Shipped Jan, 1874
No Letter yet.
I am working on documenting the history.
It was owned by four generations going back into a Lawman's career in a very interesting part of the southwest. He was definitely a Lawman in the 1890's, and likely the 1880's.
Stay tuned for more details.....


Cal 44 S&W American
Grips are old elephant ivory.





Four notches.....



I'm certainly no authority on #3's.
Has anyone seen a swivel plugged this way?
The gun wears the original nickel, and this screw is nickeled. It also has manufacturing characteristics consistent with the other screws in the gun that are slightly unusual.
Factory plug?
Aren't serial numbers normally centered?


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10-12-2018
Edited to add:

The letter-






I bought this gun from a man in Texas. He was the fourth generation to own the gun, but had no family to pass it on to.

This is part of an affidavit that he furnished with the gun. I have deleted the rest because it is just the genealogy of the chain of inheritance and he wanted his privacy protected:



Of course, I bought the gun with no premium added for the story.
I did some research on the net and did find some references to the deputy in a county adjacent to Lincoln County in the early to mid 1880s, which was just after Garret's time as sheriff of Lincoln. I intended to do more research, including reading the books about Billy the Kid to see if they contained any references to the gun's owner.
However, after posting the gun here, I took it to the Tulsa show. A man made me an offer I couldn't refuse and I sold it. He was quite enamored with the gun. Later in the show, I walked by his table, and it was quite obvious all kinds of S&W #3s were his specialty.
So, I never did more research.
Who knows? Maybe this gun whacked Billy over the head some Saturday night, or maybe it and Joseph were at the shootout at Stinking Springs.

__________________
Regards,
Lee Jarrett