Lots of questions here so I'll try to fill in the answers that I have.
First to Wyatt:
Good eyes man! It is the same holster. In the early pictures where he is wearing the Sam Browne Belt, the belt loop was lower...about in line with the trigger guard so the gun rode very high. The holster, as presently configured has had a professionally applied drop loop which would position the grip about mid forearm level while standing. On the back of the holster the original stitching for the first loop is evident. Apparently, in later life the loop played out or he decided that the gun was easier to access in the lower position.
Speaking of the holster there is no maker's ID on it. The only marks are a 44 over a 5, indicating that it is for a 5" .44. I would appreciate anyone's input as to the manufacturer. The basket weave and lacing are first rate. The holster is open on the end and the basket weave is nicely finished off at the end so I am sure that it started out that way. Who made it??
DW,
I'm not offended at all. The gun really is almost grotesque in our eyes today. But apparently it was just what the Chief wanted. Whether it was his affection for the Ranger who gave it to him or it just satisfied his own needs, he carried it daily for 22 years on duty. Not only did he carry it, he proudly displayed it at every photo op.
Curtis,
Regarding who did the engraving, remember that W&K was not only a pawn shop but also a jewelry store. I believe that the same motorized engraving tool that was used to inscribe rings, watches, etc. was used to do this work.
Dan,
I just got through taking the gun down to the bone and cleaning it. Although the exterior reveals the 22 yrs of hard use, the interior is in excellent shape. Just a little wear in the cylinder bolt. I can honestly say that the bore and the cylinder were cleaner than most of the guns in my safe. Apparently the Chief took good care of his firearms.
The nickel cleaned up nicely, but the engraving is cut through to the metal much like that on the 2nd model that you pictured so that gives it a dark appearance. The pearl grips look beautiful with the years of grime removed. Now I need to find a way to replace the ruby eyes.
Inside the grips are the Roman numerals X VIIII on each side. Most likely done to keep the two matching sides together by the carver.
And BTW, it's just my impression but I think that many of the elements of the primary engraving design have a distinctive Mexican or Mexican Indian (Aztec) appearance.
Lee,
Yes, the sadness of the story is reflected in the title of the chapter in the book that I quoted: "The Prisoner Roasted Alive".
As if that wasn't enough, after a rain cooled the ashes, the mob used torches to cut into the vault where the prisoner's remains were found and now I quote the author in part: "As his body was thrown out just before midnight, the vast crowd cheered and shouted. After the morbidly curious, which included women with exhausted children sleeping in their arms, had an opportunity to stare at it, the corpse was dragged to the street and placed on a truck bed. A procession of an estimated two thousand or more yelling rioters followed the truck as it headed toward the Negro section of Sherman and stopped in front of a Negro drugstore.
Throughout the day the crowd had been clamoring to get their hands on Hughes so they could lynch and hang him. Now he was in their possession, though dead from suffocation and the furnace-like heat of the court house destruction. That did not dissuade them from their intention. A noose was formed on the rope that had been brought. It was fastened around the neck of the dead man. The other end of the rope was thrown over the lower limb of a large tree that stood in front of the building. The body was hauled up with loud cheers of mass approval.
Incendiary material was collected and placed in a huge pile beneath the corpse. When the pile was set afire to cremate the body, the mob was not satisfied but, instead, the building itself was set afire. A total of nine fires were set until the 124th Cavalrymen arrived and dispersed the crowd and cut the body down."
There is more to the story but that is plenty to convey the emotion of the event. As I was reading the story I couldn't help but remember similar circumstances which befell our troops in Somalia and related in the story Blackhawk Down. The world is still only a blink away from savagery.
Bob
It seems like the kind of a challenge that a "gunny-type" dentist would love to try. I do know, however, that there isn't an insurance code for repair of Steer head carved pearl grips
