A special rifle?

[browningautorifle]

A very smart man I guess you would say

I'd say he understood how to wring a dollar out of a customer's pockets.

[Rick the Librarian]

Supposedly, the U.S. Government would auction off piles of military parts which they considered scrap. Bannerman and other dealers would get together and decide on a (very low) price and bid on them.

[browningautorifle]

His story is fascinating by itself. Purchase of an old fortress to use for storage and bought anything sent his way. This is the man that started stories like...Krag bayonets issued to cavalry in picket pin cases. Meantime he either skinned the scabbards off and sold them elsewhere or made due with what he had.

[butlersrangers]

Actually, Francis Bannerman purchased Poppell Island, on the Hudson River, and had his Island Castle & Warehouse constructed.

The concrete is said to have been strengthened and reinforced, using surplus ordnance material.

To be fair Bannerman and his competitors generated a lot of interest in collecting military memorabilia and surplus arms.

These dealers have proved to be a real boon to 'gun collecting'. They preserved, documented and cataloged a lot of collectibles.

The 'parts guns', salvage from fires, 'sportered', altered and contrived arms were probably a small part of the operations.


Attachment 120765Attachment 120766Attachment 120767

[browningautorifle]

Francis Bannerman purchased Poppell Island, on the Hudson River, and had his Island Castle & Warehouse constructed.

That's right, that's what it was... There was a piece on the building a while back showing how dilapidated it had become. Sad...

[Low & Slow]

A side building used as a powder magazine got dilapidated rather quickly when it exploded two years after his death under mysterious circumstances. I was out there a few years back, and the remaining main "castle" walls had been shored up by metal trusses. The little house on the top of the hill is still pretty much intact, and is used as a gift shop.

[butlersrangers]

Low & Slow - Did you take some photos? Please share!

Attached is a photo I got off the internet. The ruin looks rather Scottish.

I recall an incident, I read about, concerning Francis Bannerman's widow:

After Francis' death, She continued summering on the Island. One day, while reading a book in a hammock, she suddenly got up and went into the house to make some Lemonade. While working in the kitchen, a huge explosion occurred.
The iron magazine door was blown clear-across the Hudson River to the mainland.
A huge chunk of masonry debris tore through the hammock, where Mrs. Bannerman had been relaxing.


Even in death Bannerman made life exciting!