Education was a different proposition back then, compared to now.  A lot of it was on-the-job training.  You got your Nursing or Police Science education not by going to a school, but by following an experienced nurse or cop around, until they could tell you, and their colleagues, that you were qualified.  People took a lot of correspondence courses by mail, and anybody could become a lawyer by “reading the law” on their own, and passing the bar exam.  A lot of judges back then never saw the inside of a law school classroom, and there is nothing in the Constitution that says a judge has to have a law degree.

“Education” as a concept could be abused pretty badly as well.  There were “schools” for quack doctors, that would not only get the “student” up to speed on useless treatments, pills and potions, but would also sell them white coats, stethoscopes, examination couches, even bribe the principal of the high school that you had dropped out of to change the records to show you had graduated.  One of them offered this advice to “students:” “Never call yourself a Doctor; they can get you on that.  But if your patients call you ‘Doctor,’ never contradict them.”

So, ultimately, it’s a by-their-fruits-you-will-know-them thing.  Then, or now, for that matter.  If Pope took classes in strength of materials, metallurgy, practical shop calculations, etc, he was certainly enough of an “engineer” to know his guns and barrels.  Maybe he would have an edge on the guys who simply learned the trade by traditional apprenticeships.  If he’d tried to design a bridge or a skyscraper, maybe not so much.  But, apparently, he knew his limitations there.

Where is all this stuff about Pope’s drug abuse, anyway?  If he spent a week of 16-hour days on each barrel, where would he get the wherewithal to keep himself in smack and blow?  When this English babe starts singing, are we going to hear that Harry was a favored guest on Epstein Island, too?

scharfe wrote on Jul 10^th, 2020 at 10:33am:


Pope's time spent working at Pope Mfg. and what he did there is well documented in several places. Pope's father, and Pope's uncle formed Pope Bros. Mfg. and when Pope's parents died Harry and his sister were raised by their uncle. Pope was born in 1861 and went to work at the renamed Pope Mfg. company in his teens. He took time off in 1881 to attend MIT, and then returned to Pope Mfg. after completing his course at MIT.
He continued to work for his uncle and around age 26 he began to explore making his own gun barrels. His shop was in his home on the upper floor, and he built barrels for his own use, and a few friends, but continued to work for his uncle. 
In 1888 he met Will Hayes at the Newark Schuetzenfest match. Hayes was impressed with Pope's barrel making skill, and introduced him to Schalk, who with Hayes had come up with the breech seating, muzzleloader system Hayes shot. Pope decided to copy Schalk's system, along with Schalk's gain twist rifling, and make himself a similar barrel.
Around 1894-95 Pope went from only building barrels for himself and friends, to offering his barrels to the general public. About this time he also quit working for his uncle, and began making the barrel business his full time job. And of course in May of 1901 he went to work for Stevens.

Did Pope make many if any right twist barrels ?

Well now you have me concerned. I have a Jersey City Pope Hi Wall in .25 Neidner 
Krag. A real tack driver. An obvious Wood Chuck Rifle for some one. I have never
checked it for twist of Rifling. Now I am going to get it out and check it. Only time I fired it was with Remington 100 Gr. bullets. And it shot 8 Rds into a group 1 caliber wide and about 1/2 to 9/16" long at 200 yds.  Decided it was to nice a gun to spoil so set it aside for some future shooter. FITZ, OLD TUCK.

Sad so many want to tear down a man who accomplished a lot in times that were much different than now, what was accepted then a lot different. Attacking him for money problems: it would not have been cheap to move all his equipment to San Francisco, plus secure lodging & a building, losing everything in the earthquake when you were able to finally open shop. Work in San Francisco until you had the money to travel completely across the country again. After he was able to secure the funding for the New Jersey shop, he would have been around 44 yrs. old, at some point he injured his eyes, & an arm in accidents. The only painkillers available then were addictive. I own 2 Pope barreled single shot pistols & 2 Niedner's, I will always be proud of the men who thru their genius, modified them, eventually for me. Whatever Harry M Pope lacked in business acumen, me made up for in pure talent.

The inverse side of the story that can also be considered is that he ran off and abandoned his wife and children when he went to San Francisco.  It is also possible that he never set up shop there, but rather just wasted all his money on drugs and prostitutes.  About the time of the earthquake he had blown his wad and was broke.  He never took employment, but instead sat around and did who knows what until his friends bailed him out.  He never paid his friends back, and ended up alienating himself from Rowland for a simple comment he made.  Rowland was the main financial contributor to helping Pope get back on his feet. I have seen a letter from Rowland to Pope in which Rowland is explaining himself and asking Pope to forgive him, which he never did.  Pope was undoubtedly a very talented barrel maker, very talented marksman, and very much an a-hole.

To me, it is interesting to consider other explanations regardless of how unpopular they are, rather than just accept the fairy tale story that we have been told.
Cody

So very true art_ruggiero I have seen that take place many a time. I have also seen those only in it for the money who hate to get up in the morning to go to a job they diss-like. They may like the money but hating what they do to earn it is not living a good life.

so true John, but many people with families are forced into jobs they actually hate. Such is the world. Other than a summer job while at college, I've always been fortunate to have one I enjoyed. I would like to think Pope enjoyed his.


Aaron