In the glass gun case is a John Brown pike head. John Brown of Harper's Ferry fame had a connection to Canton. His parents were natives of Canton Center, although John was born in Torrington. John returned here several times to raise money for his anti-slavery work and knew about the Collins Company. On one occasion here he ordered 1000 of these pike heads to be made. He said that when fitted with 61/2 foot poles they would be useful for the poor settlers in Kansas to ward off marauding animals.

Collins Company forges turned out about half of the pike heads and the rest were made by the Chauncey Hart Trap Shop in Unionville,Ct.. The pikes were shipped to Chambersburg, PA with the idea of arming slaves freed by John Brown's Harper's Ferry raid. After the failure of the raid, souvenir hunters appropriated about half of the pikes and the rest went to the Richmond armory. Later in the Civil War some of these were cut shorter and used as sabers by the Confederate cavalry.