Abraham HyattOffcuts are short posts that I occasionally include at the ends of the newsletter.
A carpenter with a (hopefully) non-murdery fore plane c. 1865. Photo: Maine Historical Society.I don’t want to make light of murder, but I’m surprised we don’t hear of more people being killed or assaulted with planes. It’s a handy tool to pick up in a fit of rage.
In 1844, the Boston Mail reported on a Mr. A. Moore, “a very honest, inoffensive old man” who had barely survived “a most daring robbery and attempt at murder.” Around 10 p.m. on April 22, Moore left his room on Court Street for a few moments, blew out the light, and closed the door. “On his return,” the newspaper wrote, “he found the door ajar, and was in the act of igniting a match when some villain who had entered and secreted himself in a corner, rushed out upon him, armed with a fore-plane, which he had taken from a work-bench, and struck him a blow upon his head, which felled him instantly to the floor.” The robber pulled out a knife, cut the pockets off Moore’s pantaloons, and made off with between $20 and $30. Moore was eventually able to get up and alert the watchman, but the thief was long gone.
An even darker event happened in November 1877, in Lake Providence, Louisiana, when Andrew Hamlin and Alfred Gregory, both blacksmiths and wagon makers, “got into a difficulty,” as a newspaper reported. “High words passed between them,” and Hamlin swung at Gregory with a fore plane, fracturing his skull. Gregory died a few hours later, but Hamlin escaped.
And former Chronicle editor Raymond R. Townsend tracked down this report in the court records of colonial Virginia:
“At a Called Court held in Spotsylvania County on Saturday the 13th Day of January 1749 for the Examination of Alexander Crookshanks who is Commited for being Guilty by the Oppinion of a Corners Inquest Taken on the body of William Wheeler of Murdering the said person by a Violent stroke with a Joyners Plain Stock. Crookshanks guilty of manslaughter and sent to the General Court.”
Interested in more Offcuts?
- Offcuts: Plane Murders and a Brass Ribbon Plow Plane
- Offcuts: Italian Pull Planes and Inuit Planes From the Canadian Subarctic
- Offcuts: Modern Laminated Plane Irons and How Our Work Speaks Through Time
- Offcuts: More GIANT Planes and the Jointer That Tied a Town Together
A Brass Ribbon Plow Plane
This is the first time I’ve seen this kind of decoration on a plane, and I’d love to know if anyone has ever spotted something similar. (You can reply to this email or find other ways to contact me here.) It was made by the Ohio Tool Co., with a G. Baurmann, Louisville, Kentucky mark. I don’t believe Ohio Tool ever offered a plane with brass decorations, so I assume it was put on by Baurmann.
Gustave Baurmann (1817-1884) was a Louisville, Kentucky, hardware, cutlery, and gun dealer. He was born in Prussia and immigrated to the United States as a young man. He was part of several hardware partnerships, eventually opening his own business, G. Baurmann & Co., in 1854. After the end of the Civil War, Baurmann hired local architect Henry Whitestone to design a store for him at 741 West Main St., as well as a spacious 14-room home on Market St. In 1870, he owned $40,765 worth of property in the city. Louisville was home to a large German community in the 1800s. Baurmann took an active part in it, including serving as the treasurer for the local opera house. He sold his business to Harvey, Girdler & Co. in 1872; two years later he put his house up for sale and traveled to Europe. The 1880 federal census lists six Baurmann children, three girls and three boys, aged 9-20. Baurmann died in 1884 and is buried in Louisville’s Cave Hill Cemetery.