To the horror of thousands

June 30, 2009 – 6:23 pm
Posted in Gun violence, Suicide, Workplace safety

FriscomaniaA Baltimore Afro-American, June 24, 1905. I’ve got no complaints about the vividness of the prose here–especially the awesome kicker–but this story is a little bit under-reported. One infers that the maniac Lobb was a sniper shooting from some lofty vantage point. Mounting mayhem after the jump. Friscomania2A Give it up to Lobb for marksmanship. But there’s curiously low lethality here in relation to the impressive number of head shots. What the hell kind of weapon was he using? Friscomania3A Some San Francisco cops were totally earning their paychecks on this particular Saturday in the summer of 1905.

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3 Comments

- AlphaGeek
- Posted July 2, 2009 at 12:54 am
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This is a gross over-simplification, but in 1905 most mass-produced handguns you might find in a city-dweller’s hands, and even some military-issue models, were chambered for small, relatively weak rounds of .32 caliber or smaller. A .25 or .32 revolver might be able to take off the top of your head at point-blank range, but it should be clear from the article that such weapons were seriously lacking in stopping power. This led directly to the development of the .38, the .357, and the (by comparison) ridiculously powerful Colt 1911 in .45 caliber to take down opponents who would keep fighting after you fired 6 rounds of .32 into them.
- - mrparallel
  - Posted July 2, 2009 at 3:05 am
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  Huh! So Edwardian snipers wielded kinder, gentler guns. That’s very interesting, thanks.
- quincy
- Posted July 3, 2009 at 5:21 pm
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I was kinda hoping that Quong Do would prove to be The Italian in this particular tableau , but sadly , no. Also I love the sound of the last line , about the neighborhood being near the heart of the city. It seems to work on many levels.

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