Smith & Wesson Forum

Go Back   Smith & Wesson Forum > Smith & Wesson Revolvers > S&W Antiques
o

Notices

S&W Antiques S&W Lever Action Pistols, Tip-Up Revolvers, ALL Top-Break Revolvers, and ALL Single Shots


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 10-30-2020, 10:32 PM
lwood92 lwood92 is offline
SWCA Member
Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun...  
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 67
Likes: 218
Liked 386 Times in 48 Posts
Default Just for fun...

This is John Wesley Hardin's OOM Russian he used to shoot Deputy Charles Webb in a fair fight in Comanche, TX, May 26, 1874. Hardin served 17 of a 25 year sentence in the State Penitentiary for the killing.

I thought it would fun to try some different setups. Also pictured are the holster, belt and belt buckle. I don't believe the belt has ever been photographed before.

Hope you enjoy!
Attached Images
File Type: jpg 20201023-_DSC0005-Edit.jpg (102.9 KB, 188 views)
File Type: jpg 20201023-_DSC9957-Edit.jpg (87.4 KB, 181 views)
File Type: jpg 20201023-_DSC9963-Edit.jpg (82.5 KB, 172 views)
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 10-30-2020, 11:14 PM
BC38's Avatar
BC38 BC38 is offline
Member
Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun...  
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Spokane, WA
Posts: 13,481
Likes: 1,155
Liked 18,412 Times in 7,285 Posts
Default

So Hardin was a lefty eh?
__________________
Send lawyers, guns & money...
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 10-31-2020, 12:01 AM
CQB27's Avatar
CQB27 CQB27 is offline
US Veteran
Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun...  
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Lavender Mtn, Georgia
Posts: 1,329
Likes: 4,644
Liked 4,059 Times in 680 Posts
Default

Was this the man he shot for snoring?
I kid. I kid.

When I was a little boy there was a TV commercial selling some Time/Life book series about the old west and the narrator always said “John Wesley Harding, He was so mean he once shot a man for snoring!”

Great photos by the way!

Last edited by CQB27; 10-31-2020 at 01:15 AM.
Reply With Quote
The Following User Likes This Post:
  #4  
Old 10-31-2020, 01:55 AM
lwood92 lwood92 is offline
SWCA Member
Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun...  
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 67
Likes: 218
Liked 386 Times in 48 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by BC38 View Post
So Hardin was a lefty eh?
I suspect Hardin was very capable with either hand. However, this gun was worn on his right hip. The grip faced forward and the gun was Calvalry or twist drawn.

Last edited by lwood92; 10-31-2020 at 01:58 AM.
Reply With Quote
The Following 7 Users Like Post:
  #5  
Old 10-31-2020, 01:56 AM
lwood92 lwood92 is offline
SWCA Member
Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun...  
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 67
Likes: 218
Liked 386 Times in 48 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by CQB27 View Post
Great photos by the way!
Thank you!
Reply With Quote
The Following User Likes This Post:
  #6  
Old 10-31-2020, 08:42 AM
ol777gunnerz's Avatar
ol777gunnerz ol777gunnerz is offline
Member
Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun...  
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Kansas
Posts: 766
Likes: 4,247
Liked 1,566 Times in 412 Posts
Default snoring

Quote:
Originally Posted by CQB27 View Post
Was this the man he shot for snoring?
I kid. I kid.

When I was a little boy there was a TV commercial selling some Time/Life book series about the old west and the narrator always said “John Wesley Harding, He was so mean he once shot a man for snoring!”

Great photos by the way!
Hardin was sleeping in a room in Abilene, Ks., the man in a room next to him kept snoring very loudly, so Hardin got mad & fired a shot through the wall into the next room, which happened to hit the man & killed him. Hardin fled Abilene as Wild Bill Hickok was city marshal at the time.
Reply With Quote
The Following User Likes This Post:
  #7  
Old 10-31-2020, 08:46 AM
ol777gunnerz's Avatar
ol777gunnerz ol777gunnerz is offline
Member
Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun...  
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Kansas
Posts: 766
Likes: 4,247
Liked 1,566 Times in 412 Posts
Default lefty?

Quote:
Originally Posted by lwood92 View Post
I suspect Hardin was very capable with either hand. However, this gun was worn on his right hip. The grip faced forward and the gun was Calvalry or twist drawn.
Hardin carried 2 revolvers much of the time he was notorious for, in a vest made special for them, doing a cross draw to remove them, which was how he was arrested on the train when he tangled his arms trying to draw them on a possee.
Reply With Quote
The Following 3 Users Like Post:
  #8  
Old 10-31-2020, 10:22 AM
lwood92 lwood92 is offline
SWCA Member
Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun...  
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 67
Likes: 218
Liked 386 Times in 48 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by ol777gunnerz View Post
Hardin carried 2 revolvers much of the time he was notorious for, in a vest made special for them, doing a cross draw to remove them, which was how he was arrested on the train when he tangled his arms trying to draw them on a possee.
In Marohn's book The Last Gunfighter, Marohn talks about the capture on the train by the Texas Rangers and that his Colt .44 got caught in his suspenders. But he quotes Texas Ranger Captain John Armstong as saying "Hardin could not draw it readily because it was strapped onto his suspenders." Not in a vest.

Marhon also quotes Carl Longuemare. Carl was a teenager in El Paso who would visit Hardin often to deliver the newspaper and also collect the fee for the paper. Hardin liked the boy and would let him watch him practice drawing. Carl recalled "he carried his weapons in shoulder holsters, concealed under his coat....He drew his right pistol with his right hand, the left with his left hand, in a sort of curving overhand motion that seems clumsy in the telling. But when Hardin did it, the weapons appeared in his hands with what almost seemed sleight-of-hand."
Reply With Quote
The Following User Likes This Post:
  #9  
Old 10-31-2020, 01:00 PM
BMur BMur is offline
Member
Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun...  
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 2,846
Likes: 1,780
Liked 4,511 Times in 1,658 Posts
Default Hardin Artifacts

Dr. Marohn was a huge Hardin fan and collector.

I was fortunate enough to attend his Estate sale and auction preview on October 16, 1996 at Butterfield & Butterfield in San Francisco of all places. It was beyond amazing.

Dr. Marohn had a huge collection of documents, guns, cards, and even the death bullet of the late John Wesley.
Towards the end of his life Hardin preferred double action revolvers like the Colt Lightning/thunderer and also the Smith & Wesson 44 double action in 44WCF. The 44 Smith & Wesson is what he was carrying the night he was killed in the Acme saloon.

John Wesley Hardin would shoot playing cards for money and demonstrate his shooting skills. His cousin was the notorious "Killin" Jim Miller see photo...He was a proven killer for hire and often wore a metal breast plate to protect himself in gun fights. It saved his life a few times....But he was ultimately killed by town vigilantes that were sick of his murdering and had a hanging party in an old barn. I guess the steel breast plate didn't help him there. He's the one in the left of the photo still wearing his hat, hanging with his murdering buddies

Murph

Last edited by BMur; 10-31-2020 at 01:12 PM.
Reply With Quote
The Following 2 Users Like Post:
  #10  
Old 10-31-2020, 03:19 PM
crossv crossv is offline
Member
Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun...  
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 327
Likes: 432
Liked 480 Times in 133 Posts
Default Jim Miller

A little more details on Jim Miller to close the loop relative to Hardin. My father John H. Wilson was one of the founding members of S&WCA and originally purchased the Hardin gun from Roy Sherrill because he knew the story all his life. My sister published a biography of our father based on tape recorded interviews and I will attach a few pages to give the relationship with our family and Jim Miller. My grandfather, Pat Wilson, was a contemporary of Jim Miller and it started with fights over land near Pecos, TX. Our land in that area is still in the family today. Jim Miller was not a blood relative of Hardin but was married to Hardin's cousin Sallie. So the attached is sort of from the horses mouth, so to speak.
Attached Files
File Type: pdf Jim_Miller_1.pdf (1.19 MB, 43 views)
File Type: pdf Jim_Miller_2.pdf (1.22 MB, 29 views)
File Type: pdf Jim_Miller_3.pdf (1.22 MB, 23 views)
File Type: pdf Jim_Miller_4.pdf (1.27 MB, 26 views)
File Type: pdf Jim_Miller_5.pdf (1.39 MB, 32 views)
Reply With Quote
The Following 6 Users Like Post:
  #11  
Old 10-31-2020, 03:24 PM
crossv crossv is offline
Member
Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun...  
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 327
Likes: 432
Liked 480 Times in 133 Posts
Default Jim Miller continued

Wrapup images
Attached Images
File Type: jpg hardin_grip_left.jpg (94.1 KB, 59 views)
File Type: jpg hardin_grip_right.jpg (90.7 KB, 51 views)
Attached Files
File Type: pdf Jim_Miller_6.pdf (991.2 KB, 52 views)

Last edited by crossv; 11-06-2020 at 10:12 AM.
Reply With Quote
The Following 2 Users Like Post:
  #12  
Old 10-31-2020, 04:24 PM
JSR III's Avatar
JSR III JSR III is offline
SWCA Member
Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun...  
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Massachusetts USA
Posts: 9,575
Likes: 3,695
Liked 8,924 Times in 3,545 Posts
Default

WOW very cool guys, thanks for sharing. This is the part of collecting that makes it all worth while.

Where/how did you acquire the gun? The back story is sometimes very fascinating.
__________________
James Redfield
LM #497
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 10-31-2020, 06:39 PM
BMur BMur is offline
Member
Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun...  
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 2,846
Likes: 1,780
Liked 4,511 Times in 1,658 Posts
Default Prices realized

I still have my prices realized sheet from the 1996 Auction and Hardin's guns sold for quite a bit.

Engraved 41 Thunderer :Hardin used to Rob the Gem saloon(he claimed to get his losses back) sold for : $112,000

Inscribed 38 Lightning given to him by Jim Miller along with a personalized watch( for saving his neck in court for a murder that he committed) $189,500

I'm not sure what they would sell for today.

Murph
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 10-31-2020, 10:23 PM
lwood92 lwood92 is offline
SWCA Member
Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun... Just for fun...  
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 67
Likes: 218
Liked 386 Times in 48 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by JSR III View Post
WOW very cool guys, thanks for sharing. This is the part of collecting that makes it all worth while.

Where/how did you acquire the gun? The back story is sometimes very fascinating.
Here is a little bit of the story. I displayed at the 2018 NRA Annual Meeting in Dallas where this pistol received an NRA Silver Medal and the holster was awarded a Special Recognition award which is given to non-gun items. So, Jim asked if we would do an interview there for NRA TV. I was quite nervous!


Last edited by lwood92; 11-06-2020 at 10:04 AM.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
Forum Jump

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
smith-wessonforum.com tested by Norton Internet Security smith-wessonforum.com tested by McAfee Internet Security

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:53 AM.


Smith-WessonForum.com is not affiliated with Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (NASDAQ Global Select: SWHC)