Thomas Parker's flintlock wooden leg ca.1788

[Stonehouse john]

Came across this article and thought some of you might enjoy it.  History can be stranger than fiction...

https://pegsandtails.wordpress.com/2021/04/01/of-padauk-legs-and-rats/


John

[Pukka Bundook]

Well John, he wouldn't be likely to shoot himself in the foot with it!

[Stonehouse john]

Haha!  Yeah, though he'd better've been awfully careful of shooting off his remaining foot! 

Far more questions than answers in that story.  I guess it was the novelty of the leg-gun that got him jobs, but after all it's not like the shark bit off his trigger finger.  Seems like he could still have used any kind of gun he'd wanted.  Plus, I imagine you'd have to get into a pretty undignified pose to load "rat-shot" into that thing!

On the other hand you've gotta respect any man who carries business cards that read "Rat-Destroyer"...

John

[smallpatch]

Read the article. That’s how he died. Gangrene from shooting him self in the right foot.

[Avlrc]

That was a good story.   

[Stonehouse john]

Read the article. That’s how he died. Gangrene from shooting him self in the right foot.

Ha!  I missed the article's last line.  I guess I got sidetracked by reading his impressive handbill!

John

[Tim Crosby]

 Neat read, I'll be he was a "Catbird".

     Tim C.

[Avlrc]

There was a crazy movie a few years back, a woman with a machine gun in place of her leg. This story might be where they got the idea.

[LynnC]

That looks identical to the peg leg gun I saw on a re-run of Pawn Stars last night…..They shot it then the “expert” valued it at something like 12-15,000.

[JTR]

That's quite the crazy story!
Thanks for posting it.
John

[Brent English]

Did y'all notice it was posted on April 1st?  Some of the comments mentioned it.  Nevertheless, a great yarn!

[Avlrc]

Are you saying it is not valid? If so, I am sad. :'(  That was a good story.

[LynnC]

There was no back story like that when it showed up on Pawn Stars.

[Stonehouse john]

Did y'all notice it was posted on April 1st?  Some of the comments mentioned it.  Nevertheless, a great yarn!

Jeez.  I feel like a total jerk now.  I didn't expect I'd need to "factcheck" a post like that before I passed it on, but after Brent's post above I took a closer look.  I'm guessing it's BS now.  It appears that at least the paintings are...  the shark one is really called "Watson and the Shark", and the one with the blue jacket is really titled "The Greenwich Pensioner". 

I take my first comment back.  I guess history is not stranger than fiction after all.

Sorry all.

The saddest part is that I'd still kinda like to go back in time and have a beer with Thomas Parker (if he'd been real)...

John