“Brill” Toting “Kiowa” Jones-A 1920s Intimidating Pose

[arabensburg]

Texas Ranger “Kiowa” Nat B. Jones strikes an intimidating pose sporting his guns and “Brill-type” holster.

Jones was stationed in the Texas Hill Country at Kerrville during the last half of the 1920s but resigned from the force in 1927 so his actual tenure in Kerrville had to be short-lived, and I do mean short, because he abruptly and tragically committed suicide there in March 1928. His body was transported to Athens, Texas southeast of Dallas, where he was buried near his parents on March 22, 1928.

“Kiowa” Jones’ ivory handled revolver is seated in a basket weave patterned “Brill” holster. Credit for the maker is given to both Charles W. Kluge of Austin and N. J. Rabensburg of Llano, Texas. Since the cuff bears no maker mark, it is probably not a Kluge even though its outward appearance favors a Kluge over a Rabensburg.

Stan Nelson in his article “Some Thoughts on Gun Leather” published in January 2008 recalls his interview with N. J. Rabensburg during the early 1950s. In the article, Nelson includes the intimidating photo of “Kiowa” Jones and credits the holster to Rabensburg.

There could be, however, a third maker, who carried both the “Brill” and Kluge look. Fortunately for me, I purchased a holster with these same features, and it is not a Kluge. It arrived yesterday by mail.

Photos of this black colored “Kluge look-alike” are attached. One photo compares it to a brown Charles W. Kluge and a second (flipped) to a preceding profile view of “Kiowa” Jones’ left-handed holster.

“Kiowa” Jones was born during the 1870s and joined the Texas Rangers in 1915. It has been reported that Jones “had responsibility for law enforcement in southwest Texas and along the Mexican border.” For this “he was recognized by the Texas Rangers and cited for his significant accomplishment.”

The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum notes that “Nat B. ‘Kiowa’ Jones was a crack shot and (accepted) no nonsense and shot a prisoner because he was “ornery”.

Many of his contemporaries described Nat B. Jones as “the ugliest man” they had ever seen. He never married.

 

[rednichols]

You simply need the huge version of this image that I have from the TR museum to see that it is a Kluge, and the powers of deduction to know it is a Kluge: B. 30 May 1876 and d. by his own hand with that rifle he's holding on 12 Mar 1928, he lived before N.J. Rabensburg took up making the scabbards for A.W. Brill in '32. Jones' holster is indeed unmarked on its cuff which would make it a Kluge by Kluge vs. a Brill by Kluge. Jones served in the Rangers from 1917 until his death.

He had another holster, too, that was by Texas saddler Holtzer.

 

[arabensburg]

You simply need the huge version of this image that I have from the TR museum to see that it is a Kluge, and the powers of deduction to know it is a Kluge: B. 30 May 1876 and d. by his own hand with that rifle he's holding on 12 Mar 1928, he lived before N.J. Rabensburg took up making the scabbards for A.W. Brill in '32. Jones' holster is indeed unmarked on its cuff which would make it a Kluge by Kluge vs. a Brill by Kluge. Jones served in the Rangers from 1917 until his death.

He had another holster, too, that was by Texas saddler Holtzer.

“The team has deduced from Jones’ age in the image that it is not 1900 or any other early date that we’ve seen attached to it. We are calculating 1920-ish from his appearance, knowing his death year, and the presence of that Rabensburg (holster)”.

Red Nichols to Neale Rabensburg Email Dated: May 30, 2018

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Please review the detail photos of "Kiowa" Jones. The photo with the three holsters are for comparison with the one worn by Jones. The order of three holsters is as follows from left to right: A black Brill/Kluge look-alike, a brown Charles W. Kluge and a brown N. J. Rabensburg. All three are right handed but have been flipped digitally to match the left-handed "Kiowa" Jones holster, which is mounted on Jones' right hip.

Neale Rabensburg

 

[Onomea]

So why do we figger Kiowa is wearing a left handed holster on his right hip? Judging by the way he's holding the rifle, he's left handed.

I'm gonna guess it's the way the photographer wanted him to pose due to the lighting. Wanted to get his sixgun in there, so had him switch sides...

 

[rednichols]

So why do we figger Kiowa is wearing a left handed holster on his right hip? Judging by the way he's holding the rifle, he's left handed.

I'm gonna guess it's the way the photographer wanted him to pose due to the lighting. Wanted to get his sixgun in there, so had him switch sides...

Yes, his holster is very obviously a left hander worn on the right side; the welt stack is facing the camera but he image is not 'flopped' (his shirt pocket is over his heart as it should be). Most images of the old West show the guns moved for the photograph and should not be thought of as how the gunmen normally carried their pistols. In this case the revolver has even been placed so that it looks like it is for a right hand draw and more of the revolver displayed. Surprisingly he is in 'uniform'; fellow Ranger Doc White often appeared after his service in the same clothing including hat and holster of the turn of that century even in 1950. This cut of White with his first captain who was Hughes, is 1935 on the occasion of the Rangers' merger with the Highway Patrol to become TX Department of Public Safety; the Rangers became the DPS' detectives. Both men have been out of the Rangers for two decades by then but White appears even at his earliest in the very same outfit:

 

[arabensburg]

"Kiowa" was probably ambidextrous

So why do we figger Kiowa is wearing a left handed holster on his right hip? Judging by the way he's holding the rifle, he's left handed.

I'm gonna guess it's the way the photographer wanted him to pose due to the lighting. Wanted to get his sixgun in there, so had him switch sides...

I might say he is ambidextrous. Left-handed mostly, yes. Capable of shooting handgun and rifle simultaneously. He draws his handgun by his left from his right hip (the handgun, however, is properly seated, unlike the photo, with butt end facing the front).

The rifle is designed mostly for right-handers so he holds it in his right hand for the big shoot-out with two guns firing. Otherwise, he would switch to left when such display is unnecessary.

Red Nichols knows the answer.

 

[rednichols]

“The team has deduced from Jones’ age in the image that it is not 1900 or any other early date that we’ve seen attached to it. We are calculating 1920-ish from his appearance, knowing his death year, and the presence of that Rabensburg (holster)”.

Red Nichols to Neale Rabensburg Email Dated: May 30, 2018

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Please review the detail photos of "Kiowa" Jones. The photo with the three holsters are for comparison with the one worn by Jones. The order of three holsters is as follows from left to right: A black Brill/Kluge look-alike, a brown Charles W. Kluge and a brown N. J. Rabensburg. All three are right handed but have been flipped digitally to match the left-handed "Kiowa" Jones holster, which is mounted on Jones right hip.

Neale Rabensburg

Yup, we've learned as we researched. The Jones image shows a wide cuff as with a Kluge vs a Rabensburg, and the death date makes a Rabensburg impossible (? but never say never). We can detect that the Brill marking is missing, and that the holster is indeed a Brill; the common such scabbards are Kluges.

I reckon your group image shows this: we can tell the early Brill from the late Brill by the width of the cuff, and the number of welts inside the main seam.

Very likely the photo's date is extremely close to his suicide as he is 'in uniform'. I have the understanding that he left the Rangers in 1927 and died in 1928, which suggests the former caused the latter. Ranger Hughes waited a long time between his two dates but was also a suicide with his own gun, his revolver.

The 'ugliest man in TX' term likely came from his skin. Enlarging the huge image from the TR museum shows his face, throat and the backs of his hands were covered with cysts.

 

[Venom6]

Fascinating discussion. Thank you, gentlemen. Even today law officers live an average of three years after retirement, and (along with soldiers) are more likely to die of suicide than homicide.