FBI RM

[SG-688]

Red found quite a bit more about Special Agent "Doc" White and Ranger Captain Hughes.

The photo of the two of them turned out to likely be from about 1935 when they dressed in their Ranger clothes for a memorial event.

 

[Muley Gil]

Ralph,
You make some good points.
1935 was of course during the Great Depression. $60 for a gun was a lot of money. Think I have read that the next most expensive S&W during that time was about $45.
Agent White with 10 years experience made about $75 per week as a Special Agent. Imagine that was a pretty good pay check for the times. A lot of people did not have a pay check at all.

IIRC, police price for a RM was $45, which was still a bunch of money during the Depression.

 

[DARE]

Muley Gil,
Not sure if he got the law enforcement discount. Potchernick's did not get the discount from S&W. Maybe he was in a hurry to get a gun and just bought it retail.

 

[Borderboss]

Red found quite a bit more about Special Agent "Doc" White and Ranger Captain Hughes.

The photo of the two of them turned out to likely be from about 1935 when they dressed in their Ranger clothes for a memorial event.

Captain Hughes's nickname was "Border Boss" because of his work along the border. That's where I got it from.

 

[DARE]

Borderboss,
That is very cool. It is my understanding that Captain Hughes was a pretty famous Ranger.

 

[luvsmiths]

Borderboss,
That is very cool. It is my understanding that Captain Hughes was a pretty famous Ranger.

That's putting it mildly!! They don't make them like this anymore, and I cant say more or I will get dinged!


Captain Hughes, of the Texas Rangers | Texas History and genealogy, written by those who lived it. | Frontier Times Magazine

 

[JSR III]

The return letter clearly states the name as Jomer C. White. I am assuming that since the J and H keys are next to each other that it may have been a typo.

SOOOOO, my assumption is that Mr. White did not work for the FBI as determined by posts above but that the gun had to be shipped to him in care of the FBI.

Perhaps it was this Homer C, White who worked for the State Department and was killed in 1945 in a plane crash.

Homer Castle White
DIPLOMATIC COURIER
DECEASED DECEMBER 4, 1945

White Homer WP
Homer C. White, Diplomatic Courier, died on December 4, 1945, in Lagos, Nigeria, in the line of duty in an airplane crash.

 

[DARE]

James,
Was Homer in San Antonio in 1936? Thinking San Antonio probably not a hot bed of activity for State Dep't Diplomatic Couriers. But maybe.

 

[luvsmiths]

The return letter clearly states the name as Jomer C. White. I am assuming that since the J and H keys are next to each other that it may have been a typo.

SOOOOO, my assumption is that Mr. White did not work for the FBI as determined by posts above but that the gun had to be shipped to him in care of the FBI.

Perhaps it was this Homer C, White who worked for the State Department and was killed in 1945 in a plane crash.

Homer Castle White
DIPLOMATIC COURIER
DECEASED DECEMBER 4, 1945

White Homer WP
Homer C. White, Diplomatic Courier, died on December 4, 1945, in Lagos, Nigeria, in the line of duty in an airplane crash.

The letter has been done. Maybe Don can clarify the proper name? Some look at Historical foundation docs if any? Clearly a name mistake was made, and maybe the letter write can help by starting there?
Homer C White seems closer match than the agent, in name.

 

[DARE]

Post 18 is the Historical Foundation document that names Jomer. It is a letter from Potchernick's written in 1936. The letter writer has been dead for many years. The history letter signed by Don Mundell just says FBI agent. There are no other documents that I know of that would clear things up for you.

 

[luvsmiths]

Post 18 is the Historical Foundation document that names Jomer. It is a letter from Potchernick's written in 1936. The letter writer has been dead for many years. The history letter signed by Don Mundell just says FBI agent. There are no other documents that I know of that would clear things up.

Im sorry if I missed it, but where did the gun letter as being shipped?
Homer is closer to Homer than James.

I was under impression that Don lettered the gun. You just have Historical foundation documentation's and not letter as to where it shipped?

I'm getting old.

 

[DARE]

Letter signed by Don. Gun shipped to Potchernick's in San Antonio, Texas.

 

[luvsmiths]

Letter signed by Don

I wonder if the old log books are kicking around there somewhere!


A new brewery and restaurant Potchernick’s Cervecer'ia announced for downtown San Antonio


Potchernick’s Cerveceria • Clayton Korte

 

[judgejohnmd]

50th ANNIVERSARY FBI GUN

I was hoping this thread was going to have info on the FBI 50th Anniversay Model 27-3. Only learned of these recently.

I’m a former FBI and was fortunate enough to snag one of these when they came out: they went very quickly: my local gun shop owner was REALLY bugging me about buying it when it was delivered-to the point of offering several times its price: told him he wouldn’t want it, as it has my credential number engraved, which you could get for not a lot of money: he increased his offer substantially!!
Judgejohnmd
NAC 65-17

 

[Hill536]

I read this thread with interest and will add another “What if?” Jomer in Spanish is pronounced “Homer.”

 

[gunbarrel]

You are absolutely right. This is probably going to muddy up the water some more, but here it goes.

In Spanish, the letter "H" is silent; so, when someone says "Homer" in English, to the Spanish ear it sounds like "Jomer." The letter H in English sounds like a Spanish letter "J" and the Spanish letter "J" together with the letter "o" sounds like "hoe."

Therefore, if a Spanish-speaking person (who doesn't know English) hears the name "Homer" pronounced in English and you ask them to write it down, they would write "Jomer." For example, in Spanish "a Home Run" is pronounced and written as "un jonron."

Because of the Spanish/Mexican influence in Texas, the name "Jomer" is not completely unheard of (no pun intended in the Lone Star state, although I don't know if the Anglos pronounce(d) it "Homer," or "Yomer."

Click on the two links below to see just a couple of examples of men named "Jomer"...all in Texas. The first one is almost certainly an Anglo man. The second one is probably a Tex Mex (Mexican father & Anglo mother). And there are more when you Google "Jomer, Texas."

Jomer Gilmarl in the 1940 Census | Ancestry(R)


Jomer W Chuse in the 1940 Census | Ancestry(R)

All I'm saying is that we should not assume that "Jomer" is a misspelling for "Homer"--it could well be the way the name was spelled.

 

[gunbarrel]

Addendum.

The correct translation of the name "Homer" to Spanish is "Homero," where the "H" is silent (like oh-may-ro).

 

[mtgianni]

DWalt,
Was looking through old posts and realized I had not answered your question.
The letter shows the shipping date as 12/24/1935. No mention of White, just that the gun appeared to have been owned by an FBI agent in the San Antonio, Texas area.

See the picture in post 18. Clearly though it was owned by an agent. I can more easily see someone typing this and giving it to the boss to sign it before sending it out. The name and caliber are wrong, we think, but the FBI agent is what we have to assume is correct. From what we know, James C is the closest fit.

 

[DARE]

Good point, mtgianni. Here is the whole letter. The letter is signed by F L Toepperwein President of Potchernick's. Interestingly, F L was the younger brother of the famous exhibition shooter Ad Toepperwein.

Have the notation FLT:cm cm typed the letter and FLT signed it. I think 375 instead of 357 is a transposition and Jomer instead of James is a typo or misread.

Would it be sexist to suggest that cm might have been a female? A woman in 1936 might not have known what a .357 Magnum was.

 

[Doc44]

I don't believe there is any doubt the .357 Magnum was owned by FBI Agent James C. White stationed in San Antonio, TX.

Bill