There's a good article in the November 2017 American Rifleman, written by Jim Wilson, entitled
" Jelly Bryce Oklahoma Gunfighter ". Here's a quote from the article: " At this late date, we don't know for sure, but most historians believe that Bryce used a holster of the Threepersons design as built by S.D. Myres, George Lawrence or A.W. Brill ". There's a full page photo of a stroboscopic image of Bryce drawing, I can't make out the holster but the belt looks like a Myres carved Ranger belt. I believe he's drawing a 3 1/2" .357 Magnum.
Regards,
turnerriver

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turnerriver

It was a good article. IIRC they said he went with the pre Model 27 after they had come out.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

There was a great article written in one of the mainstream gun magazines ( Guns and Ammo, Shooting Times, etc. ) on the life of Jelly Bryce about 15 or 20 years ago.
I have looked on the internet several times trying to find it again, but have had no luck.
Does anyone here have a link to it?
If you have not read it, you are missing a really good story.

Thanks for the heads up, found the article easily online.

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Red Nichols The Holstorian

My American Rifleman came today. I little later out here in the sticks.
Good article by Sheriff Wilson. We had a thread on here a while back,
03/06/2016 titled JELLY BRYCE/FBI HOLSTER CONNECTION. Mike Conti
contributed a few more photos than whats in the article, but still none
clear enough for a positive ID of the holster. We may never know.
But I would venture to guess that he probably had several holsters.

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In Omnia Paratus

As difficult as it is to attract a 'like' from turnerriver, I deleted my post (I do carry on) because Bryce's holster has already been covered thoroughly on this forum here Jelly Bryce's rig and my own was quite speculative.

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Capture.jpg (12.3 KB, 185 views)

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Red Nichols The Holstorian

I liked your speculation too Red. I think the Myres 614 is a very logical
possibility. Here, on the left, is my model 27 4" in Myres 614. On the
right is mdel 10 4" in Heiser's 757.

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	SAM_0237.jpg (135.6 KB, 301 views)
	SAM_0302.jpg (50.8 KB, 264 views)

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In Omnia Paratus

Surfing the net this morning reading bits and pieces
about Jelly Bryce. One I liked said Jelly was so fast that
"criminals who blinked at Jelly died in darkness".

Reminds me of Muhammad Ali who I recall saying
he was so fast he could turn the light off in his
bedroom and get into bed before the room go dark.

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In Omnia Paratus

There's a story from his biography where he and other officers were going after a suspect in a hotel room. They busted in and the suspect went for a gun. Bryce shot him. Witnesses reported hearing one big bang, but it was actually him shooting 6 rounds so fast it sounded like 1 shot. All 6 rounds hit the suspect, IIRC.

Ron Owens book Jelly Bryce Legendary Lawman describes Jelly's personal
holster on pg. 135. He doesn't identify the maker but describes some of
the modifications made to suit Jelly.

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In Omnia Paratus

I don’t recall exactly, but I recall the story as Bryce opening a hotel room door where the suspect he is pursuing is sitting in a bed and leveling a 1911 right at him.

Bryce drew and shot him anyway.

This was first said by Satchel Paige about James "Cool Papa" Bell, the great base stealer of the Negro Leagues. Long ago, Jim White had a call-in radio show evenings on KMOX radio in St. Louis. When the broadcast coalesced around baseball, an elderly gentleman whose name was Jim (I do not recall his last name) frequently told his James "Cool Papa" Bell stories. Mr. White, usually abrupt with callers, would patiently listen to Jim tell his stories about the Negro Leagues. For his patience with an obviously lonely old man, I always admired him.

Short enough passage for you to quote it here?

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Red Nichols The Holstorian

Paraphrase from Ron Owens book Legendary Lawman:
"Raymon Kasbaum, Jelly's step-brother said it (Jelly's holster) was heavily
modified, rear belt loop smaller than front to allow foreward tilt to rock
upon drawing & didn't have a real good hold on the gun." (I think he
meant the holster was loose, not providing a tight hold on the gun so
it would come out quicker.)
This and more at an old thread on here titled "Jelly Bryce/FBI Holster
Connection" dated 03/06/16.

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In Omnia Paratus

Turns out, it was chronicled long ago (1957) that Bryce's holster was a Myres.

Attached is a clip from an article in which Bill Myres, Sam's son, is interviewed for Stan DeLaPlane's column called Postcard, 18 Mar 1957 in The Lincoln Star (NE).

myres_and_jelly_bryce.pdf

Bill also discusses the origin of Jelly's nickname, perhaps from meeting Jelly himself.

Makes sense, Jelly was one of Sam Myres' pallbearers (honorary, I recall) in 1953.

I sent this clipping along to Sheriff Jim Wilson, who has been real helpful to date whilst I research The Book. He also contributed long before now -- I have three of Jim's own columns in my research file, from the mid '70s, that chronicle the ownership changes of Myres during the period.

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Red Nichols The Holstorian

Yes the FBI used the Myres back in the day.

Jelly used a Sw 44spec. Till he changed to the early pre27 N-frame 3.5". One can say when the big wheel turns it carry's on it's job fast. These are smooth shooting at speed with great accuracy.

Not quite that simple, which is why we were examine Jelly's. The F.B.I. used Myres' 614 -- and Heiser's 457, and Crump's version of the Heiser. It was useful, then, to isolate Jelly's from that trio as definitively being Myres, because the recent article in A.R. wondered amongst a half dozen makers -- when the fact is actually known. It was complicated by Lawrence making a clone of the Myres.

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Red Nichols The Holstorian

1 lawrence.jpg The Lawrence

1 myres.jpg The Myres

2 heiser.JPG An early Heiser

4 crump.jpg The Crump version of:

5 heiser.jpg The later Heiser

Saddlery was 'dead' for these makers and they fought hard for holster business anywhere they could find it, including the prestigious F.B.I.

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Red Nichols The Holstorian

Nice Red !!! Nice information and bunch of kit there!! Men like Jellybean were needed and old western lawman to like Frank Hamer . Most of the FBI bean counters were not much of gunslinger. Even true today. I have noticed that all have no straps to slow draw.

One of 'em, at least!

Finally finally finally able to post a clear picture of Jelly's holster, courtesy of his Grandson, who has been of immeasurable help in the quest for more info on his famous Grandpa.

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Holster!.jpg (53.6 KB, 241 views)

Alright, Mike!!! I'll bet turnerriver, Red, and Phil are going to love this!! Good job!! Good hearing from you, too.

Great photo!

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

Fantastic Mike ! I'll send a link to this thread, over to Jim Wilson so he can benefit from your expertise.

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Red Nichols The Holstorian

Good detective work Mike. We all appreciate it. Now we can
all guess exactly what it is.

My guess would be an early Myres #614 kinda like mine.

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SAM_0798.jpg (103.7 KB, 106 views)

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In Omnia Paratus

A few years ago, I carved this lit'l shuck for a 3 1/2" RM.
Jest a tad shorter that the one in the photo that Mike posted of Bryce's rig.



Just all cowhide, like they built em in the good ol days.

Su Amigo,
Dave

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

I’m with Phil, it looks like a Myres to me.
Great photo, thanks for posting it.
Regards,
turnerriver

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turnerriver

Phil,

That lit'l idee works just as well today, as it did back in the day...

Su Amigo,
Dave


.

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

Beautiful work!

Very beautiful .

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Grumpy Old Man With a Gun

I didn't mean to hi-jack Turnerriver's thread with that holster picture.

That style is kinda reminiscent of some I had saw as a youngster in the fifties.

I just kinda drawed on what appeared to work for those that really knew which way was up.
You know, gunmen that had been there and had lived to tell about it.

It has been mentioned that Bryce was fast at handling his sidearm.

I ponder his (Bryce) decisiveness, his ability to asses the situation,
to act with urgency and accuracy in a moment frozen within the contest of life or death.

Bryce's choice of equipment, tells us much today.
As to the simple readiness of a piece of equipment, to be worn
on one's person to make a handgun readily available for use.

Just give me that "Ol Time Religion" & that "Ol Time Leather"

It's good enough for me......


.

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

Have you (or anyone) ever seen that Crump version of the FBI
holster with the "dog ear" like on the Heiser 459 shown below?
Photos please.

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SAM_0802.jpg (88.6 KB, 101 views)

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In Omnia Paratus

I blame turnerriver and mikeconti for inspiring me to do more research on Jelly. Otherwise I'd have not come up with these odd bits because, really, he had little to do with the path of holstory per se:

Jelly, I was reminded, was born not in Oklahoma but in Oklahoma Territory, in what was at the time Kiowa reservation land. Born in 1906 it became Oklahoma in 1907. The other half of it was called Indian Territory until statehood; all the Indian populations had been shifted to these two territories at the end of the 19th century.

He was not born Delph Bryce, but as Jacob A. Bryce. Delph then would have been a nickname and apparently means 'ditch digger'.

His father was married first to Jelly's mother, who died 1921; then remarried. Jelly, b. 1906, is just 15.

The really odd thing: in the 1930 census he reports as a shoe salesman (well, as a 'labourer' in a 'shoe store')! Yet in March of '29 he has killed both Gage and Vaughn as an OKPD detective, and in January '33 is dodging dynamite as an OKPD policeman, and in July '34 has killed O'Donnell (the unnamed man in the AR article) in the infamous "five shots to the head" fast draw gunfight (so far nothing in the many newspaper articles about where the shots struck, though).

His first wife, Minnie, was English and an alien (not naturalised). He made $4200 that year (1940), and owned a $6,700 house.

The "A" is reputed to stand for Adolphus.

He died at a resort very near Vinita OK called the Shangri-La at a gathering of former fed agents. Vinita is the reputed home of Tom Threepersons (we don't know where he was born because Tom Threepersons was an assumed identity), and the actual home of his second wife, Cherokee Lorene Nichols nee Tritthart.

He is buried with his sister Lila and the rest of his family, in a cemetery in Kiowa County OK.

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Red Nichols The Holstorian

These two images were in the original 1945 story but not included in the AR story:

life 12 nov 1945 (3).jpg

life 12 nov 1945 (2).jpg

Stumbled across the findagrave entry for Jelly's son; unsurprisingly (being from Oklahoma and born in Oklahoma Territory himself) Jelly's second wife was Indian. His son is quoted as being proud of being half Scot, half Indian.

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Red Nichols The Holstorian

This story suggests that the man killed, O'Donnell, wasn't actually a crim:

more_details_Bryce_1934.pdf

More a case of being in the wrong place, at the wrong time: Bryce, having been directed to the landlady's room, encountered O'Donnell there who armed himself thinking it was the estranged husband who was charging into the room.

I also found no contemporaneous accounts of O'Donnell being shot in the head. One of the articles, though, explained the crack shooting as Bryce having jumped into the room and once inside, jumping to one side -- and O'Donnell is still reaching for his gun.

Gotta wonder. Jelly Bryce interviewed Matt Kimes in Dec 1945, who was public enemy no. 1, in hospital after Kimes had been hit by a car. But somehow Kimes doesn't survive the surgery the next day . . ..

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Red Nichols The Holstorian

It's a puzzle, this nickname of Adolph Bryce's: "Jelly".

In criminal slang of the early 20th century, a "jellybean" is a lazy person (according to a book of Criminal Slang I located). Doesn't seem like a fit for an FBI agent.

Contemporary to "our" Jelly (Bryce), there was also a notorious bank robber and murderer, Frank "Jelly" Nash, whose attempted rescue (or murder) set off the Kansas City Massacre of 17 June 1933 where he was killed.

Though the 'jellybean' theory has been advanced for Nash, too, a companion theory seems more plausible: gelignite, used in bank robberies on safes, was called 'jelly' for short. What gunman wouldn't want to be nicknamed after that?

Jelly Bryce joined the FBI within about a year.

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Red Nichols The Holstorian

......that struck Kimes at 8:45 pm on the 1st of December 1945 as he tried to cross the street at the intersection of 18th & Pike in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
The driver was Joe Chamblee. The victim who gave his name as Leo Woods was taken to Baptist hospital where $1,635 dollars was found in his pocket. NLRPD found a .38 Special revolver laying in the street at the scene.
His true identity was determined and he remained under police guard with internal injuries, facial lacerations and a badly broken left leg.
On Thursday December 13th at 9:30 Surgeons operated on Kimes because of hemorrhage in his kidney. He died the next morning at 7:45 am.
He is buried in Van Buren, Arkansas.

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LEX ET ORDO

Do you all know that one star means the thread is terrible?
This thread is not terrible. I just tried to remedy the mis-characterization.
A little help if you agree?

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In Omnia Paratus

Thanks for the heads up, Phil. I forgot all about rating the thread. I just added a 5 star vote, if we can get a couple more, it may come up a little more.

This is a great thread, and I thank turnerriver for starting it!! We've had some nice contributions from you and Red Nichols, Mike Conti, Dave Keith, and others!!

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

I have two with the hammer covered.. It's a popular addition

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... fortunate son...