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Copyright © 2003-2004 Phil Elmore, all rights
reserved.
The Billy Club as Link to History
By Phil Elmore
I had a fascinating conversation with one of the veteran
technical writers at work one day. He’s an old guy, a senior citizen who
works part time while officially retired. He’s also a character. I
like him quite a bit and it’s funny to hear him tell stories of his early days
working in the field. (He has a background that includes welding,
technician work, and other activities.)
We got to talking about the manufacture of homemade
impact weapons
and he mentioned that he used to make billy clubs as a kid.
Special thanks are due to the provider of these photos.
It turns out that when he was in high school, his shop class
produced these beautiful billy clubs of solid maple, manufactured from old
bowling pins turned on the shop lathes. They would hollow out one end of the
club, fill it with molten lead
, and then cap it.
In shop class.
In high school.
Imagine suggesting such a thing today. There was
substantive benefit to the community from the activity. The clubs were
produced for the local police department.
“They used those things back then, too,” he
told me, chuckling.
I mentioned this story to my manager, who said that he received
a similar billy club when he was fifteen or sixteen. His father was a
prison guard who worked at both the Attica and Auburn correctional
facilities.
At the time the inmates engaged in rehabilitative activities
that included woodworking. Perhaps twice a year the prison would have some
sort of craft show at which the inmates could sell what they’d made and add the
profits to their accounts. My manager’s father bought the billy club from
such an inmate and gave it to his son at some point during the early 1980s.
“I think he had it in his closet for a while,” my
manager commented. “I think I probably asked him for it.”
“He was never that into the weapons,” he went on
thoughtfully. “You could almost say he had a distaste for them.
I’m sure he could have defended himself if he needed to, but he preferred not to
carry them.”
These clubs, and the individuals who used them as they were
meant to be used, are part of a different era. Looking at them from where
I sit, I am fascinated by how quickly society evolves, how rapidly accepted
behavior is replaced with different standards of conduct. It is as if I
gaze on an entirely different world.
Terra incognita, indeed.