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A Real Mystery.

L

L.Fure

Well-known Member
Found this story on Yahoo News this morning.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/01/14/the-mystery-of-the-132-year-old-winchester-rifle-found-propped-against-a-national-park-tree/
 
I saw that. Can you imagine walking up on
something like that. I'd have buck fever worse
than if it was a big buck.
 

I wonder what really happened to the owner of the rifle? Was he in a battle for his life.and ran out of ammunition?
 
When I was about 16 while I was hunting quail I found a double barrel shotgun sticking out of the sand in an arroyo. Just the barrels. The wood was gone as were the two outside hammers. Being a kid, I put it on a vice and beat it open. It still had both barrels loaded with brass shells and both primers were untouched. Always wondered how or why someone would lose or leave this lying in the desert.
 
The real story probably isn't as mysterious and intriguing as they'd like it to be. It was leaned against a tree, so probably not a distress situation. Most likely scenario would be someone working cattle stopped for lunch and forgot it. Or may have had to make a hasty exit because the stock was beginning to stray. Couldn't (or didn't bother to) retrace his steps to retrieve it. Rifle may have been in poor shape and not worth the bother.

I was taught to keep track of all my stuff, and even if I didn't want to keep it, dispose of it properly. But since being involved with tenants and rentals, I can't believe the stuff they leave behind, without a second thought. 'Course, IHMO, many of them are not even capable of a first thought, so a second thought is out of the question.

But I agree- its always fun to read these stories, and speculate.
 
"I, Hatchet Jack, being of sound mind and broke
legs, do leaveth my rifle to the next thing who
finds it, Lord hope he be a white man. It is a
good rifle, and kilt the bear that kilt me.
Anyway, I am dead. Sincerely, Hatchet Jack."



mvphoto15036.jpg




That was a quote and pic from the movie Jerimiah Johnson starring Robert Redford.
 
So...all those times I've stopped looking for things I've been right!

"I'll never find that back in 100 years!!"
 
But having just read Greg's post regarding the unfortunate Hatchet Jack, I now think I'll go with that one.
 
Considering the location and time when that rifle was common it's unlikely that someone just forgot it. Back in the late 1800's a firearm in that area could be the difference between life and death. Besides natural predators there were hostile Indians, bandit, bounty hunters and posses. That post about Jack could be far closer to the truth than we know. Guy may have shot a deer, been dressing it out when he was jumped A. bear or other predator B. hostile Indians or C. outlaws. Could have been left by an outlaw who left it there so he could try to sneak around to hit a lawman or posse from behind with a hand gun. Could have been left by a prospector who tried and failed to scale a cliff. I doubt we will ever know.

Rick
 
You have to remember that the gun was empty when it was found. I can't imagine anyone would carry around an empty gun. It was fired until it was empty then left behind.
 
Just because the gun is 132 years old that does not mean it has been there for that long, maybe only 20-30 years, who knows?
 
farmerjohn- "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!".

LOL- sorry, I couldn't resist. Every time someone says that to me...that is the first thing to pop into my mind.

Listened to "The Shadow" on the radio in my younger years.
 
(quoted from post at 12:28:35 01/15/15) You have to remember that the gun was empty when it was found. I can't imagine anyone would carry around an empty gun. It was fired until it was empty then left behind.
Click to expand...

I missed the empty part.

Just speculation on my part. Would be interesting to know what happened.


Rick
 
In what has always been pasture on a farm we bought 50 years ago I have found a pair of binoculars
That had laid out in the weather until about all that was left was the lens and prisms, the aluminum housing nearly totally corroded away In the same area I found a single barrel break action shot gun. It laid there long enough that the wood was all rotted away. The area is ND prairie pot hole country, so I suspect duck hunters lost those items many years ago.
 
(quoted from post at 22:40:37 01/15/15)
(quoted from post at 12:28:35 01/15/15) You have to remember that the gun was empty when it was found. I can't imagine anyone would carry around an empty gun. It was fired until it was empty then left behind.
Click to expand...

I missed the empty part.

Just speculation on my part. Would be interesting to know what happened.


Rick
Click to expand...

Only God would know how or why that rifle came to be left there. But it is fun to speculate. Keeps the olé' head working overtime.

I own a Marlin 38-40 lever action that my father bought from a old Junker back in the late 60's. The Junker had found it in a farmers junk ditch when he was cleaning out the scrap metal. Dad cleaned it up and got it into usable shape. He even used it for deer hunting one year. It makes a great conversation piece.
 
I went and reread the story.

1. I couldn't find anyplace that said it was empty.

2. They said based on condition and the fact it's a desert area that it was there a very long time.

So it's pretty much open to speculation as to the why's and how's.

Rick
 
(quoted from post at 23:10:13 01/15/15) I went and reread the story.

1. I couldn't find anyplace that said it was empty.

2. They said based on condition and the fact it's a desert area that it was there a very long time.

So it's pretty much open to speculation as to the why's and how's.

Rick
Click to expand...
I just re-read the article too and it doesn't say anything about it being empty. I wonder how that idea got in my head?
 
" The unloaded gun appears to have been left
undisturbed for more than 100 years; its wooden
base had turned gray and was partially buried, and
the barrel had rusted."
Washington Post
 
(quoted from post at 23:19:39 01/15/15) " The unloaded gun appears to have been left
undisturbed for more than 100 years; its wooden
base had turned gray and was partially buried, and
the barrel had rusted."
Washington Post
Click to expand...
Well............. there it is. I guess I'm not was crazy as I thought.
 
(quoted from post at 15:23:14 01/15/15)
(quoted from post at 23:19:39 01/15/15) " The unloaded gun appears to have been left
undisturbed for more than 100 years; its wooden
base had turned gray and was partially buried, and
the barrel had rusted."
Washington Post
Click to expand...
Well............. there it is. I guess I'm not was crazy as I thought.
Click to expand...


Yea you are! :lol: :lol: . I glossed over that myself. Still kinda cool that they found something like that.

Rick
 
That's a neat story. I don't know what kind of tree that is or how fast it grows but I'm guessing that the rifle has been there about 50 years or less. Around these parts it something is left leaning against a tree, the tree grows around it in 5 years or so. In the desert I'm sure it's a lot slower. It may have been stolen out of somebody's pickup and left there and forgotten.
 
(quoted from post at 15:45:54 01/15/15) That's a neat story. I don't know what kind of tree that is or how fast it grows but I'm guessing that the rifle has been there about 50 years or less. Around these parts it something is left leaning against a tree, the tree grows around it in 5 years or so. In the desert I'm sure it's a lot slower. It may have been stolen out of somebody's pickup and left there and forgotten.
Click to expand...

" The unloaded gun appears to have been left
undisturbed for more than 100 years; its wooden
base had turned gray and was partially buried, and
the barrel had rusted."

It's the desert. Stuff grows real slow. Some areas only get a couple of inches of rain a year. Humidity is very low too. So who knows?

Rick
 
(quoted from post at 23:31:24 01/15/15)
(quoted from post at 15:23:14 01/15/15)
(quoted from post at 23:19:39 01/15/15) " The unloaded gun appears to have been left
undisturbed for more than 100 years; its wooden
base had turned gray and was partially buried, and
the barrel had rusted."
Washington Post
Click to expand...
Well............. there it is. I guess I'm not was crazy as I thought.
Click to expand...

Okay, you got me there. Crazy is as crazy does.

Yea you are! :lol: :lol: . I glossed over that myself. Still kinda cool that they found something like that.

Rick
Click to expand...
 
I own a Winchester 1892 .38-40 lever action my dad bought from a disgusted hunter in the mountains of West Virginia in 1954, for $11.00. Dad was hunting in the woods at the time & that was all he had on him. He didn't really expect the guy to sell it but the guy'd lost his last deer to a lousy caliber. I hunted with it several years, wounded several deer on close-up well placed shots, only to see them run or walk away! You're right, it makes a great conversation piece.
 
About 35 years ago I saw some kids come out from under a bridge. One had a rusty 45 auto. He had found it in the creek. Tried to buy but no dice. Often wonder what crime it was used in and who throw it of the bridge. Steve
 
reminds me of a story I heard about a long time ago, of a man's skeleton with its leg in a bear trap & a rifle leaning against a nearby tree. Seems like it was in a western state.
 
I think we're missing the most likely scenario. It was likely left there by somebody's kid. Probably the same kid that left his dads tools outside in the dirt and left his dads pickup windows down in the rain and left the key on in the car after listening to the radio.
 
(quoted from post at 22:05:51 01/15/15) I think we're missing the most likely scenario. It was likely left there by somebody's kid. Probably the same kid that left his dads tools outside in the dirt and left his dads pickup windows down in the rain and left the key on in the car after listening to the radio.
Click to expand...

I'll say it again. If it was the 100 plus years like the article said it may have been it's a guess. Back in that day a gun could mean the difference between life and death. I can't see anyone leaving it there, empty or loaded without a darn good reason.

rick
 
(quoted from post at 02:05:51 01/16/15) I think we're missing the most likely scenario. It was likely left there by somebody's kid. Probably the same kid that left his dads tools outside in the dirt and left his dads pickup windows down in the rain and left the key on in the car after listening to the radio.
Click to expand...

The other likely scenario is that someone shot their deer and leaned the rifle against a tree intending to come back for it after they dragged the deer out. I've seen it happen a couple times locally.
 
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