It is because of Jack Roy that I collect S&Ws. I used to hang around his shop up until 1976 when he passed away from a heart attack. Jack was a unique person to say the least.
Jack opened his shop in the late 30s or early 40s. Jack made his "seed money" to open it by bringing Canadian Whiskey across the Detroit River during prohibition. Every second home in Detroit and Hamtramck back then either made or sold booze so the only people who looked at this cross eyed were the feds. Different times.
Jack's shop would be hard to duplicate today. Zoning ordinances would have done him in. This was before the EPA, OSHA and all the other agencys existed. He was, as mentioned, right across the street from Hamtramck High School. He had a test range downstairs that ran under his yard. Ammo performance was sometimes tested on a stray cat or two. The shop itself was in the basement of his residence. The unorganized look to his shop was a facade, Jack knew where things were and he had alot of guns and parts stashed away that people would die for today. If you got to know Jack well enough that he trusted you, he'd let you come behind the counter and hang out. This was a dream come true for a young man like myself.
I started hanging around there and met guys like Tom Webster, (a Detroit Police Reservist), Poopsie, The Hill Billy and many other colorful characters.
Probably one of the reasons I was drawn into police work was through meeting some of the Hamtramck Police Officers and Detroit "Stress Cops" when they came in to get more ammo. (Read that last sentence again)
"Stress" was the Detroit Police Decoy Operations unit acronym for , "Stop The Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets". The unit was too successful at a time of racial tensions and was disbanded when Coleman A. Young became Mayor.
Jack was slight in stature but huge in character. Jack was a real old time gunsmith, could fix anything and had parts for just about any gun made. I don't think he threw anything out. With Hamtramck being an onclave of Detroit, we saw a hell of a lot of different guns come through his shop. Jack was always buying police auction guns for parts. It was there that you could handle anything from a 20ga Auto Burglar to Colt 1st Generation SAs.
Always a pot of coffee going in the corner, just the other side of that electrically tripped double barrel, which by the way was a prop that he put there after his knuckle was blown off in a robbery attempt on his shop. Street wise people would notice it right off the bat and it probably deterred alot of problems. After the robbery, Jack nailed up holsters all around the shop behind the counters and stuffed them with cocked and locked 45s. I have one of those guns still. As a matter of fact it was the one stuffed in the holster by the coffee pot.
Jack was survived by his son, Rob Roy who was a principal of Rochester High School back in the 70s.
Good god, I could go on and on. Your post really brought back some memories. I would love to hear about that gun that was shipped to Jack and see a picture of it. Small world isn't it?