Posted on 02/25/2009 7:05:32 AM PST by holymoly
NAHANT - An old World War I artifact that was locked away in the attic of the library for decades and had most recently been stored in a police evidence locker has found a new home.
A Maxim machine gun originally captured and retrieved by the 17 survivors of Sergeant Alvin York's platoon is about to embark on what may be its final journey to the Museum of Appalachia in Norris, Tenn.
The gun was surrendered among other weapons in 1918 when 132 Germans were taken prisoner. The gun was sent to Nahant by Mayland Lewis, an Army clerk serving in France who took the first shorthand report of the battle from York.
The gun was exhibited as a trophy of war in the town's 1919 welcome home parade. It was placed in a red wagon that was pulled by Boy Scouts and, following the parade, Lewis presented the weapon to the Nahant Public Library. The gun was relinquished to the attic of the public library and it was rediscovered in 2003 when Library Director Daniel deStefano literally tripped over it.
The Board of Library Trustees looked into selling the weapon at auction but found itself in a Catch 22. The gun had never been registered so it is classified as an unregistered automatic weapon, which means the library could not sell it or keep it. After the gun was rediscovered, it was transferred to an evidence locker at the Nahant Police station where it has remained.
Compared to modern machine guns, the Maxim was heavy, bulky and awkward. Even though one person could fire the gun, it was usually operated by a team of men. The cooling mechanism of the weapon needed a constant supply of water in order to produce a continuous stream of fire and several men were needed to move or shift its position.
Library Trustee John Welch said the library and Nahant Historical Society tried to find a way to keep the historic gun, which is fully functional, in town but that proved impossible. The only option open to the library was to destroy the gun or to transfer it to a museum that receives federal funding so the Board of Library Trustees entered into an agreement with the Museum of Appalachia, which is building an exhibit around the weapon.
"We can't give it to Nahant Historical Society," he said. "It has to be donated to a museum that gets federal funding. So we're donating it to the Museum of Appalachia and the museum is making a $10,000 donation to our building fund. We'd much rather see the gun at the Nahant Historical Society but the government won't let us do that."
Welch said the Maxim is believed to be the last surviving weapon captured by York so it is historically very significant.
"York was from Tennessee so he's a local hero down there," he said. "The museum has a whole exhibit dedicated to York."
But before the weapon is shipped off to Appalachia, area residents will have an opportunity to see the historic Maxim. On Sunday, March 22 from 2:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m., the weapon will be on display in the library. Welch said police officers would transport the gun to the library and for a $5 donation to the Friends of the Nahant Public Library, area residents can have their picture taken with the World War I artifact.
Here's an earlier article on the machine gun, & Alvin York (includes a pic of the machine gun):
Nahant Library would like to sell historic WWI machine gun
Nothing less than I would expect from our “highly competent” ATF.
I’m glad to hear the weapon has been saved and will be preserved and taken care of.
The ATF probably wouldn’t be so paranoid if it weren’t for the large number of people carrying the 100 pound MG08s into banks and schools.
survivors of the platoon told their families that York is a LIAR and never did what he was credited with!! This video is an hour long and has 8 family members of the survivors of York's platoon with original letters and newspaper clippings and also quotes from the German officer who flat out denies they had the amount of guns the account said they did
It has to be worth far maore than $10,000
bump for later viewing
Sacrilege! Blasphemer! Odious One! I saw the movie 100 times and it always has the same number of Germans, and the same number of guns! Back to the darkness from which you came!!!!!!!
The Museum is literally right up the road from here. I’ll have to go up there and see the Maxim that York and his platoon captured.
Historic note-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Percy_Maxim
Hiram Percy Maxim (September 2, 1869 – February 17, 1936) was co-founder of the American Radio Relay League and originally had the amateur call sign 1AW, and later W1AW, which is now the ARRL Headquarters club station call sign.
Maxim is also noted as the inventor of the “Maxim Silencer”, a suppressor for firearms (patented in 1909) as well as of a silencer (or muffler) for gasoline engines.
—
Not from Hiram Percy Maxim-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_gun
The Maxim gun was the first self-powered machine gun, invented by the American-born Briton Sir Hiram Maxim in 1884.
At that time Will Rogers was making jokes about how the army had to train with wooden guns and yell "bang" and how there were so few macine guns that few in the military had ever seen one, this was just a few years before WWII. It appears that our current crop of RATS want US to be just as prepared as that today.
My grandfather was commander of an armored cavalry recon platoon during the 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers. His “light tanks” were trucks with the word tank painted on their sides.
Would be more believable if they hadn’t begun by mis-spelling “sergeant.”
bump
The reason for the Luger is that a 1911 won’t cycle blanks
a Luger will.FYI, in The Fighting 69th watch the scene where the officers are shooting at the Germans with pistols, one has a 1911 and one has a Colt 1905(which will cycle blanks). Whoever is shooting has the 1905 and they keep trading gun throughout the scene.
LOL
Fascinating Ping
Interesting article.
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