Ol' Drover
SWCA Member
I'm trying to help a friend locate the 44 S&W his grandfather was carrying when he was killed in the line of duty.
I suspect some on the forum have heard of Crockett Long, an agent with the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation, best known for his dogged pursuit of Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd.
In 1932 he was in a Madill, OK drug store with his 12-year-old son, talking with friends, when he was accosted by a drunken and armed former prohibition agent named Wiley Lynn.
The two were not friends. Long had once arrested Lynn and reportedly whipped him with a blackjack. Lynn was infamous for killing the old lawman Bill Tilghman and being acquitted for it.
Tilghman was a friend of Long's and having his killer go free never set well with him.
The confrontation was inevitable and the two shot each other to death at short range, Long hit with four rounds from Lynn's .380, Lynn taking four rounds from Long's .44. Unfortunately, two of Long's rounds passed through Lynn and struck innocent bystanders in the crowded drugstore, killing one.
My friend tells me he saw his grandfather's pistol often when he was younger and described it as "a nickel-plated .44 S&W with a 4" or 5" barrel and pearl grips carved into a steer-head with ruby-red eyes."
From the description and the time period, I'm going to guess the gun was a 3rd Model .44 Hand Ejector that shipped to Wolf & Klar in Fort Worth. It passed to Crockett Long's eldest son and from him to his son.
That man, my friend's cousin, died in a traffic accident in the Dallas area about 25 years ago. The .44 disappeared and no one in the family seems to know what happened to it.
My friend doesn't necessarily want to buy it, but he would like to know where it wound up and, maybe, get a picture of it. It's a long shot, I know, but I figured if anyone might know what happened to Crockett Long's .44, it would be the members of this forum.
I suspect some on the forum have heard of Crockett Long, an agent with the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation, best known for his dogged pursuit of Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd.
In 1932 he was in a Madill, OK drug store with his 12-year-old son, talking with friends, when he was accosted by a drunken and armed former prohibition agent named Wiley Lynn.
The two were not friends. Long had once arrested Lynn and reportedly whipped him with a blackjack. Lynn was infamous for killing the old lawman Bill Tilghman and being acquitted for it.
Tilghman was a friend of Long's and having his killer go free never set well with him.
The confrontation was inevitable and the two shot each other to death at short range, Long hit with four rounds from Lynn's .380, Lynn taking four rounds from Long's .44. Unfortunately, two of Long's rounds passed through Lynn and struck innocent bystanders in the crowded drugstore, killing one.
My friend tells me he saw his grandfather's pistol often when he was younger and described it as "a nickel-plated .44 S&W with a 4" or 5" barrel and pearl grips carved into a steer-head with ruby-red eyes."
From the description and the time period, I'm going to guess the gun was a 3rd Model .44 Hand Ejector that shipped to Wolf & Klar in Fort Worth. It passed to Crockett Long's eldest son and from him to his son.
That man, my friend's cousin, died in a traffic accident in the Dallas area about 25 years ago. The .44 disappeared and no one in the family seems to know what happened to it.
My friend doesn't necessarily want to buy it, but he would like to know where it wound up and, maybe, get a picture of it. It's a long shot, I know, but I figured if anyone might know what happened to Crockett Long's .44, it would be the members of this forum.
