The gunner

Benson, Frank Weston, 1862-1951 · 1915

Malcolm Salaman identified "The Gunner" as a "self-portrayal" in a monograph on Frank Benson published in 1925. Since that time the error has been repeated by other writers. Mr. Benson, however, in a letter to his friend Dan Henderson, identified the subject as Tom Nickerson, whom he also portrayed in "Old Tom" (Ordeman #246). Tom Nickerson was a handyman who worked for Mr. Benson, and his brothers-in-law, Edward Pierson and Maurice Richardson, who shared ownership of "The Farm," a house on Nauset Marsh near Eastville on Cape Cod, which they bought in 1892.