H&FC Magazine's Fiction Writer

Hunting & Fishing Collectibles Magazine's Second Best Fiction Writer, Francis D. Murphy



     Over the years, Frank Murphy has written  so called "articles" for Decoy Magazine and now for H&FC Magazine.  His articles are absolutely worthless to the novice or serious decoy collector.
The only facts that can be found in his writings are facts that have no bearing on the decoys in his stories.


It is quite evident that Stanley Van Etten's magazine has no standards and does no fact checking, which is why Frank Murphy is a perfect fit for H&F Collectibles Magazine.  Frank has been a decoy collector for years and is a charter member of L.I.D.C.A., and he is another self-proclaimed decoy expert who has never done any firsthand research on Long Island decoys.  He was always a low-end collector and a protégé for Bob Gerard and George Combs Jr.


When I joined the L.I.D.C.A., most of the early members had left the club.  Frank Murphy, Bob Gerard, Bud Ward and others no longer came to meetings.  The Combs, George Sr., "Pop" Sr. and George Jr. had moved to Maryland's Eastern Shore.  But many of those old members did come to the June Homecoming meeting dinner, which the club no longer does.


The club had blown it's self apart in the late 1980's and early1990's.  The two main antagonist were Bud Ward vs. Bob Gerard who were at odds over many issues.  The annual decoy show was held at the Ward Melville High School and they were great shows.  I think the last show held there was somewhere between 1990-1992.  The rumor was that Bob Gerard had convinced the high school not to rent the space to the club anymore. 


A club member suggested we do the annual show in East Hampton L.I. in partnership with the Rotary Club, of which he was also a member.  We held two shows in East Hampton that were disastrous, and we had a dwindling bank account and membership.  It did not look good for the future of the club.  We were also mailing out newsletters to over 100 people, but we only had around 35 paying members.  We had around $1,200.00 in the bank.


I was asked to run for the president position. I agreed that if I won, I would hold the position for only one year, but in that year, I would try to breath some life back into the association.  I ended up staying in that position for three years, and when I stepped down, the club had over $13,000.00 in the bank because of 3 straight years of profitable well-attended shows.  We also had signed up many new (paying) members during that time.


The success of the club during my tenure as president brought back some of the old members who had left. That is when Bob Gerard and Frank Murphy came back.  All the fresh new members were like blood in the water to the sharks, especially Bob Gerard.  All these new members, many neophytes, represented fresh, gullible collectors to pawn off unwanted, fake or worthless decoys on to.  Some of the older members who had never left the club wanted me to prevent Gerard and Murphy from returning to the club. I said that I would not attempt to ban anyone, not even Gerard and Murphy.


Frank Murphy and Bob Gerard were always the proverbial turds in the punch bowl.  At meetings they objected to any new ideas members might have to try to improve the club.  After Gerard died, Frank assumed the position as head curmudgeon.  The only ideas that Frank usually came up with were ridiculous.  Like deputizing club members as a security force for the annual decoy show who would watch for thieves stealing decoys and people slipping in for free.  The attendance for the shows had fallen off and Frank thought that the drop in the gate was due to people slipping in.  His security force would put an end to the huge number people slipping in for free, which of course was just as fictional as his writings.  The only good idea Frank ever had was to raise the entry fee to the annual decoy show.


However any time Frank Murphy decides to write what he calls an "article", well that's never a good idea.  For example, his two so-called articles on Long Island shorebird decoys (Part One& Part Two) found in Hunting&Fishing Collectibles Magazine, July /August 2015 issue, "Long Island Shorebird Decoys Early Long Island Decoys" and July/August 2016 issue "Long Island Shorebird Decoys The Golden Age."

                                                                Part One


On page 46, it begins with a fictional story which is totally devoid of any facts pertaining to the decoys pictured in his fable, and nothing on early L.I. shorebird decoys.  The facts that are presented in Frank's fable have nothing to do with the decoys in the accompanying photos in Frank's story, and once again, have on bearing on early L.I. decoys.  Frank also writes with the simplicity and imagination of an 8th grade English student who envisions his future to be a great America writer.  His writings are painful to get through; chalk on the blackboard screech painful.  Some of Frank writings are reminiscent of a Joel Barber scenario from his book Wildfowl Decoys.  Frank Murphy's so-called "article" is pure fiction!


And once again, we find editor Stanley Van Etten does not understand that there is a difference between fiction and fact.


Fictional: Imaginary, made-up, unfitted, fabricated, myth.


Fact: Anything true, Anything actually existent.  Any statement strictly true.


I would advise, no make that urge, Editor/ Publisher Van Etten to have theses two definitions placed on a large sign and install it in his office where it will be readily accessible to his view at all times.


Frank Murphy begins his story with a fictional, nameless old man who has no bearing on the decoy photographs used in his story.  "The old man was just leaving the haberdashery shop.  He was sporting a brand new hat and why not? For tomorrow was Easter Sunday."  There are nearly two pages of fiction on "the old man".


Frank then tries his hand at anthropology when he writes of Long Islands (mythical) 13 Indian Sub- tribes.  At one time all Long Island school children learned that there were 13 original Indian tribes on Long Island when the Europeans arrived.  This Eurocentric absurdity has not been taught in public or private schools, or accepted by historians, anthropologists, colleges and universities for over 30 years.  Today it is accepted that two Algonquian speaking nations lived on Long Island when the Dutch began their invasion of what would become New York.  Some of what is today western Long Island, including Brooklyn, Queens and Nassau County where part of the larger territory of the Lenape Nation (also known as the Delaware Indians).  The Eastern End of Long Island (Suffolk County) was the territory of what today is referred to as the Montauk or Montaukett Confederacy, which is wrong as Montauk was actually a place name or village site, not a tribal name.


It is interesting that Frank claims Indians on Long Island used decoys very sparingly. What would this be based on?  Indians all across the North America used decoys to attract all types of game.  Frank also credits "the white man"with creating the decoys we know today. Really?  I think Charles Bunn made decoys like we know today.


Frank, like most Americans, has no idea what great art was produced by the indigenous people of the Americas for thousands of years prior to metal tools, prior to the arrival of as Frank writes, "the white man", and Europe's iron and steal tools.  Frank most likely gets all his Indian information from old Bonanza episodes.


Frank goes on to describe roothead decoys.  He doesn't know that the majority are not rootheads.  Most are limb heads.  But then, Frank is fiction writer.


Frank also describes a snipe shooting Currier & Ives print without any shorebird decoys in the print.  He tells of the artist who did the painting for the print, and her alcoholic husband who died when he fell down his stairs.  Nothing about early L.I. shorebirds.


Frank also writes of Henry Hudson seeing shorebirds on his way up the Hudson, which adds absolutely nothing to the knowledge of who made the decoys in the photos in Frank's little story.  And once again, nothing about "early Long Island shorebird decoys".


On page 47, he has 3 decoys he lists as by John Henry Verity (1788-1866).  There has never been any proof for this attribution and Frank presents no proof for his claim for J.H.Verity as the maker.  Frank also shows two shorebird decoys; he attributes one to George Verity and the other to Theodore Rogers rig, and once again, there has never been any documentation for both attributions, and again, Frank presents on documentation for the two attributions.


On page 49, there are three East End plover decoys.  No one knows who the maker of these decoys was, however, Frank refers to them as the work of Lafayette Seabury (see Long Island Decoy Forum: The Seabury Fabrication).  The synopsis of the Seabury fabrication was that it was perpetrated by Timmy Sieger, the present president of L.I.D.C.A (see the September/October 2001 issue of H&FC Magazine in the section called "My Favorite 5").


But where else would you go for decoy fiction than H&F Collectibles Magazine?  This is where Tim establishes Seabury as the maker of the plovers, without presenting any evidence at all for his claim, and he hasn't any.


Frank has photos of other shorebirds listed George Verity and Theodore Rogers, once again, presenting no evidence for the claim for the maker as none has been offered in the past.


To finish up, Frank continues his fictitious story of the nameless old man going to bed (as visions of shore birds danced in his head). This is so embarrassingly sophomoric, that you would assume  it was written by a child.  When I have ask non decoy collectors to read this short story, none can believe that anyone would print Frank's fable. Many wondered why the editor hadn't rejected it.


In the future, when Stanley publishes fiction it should be labeled as such, and not referred to as an article.  I do realize it would be harder to fill his pages, and it calls into question everything printed in his magazine.


I do have an idea for an article For H&F Collectibles Magazine.  Stanley shpuld ask Ronnie McGrath to write the story he told me about years ago.  Ron had said Bill Mackey sold him some roothead shorebirds. Ronnie later found out that they were fakes. He was hopping mad and called Mackey threatening to expose him. Mackey claimed they were real. Then Mackey sent early collector/dealer King Hemming to try to get back the rootheads.  After lots of negotiating, in the end Mackey, through King Hemming,  had to give Ronnie a bunch of decoys to get back his fake rootheads.  Now that would be a good story for Ronnie to write.  That would be something Ronnie actually knows about.


Next will be my review of Part II of Frank Murphy's second "article" on L.I. shorebird decoys, "The Golden Age".

Charles Bunn and the Gilded Age

In the articles in Decoy Magazine on Charles Sumner Bunn and his work, Joe Jannsen and I have referenced the Martinez transcripts.

The Martinez transcripts were compiled from tape recordings made in the 1980's and 1990's by David Martine, Charles Bunn's great-grandson. These tapes were made in order to capture the memories of Charles Bunn's daughter, Mrs.Alice Martinez (1901-1992), Mrs. Martinez' son, David W. Martinez (1922-1987), and her daughter and David's mother Marjorie C. Martinez (1928-1998).  Much of the transcripts were were used in David Martine's book on his family titled, Time And Memories Histories And Stories of A Shinnecock-Apache-Hungarian Family printed in 2013.  Some of transcripts may not be accurate in all instances as memories are not always accurate, especially in your late 80's and early 90's.  For instance, when Mrs.Martinez said she thought he used chestnut wood for his decoys, Bunn actually used native white cedar.  But much of it is very accurate and is backed up with independent corroborating evidence, sometimes from multiple sources.  I was given the transcript by David Martine at the beginning of my research into Bunn's life.  They have been instrumental in our research.


The photo of Bunn at the 1906 Sportsmen's Show at Madison Square Garden was not known of until 1993 when Charles Bunn's last surviving daughter, Helen Bunn Smith, passed away.  The photo came into the possession of David Martine.  But it wasn't until 1997 when John A. Strong published his book, The Algonquian Peoples of Long Island From Earliest Times to 1700.  In the book John wrongly date the photo c.1920 and it would not be until 2002 when I discovered the book that the decoy collecting world learned of the photo and Charles Bunn.


The only reference to Bunn as carver prior to my research was Bob Gerard's Decoy Magazine May/ June 1997 "article", which was the reprinted chapter in Gaynell Stone's book on the Shinnecock people.  However, Gerard did not, or could not, tie the Bunn stool to those that were being called Bowman's because the photo that would do so was not discovered until 2002.


The description of Charles Bunn's s booth at the old Madison Square Garden Sportsmen's Show undoubtedly came from family oral history and the now well known 1906 photo.  In the transcripts she mentions her father having a "concession stand" at the annual Sportsmen's Show where he "sold all he brought (decoys) and took many orders."


In Bunn's last interview in April of 1952, he relates that he had been too sick to work but that "the sports are still after me and I could sell all I could make."  The article also tells of his being famous for his decoys and that he had attended the Sportsmen's Show annually for many years.


In the transcripts are many references to Bunn as a professional hunting guide.  We also learn the names of some of his clients and that he also gave hunting lessons to the sons of the wealthy "summer colonists".  Bunn also taught them and their children to sail.  The transcripts have been instrumental in connecting Bunn to other documented sources, as in the cases of the Munn, Edgar and Ives families. 


In the transcripts, Mrs.Martinez spoke of Charles Bunn's grandfather, James Bunn (1810-1895), when she said, "My father learned all his hunting skills from his grandfather James Bunn."  Among those hunting skills Charles Bunn learned would have been the making and use of bird decoys.  For most of James Bunn's life, he would have hunted for his family and most likely for the market. It would only be in the last fifteen years of his life that new era of economic opportunities came to Southampton. Southampton had been a rustic backwater made up of baymen, farmers, whalers and shopkeepers. This all changed when the Long Island Railroad came to town.


As a boy, Charles Bunn would have been a witness to the laying of the tracks and the building of the first Southampton Railroad Station in 1871.  The Southampton Station would be instrumental in Charles Bunn creating the very successful career that he enjoyed thoughtout his lifetime as a decoy maker, guide, farmer, and by giving hunting and sailing lessons.  Charles Bunn was born at just the right time to ride the wave of the Gilded Age and develop into the greatest shorebird decoy carver in America.


Prior to the railroad coming to Southampton, Southampton would have been a long tiring ride by stagecoach or wagon.  Boats were the only other option with its inherent hazards.  The railroad brought quick access to Long Island's South Fork.  Now the wealthy created what Mark Twain christened the "Gilded Age".  The wealthy who came to Southampton were a combination of "old money" and "new money" just as it is today.  


In 1877, the first "summer colonists",  Dr, T. Gallard Thomas, a renowned surgeon, began building his "summer cottage" named "The Dunes"on what is now prestigious Gin Lane.  Orson Munn Jr's. home, "The Arches", was also built on Gin Lane by his father around 1928.  In 1877, when the first summer home was built, Charles Bunn would have been 14 years of age and in school. However, he would have alredy spent much of his life learning and working with his grandfather.  He would have been learning from a very early age the skills that he would need to survive on the Shinnecock Reservation, as rural children did then and still do today.


The new summer colonists brought a windfall of cash to Southampton and to the Shinnecock Reservation. Many of the local Southampton people lived a subsistence lifestyle.  They followed seasonal opportunities; fin-fishing, shell-fishing, farming, market gunning, whaling and mercantile interests.  The new summer colonists needed servants, laborers, gardeners, hunting guides, sailing instructors and grocers. By 1890, The Shinnecock Hills Golf Club offered employment to many of the men living on the reservation.  Charles Bunn's brother, Oscar Bunn, became a well-known golf pro there.


All these new sources of income on Long Island's East End were especially welcome in the face of a rapidly declining whaling industry.  Many of Long Island's East Enders, including many from Shinnecock Reservation, sailed around the world on whaling ships, or found work supplying and servicing the whaling industry, which by 1870 was in steep decline. Whales were becoming scarce after their unrestrained slaughter, and whale oil lamps were being replaced by the emerging petroleum industry's kerosene lamps and gas light. Additionally, electricity in urban areas began to light America's dark nights.


Charles Bunn's grandfather James most likely made decoys.  Being where he lived and his economic situation, it is doubtful that he would have bought decoys.  He may have also used call ducks and geese as his grandson Charles Bunn did, but for snipe shooting, he would have used wooden and or cork stool.


Charles Bunns father, David Bunn (1829-1876), was a whaler and was said by Mrs. Martinez to have carved whale ivory. Whether or not he made gunning stool is unknown.  As a whaler he was away from the reservation much of time, which is the reason Charles Bunn would have learned his hunting skills from his grandfather, and not his father who died when Charles Bunn was around 11 years old.


Most likely a carving tradition existed at the Shinnecock Reservation, spanning at least from the 19th and 20th centuries, and at least in the Bunn family.  There may have also been other undocumented carvers present on the reservation.  The Bunn family's artistic endeavors didn't end with Charles Bunn.  His grandson, David Waukus Martinez (1922-1987), was a talented carver of decorative birds and wood sculptures.  He never carved working decoys and he didn't hunt.


David Martine received an Art Degree from the University Oklahoma.  He is best known for his large murals depicting Long Island's native peoples in their daily lives.  At this time, he is the director/curator of the Shinnecock Museum and Cultural Center, a position he has held for many years.

What are the Charles Bunn Cork Decoys

We have both oral and documented history for Charles Bunn as a maker of cork stool, yet there have not been to my knowledge any cork stool that in the past were identified as by William (Bill) Bowman, or to my knowledge there have never been any cork birds offered for sale or exhibited as by Bowman.

In an interview with the late Orson Munn Jr., he told me when he wanted his own duck stool in the 1940's, so his father told him, "Go see Charley Bunn." Orson did just that and he said he "bought Charles Bunn's broadbill and black duck cork stool."   None of the stool that he had bought from Bunn were still in his possession when I met him.  In fact, I sold his last working rig and other old stool he had when he quit gunning in the 1990's.

In the 1952 News Review article on Bunn, it mentions that, "Charles Bunn makes decoys or 'stool' that Long Islanders call the wood and cork replicas of game birds which they attempt to entice the wild variety into gun range."  I know of no cork stool that resemble the classic 1906 floating stool formerly called  William (Bill) Bowman decoys.

So what would Bunn's cork stool look like?