admitted. “Through the warfare I saved Mom and the youngsters in meat with my trappin’ whereas Pap and my brothers had been combating the Trigger.”
“Nicely, son,” mentioned the smith, “you appear to be a very good lad and I’ll let you know what I’ll do. I’ll set that Hawken away for you and also you pay for it a bit at a time. Everytime you git 4 bits, simply hand ’em to outdated Si.”
So the deal was made. The boy handed over his silver greenback after which began for the gristmill.
Quickly the 2 lads had been on their approach dwelling, their ft propped excessive on the dashboard, they usually took turns prodding the oxen with a protracted gad. My grandpa was a tight-fisted farmer who didn’t imagine in losing cash on firearms, so Father was fearful about what would occur to him for spending his hard-earned money.
The opposite boy spoke up: “Have a look at what I swapped for whereas I used to be on the town. Gave my outdated key-wind look ahead to it, even up.” He reached into his shirt and drew out a good looking .31 caliber Colt’s cap-and-ball revolver. “Hain’t she a dandy?” he mentioned. “Guess I can bark a squirrel each shot together with her.” He began to roll the cylinder by cocking the hammer and letting it fall. Out of the blue there was a crashing explosion. The lad yelled, dropped the pistol, and grabbed at his hand. Blood was flowing from a neat gap by the palm.
Father tried to calm him. However he let loose one other yell and jerked open his barn-door britches. The ball had handed by the boy’s hand and into his leg!
Dad informed me it was fairly a predicament for a boy to be in. He turned the oxen round and headed again for city and a health care provider. Late that night time two mighty sick boys arrived on the farm, one wounded, the opposite heartsick.
Dad mentioned he by no means heard the tip of that episode, notably his cope with the gunsmith and his father would have given him a very good larruping besides that his mom interfered. A 12 months later he acquired proud possession of the Hawken rifle. His pap relented some when wild turkey and occasional venison discovered its approach to the household desk.
MY FATHER fashioned a powerful friendship for outdated Miller, the blacksmith, and eventually sure himself over to him as an apprentice. He labored seven lengthy years studying the commerce.
Meantime he started to accumulate a status as among the best rifle pictures in Jasper County. Lastly he arrange his personal smithy in a bit settlement named Metz, acquired married, and began to boost a household.
He acquired to be an important hand on the turkey shoots. Alongside in mid-November annually riflemen would are available in from all elements of Jasper County to participate within the annual shoot, and all hoped they’d be ok with their lengthy rifles to take dwelling a tom gobbler for Thanksgiving dinner. Father informed me a variety of tales concerning the shoots, and the one I like finest occurred about 1885.
On the appointed day, Father was all set to go. He’d spent appreciable time, the night earlier than, casting lead bullets, chopping sq. patches of linen fabric, and cleansing out the pockets of his outdated buckskin coat. In these pockets he stowed his bullets and percussion caps. I keep in mind how cautious he was in selecting his bullets.
Earlier than leaving for the shoot he labored on the barrel of the outdated Hawken till the final patch got here out clear. Then, together with his powderhorn hanging from his shoulder and the Hawken within the criminal of his arm, he crossed the Skunk River to the taking pictures floor.
It was crowded with roughly dressed males, a few of them farmers, a lot of them brawny laborers who had been engaged in constructing the Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific Railroad. There was appreciable tough discuss and horseplay, and the jug was a lot in proof. The promoter of the shoot had set out refreshments consisting of crackers, cheese, and chilly meat. There was a barrel of laborious cider and a gourd dipper prepared for all, however a lot of the backwoodsmen most well-liked the little brown jug.
The taking pictures vary was an open area about 150 yards lengthy with a patch of timber for a backstop. In these days you shot straight on the turkey you needed to take dwelling, at ten cents a shot. Quite, you shot at its head, for it was positioned in a field with solely its head exhibiting, and the packing containers had been lined up at a spread of about sixty yards. The primary man to attract blood on a head received the turkey.
FATHER SAID a turkey head made a mighty small goal for open iron sights. It was particularly troublesome when the hen was gobbling, for the gobble saved the top in movement and made it laborious to hit.
When Father walked into the gang a variety of good-natured chaff was handed his approach.
“You-all look who be comin’! Nobody however Haw Ramsay!” (His given identify was Watson, however the nickname Haw had caught by this time.)
“What number of of them-air turks you goin’ to tote dwelling?”
“Come on, Haw, an’ moist your whistle. The jug brings them birds in actual near your sights.”
And so it went, for these had been the times when males labored laborious, fought laborious, and drank laborious. Father discovered himself a seat on a tree stump and loved the banter, chuckling often when a tipsy man rammed a bullet into his rifle with out remembering to place within the powder. When the gun didn’t go off, the shooter’s mood did.
Quickly a fantastic massive tom was positioned in a field and Dad paid his dime for a shot at it. Calmly he positioned a bullet within the palm of his hand, pulled the stopper from the powderhorn together with his enamel, and poured simply sufficient powder over the ball to cowl it. Then he picked the ball out, cupped his hand, and poured the cost into the barrel muzzle. Subsequent he positioned a patch throughout the muzzle, put the bullet on it, and rammed the cost down the barrel. Lastly he set the hair set off, cocked the hammer, and positioned a copper ignition cap on the nipple.
There was a sudden hush among the many spectators, then one spoke out: “Look, outdated Haw’s goin’ to fireside. Guess he don’t draw blood nor feather.”
To this Father paid no thoughts. He threw the gun to his shoulder, drew a bead on the small head, and paused till the hen had completed its gobble. The moment the top was nonetheless, he touched the hair set off. There was a whiplike crack and that turkey’s gobble was stilled endlessly.
“Outdated Haw has drawed first blood!”
“Aw, Haw ain’t so good. My outdated Betsy can outshoot him anytime. Guess a greenback he can’t do it agin.”
Dad approached the speaker and informed him to place up or shut up. The guess was made and he ready for the following shot. It was as correct as the primary. He was the possessor of two fantastic birds and a silver greenback.
Now the promoter got here up and informed Father he’d should bar him from additional taking pictures. “You’re too durn good,” he mentioned. “I may lose some huge cash on them birds the way in which you’re scoring.”
Then one of many railroad laborers, who had fired twice with out success, mentioned, “Haw, how about me utilizing your gun? Mine wants freshin’ out an’ don’t shoot true like yours.”
“Positive, my good friend,” mentioned Father, “if you happen to’ll let me load up for you.”
“Nicely, now, that’s good of you,” replied the laborer. “Powder and ball prices, now-days. Load ’er up!”
FATHER TOOK a bullet out of his coat pocket, held it up, and thoroughly examined its trueness. Then he loaded the gun. The laborer drew a gentle bead and touched her off. No rating—a really dangerous miss. The ball didn’t as a lot as kick up filth.
“Load ‘er once more,” mentioned the laborer. “This time I’m goin’ to take that turk’s head off.”
However he didn’t; his second shot was as dangerous as the primary.
Now one other man spoke up: “Load her for me, Haw. I kin beat him—he’s acquired an excessive amount of redeye in his stomach.”
However when he took his flip he acquired the identical outcome—no rating. He grew to become ugly about it, and mentioned the Hawken couldn’t hit a barn door.
“No?” mentioned Father. “You’re taking that coonskin hat off your head and cling it behind yon oak tree. I acquired a greenback says I can put a gap by it.”
“Completed!” mentioned the man. “Thar ain’t a gun made that’ll throw a ball by that tree.”
Dad loaded up. Then, with a fast movement, he picked up an ax and drove its bit deep into the oak. He stepped again, took purpose, and fired. There was a clang because the bullet hit the ax blade, ricocheted off it, and went by the outdated cap. It made a gap sufficiently big to thrust a hand by.
The group actually roared when the proprietor of the ruined headpiece paid off his guess. So Father shouldered his birds; with $2 in his pocket he felt he had finished a very good day’s work, and he left for dwelling.
Years later, in telling me concerning the incident, he held up his proper hand and requested me if I noticed something unsuitable with it. Certainly I did; the thumb and knuckles had been out of form, and the hand appeared prefer it had been badly damaged. “What occurred to it?” I requested.
“An aftermath of the turkey shoot,” he mentioned, and defined.
It appeared that he was forging horse footwear within the store the next week when the door was darkened by an enormous, rawboned man who requested: “Be you Haw Ramsay?” Father mentioned he was and the person went on: “Noticed you at that turk shoot an’ figured you was a purty good man. Now, I’m one of the best man in Polk County, so I come over right here to Jasper to combat you and see if you happen to’re pretty much as good as me.”
Father reached behind him to undo the knot on his leather-based apron, and because it fell to the ground he smashed the person proper in his leering mouth. The blow knocked him clear by the doorway however he was again on his ft when Father reached him. They clinched and rolled down the hill into the village avenue. There they broke aside and placed on a livid battle, with nothing barred, together with eye gouging, butting, and kneeing.
DAD TOLD ME he’d had some coaching in sparring and it got here in mighty useful. Eventually he noticed a very good opening and put his proper fist laborious on the bully’s jaw, and the Polk County man went down for good. The village loafers put him on the following practice out of city.
A number of days later, Father was on the forge, attempting to work together with his damaged hand, when he appeared as much as see some one standing within the doorway. It was the bully. Dad’s coronary heart sank, for he was in no form to combat the person once more. Nonetheless, he rolled up his sleeves and ready to defend himself.
However the massive man held up his hand and mentioned, “Peace, good friend. I jist come again to shake fingers with you, for you whupped me truthful and sq., and also you’re one of the best man in Jasper County. Shake, Haw Ramsay.”
They shook fingers heartily and the large man strode away, by no means to be seen once more in Metz.
“However, Dad,” I requested, “how come these riflemen missed on the shoot once they had been utilizing your Hawken?”
Father chuckled. “Maybe,” he mentioned, “you keep in mind how cautious I used to be, molding these bullets the night time earlier than the shoot. Nicely, son, I used to be casting ‘break up’ bullets. I put a bit piece of paper between the molds, with simply sufficient lead across the edges to carry the halves collectively so’s it appeared like a daily bullet. Then I put the break up bullets in a separate pocket of my coat.
“After I loaded for the lads I put a break up bullet within the barrel in such a approach that the rifling threw the halves aside when the gun was fired. No telling what route they’d take.
“You see, I by no means relished the concept of being crushed with my very own gun, so I used to be at all times ready.”
I went to different turkey shoots with Father, and on many a hunt. He used to say a person needn’t fear about his son’s future if the boy cherished a gun, a fishing rod, and the outside. Outdated Haw has been gone for twenty-odd years, and I’ve missed the outdated fellow. I hope he’s had many a very good turkey shoot within the glad searching grounds.
The Hawken
What grew to become of the muzzle-loading rifle that figures so prominently in Orie C. Ramsay’s story, “Outdated Haw”? Interested by its destiny, the editors put the query to Mr. Ramsay.
“Father left his Hawken rifle with a household for safekeeping when he moved our household to Kansas in 1886,” he writes. “Some durn-fool youngsters acquired maintain of it, dismantled it, and dropped it down a properly.
“I’ve consoled myself since by constructing two replicas of plains rifles; each with curly-maple shares; right here’s an image of them. I made each half myself-lock, inventory, and barrel-in spare time, and it took me a complete of twenty-two months. And I had fashionable energy instruments -lathe and drill press, for instance—that the pioneer gunmakers like Hawken by no means heard of.
“Each rifles are about .31 caliber. I rifled them myself and they’re ex tremely correct at 100 yards as they should be for squirrel searching right here abouts. You’ll discover that one has a full inventory (wooden out to the barrel muzzle), the opposite a half inventory. Each varieties had been used within the outdated days.
“Mountain males most well-liked the total inventory and a protracted barrel; buffalo hunters on the plains preferred the half inventory and a shorter barrel, as a result of the rifle might be loaded extra simply on horseback.
“The scope, a contemporary enchancment that Dad by no means dreamed of, is a Weaver 4X. The decrease rifle has a peep sight, however at 69 I really feel I want the scope. At that I can outshoot anybody right here within the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas—my muzzle-loaders in opposition to their fashionable weapons.”
This textual content has been minimally edited to fulfill up to date requirements.
