The Sheriff's gun...

[LOBO]

This Smith & Wesson model 49 no dash, in .38 special, once belonged to Sheriff James Lloyd Holt. Holt was the Sheriff of Washington County Oklahoma for seven consecutive two year terms. He was in Office from 1961-1974.

I was fortunate to find a gentleman who had been a Deputy during Holt’s entire time as Sheriff. When asked about the gun, he thought that it had been presented to Holt after winning one of his Sheriffs elections. He said that the Sheriff was highly respected, and extremely well liked by his community as well as his peers. It was said that he had a certain “presence” about him, and that folks were always on their best behavior when he was around. Holt was known for wearing his cowboy hat, white shirt, and khaki pants.

Prior to becoming an Officer of the law, Holt had been a rancher. The Crawford Holt Ranch, 540 acres off the Nowata Road, was created in 1942-45 by HGC & JLH to grow foodstuffs during World War II. It was sold in 1957.

The Washington County Oklahoma Sheriff’s Department was kind enough to provide me with this picture. It was taken in the 1960's when he was Sheriff of Washington Co., Oklahoma.

The Bartlesville-Washington County Oklahoma museum kindly provided me with the following pictures,

I found this picture of the Sheriffs badge where it had sold on Ebay about two years ago. I sure would love to find it one day. If anyone has any leads or information on the badge please let me know. I would also like to obtain a shoulder patch from Sheriff Holts period in office.

The Sheriff’s gun…

If anyone has any leads on the badge, or even a Washington County Oklahoma Sheriff’s Department patch I would be much obliged for the information.

 

[STCM(SW)]

I like his choice of revolver!
RIP Sheriff........

 

[petepeterson]

Great obituary- if there is such a thing! A life well-lived.

These are my favorite types of posts. They somehow bring the firearm to life. I could read them all day long.

 

[Watchdog]

Great post with photos and artifacts. Love the gun and its deceptively simple engraving. I wonder if it once had larger target style stocks on it?

 

[JayCeeNC]

Neat gun.
It was probably engraved around the original "high horn" factory stocks.

 

[LOBO]

Neat gun.
It was probably engraved around the original "high horn" factory stocks.

I was wondering about that too. Would "high horn" stocks completely cover the open space? I have some of the "high horns" coming, but they haven't arrived.

 

[H Richard]

That style of engraving looks different to me as not one I have seen before. Is there any idea who may have done the engraving?

 

[usm1rifle]

Great history and a super revolver. I would find a set of smooth high horns for it.

 

[DWalt]

The grips do not go with the gun. They appear to be aftermarket Franzite plastic grips, so popular in the 1950s and 1960s. The factory high horns will be much better.

 

[shouldazagged]

Unusual and very tasteful engraving, beautiful gun, and a great story behind it. I hope you'll be able to find and acquire that badge.

 

[pipeliner]

Great story. The small things in history are the most interesting. I started with Phillips in 1979 when it was like one big family. Thanks for the article.

 

[GF]

Makes you wonder why the person that had the badge would sell it on Ebay?

Shame.

Fine story & revolver of a lawman the likes of will never be seen again.

GF

 

[buckmeister2]

That is a fine story...reading his obit all the way through, all I can say is, "They don't make 'em like him anymore".

Do you use ebay? If you do, immediately go in there and do a search for "J.L.Holt Sheriff", and mark it to be saved. You will get a notice within 24 hours of anything that pops up with that term. That is the term anyone who wants to sell something involving Holt would use. If you need help with how to do that, call me at 7023027856. I really want to see you get something to add to the collection.

Jim

 

[LOBO]

Unusual and very tasteful engraving, beautiful gun, and a great story behind it. I hope you'll be able to find and acquire that badge.

I believe the style of engraving on the gun is called "pawnshop engraving", but don't hold me to that.

 

[LOBO]

That is a fine story...reading his obit all the way through, all I can say is, "They don't make 'em like him anymore".

Do you use ebay? If you do, immediately go in there and do a search for "J.L.Holt Sheriff", and mark it to be saved. You will get a notice within 24 hours of anything that pops up with that term. That is the term anyone who wants to sell something involving Holt would use. If you need help with how to do that, call me at 7023027856. I really want to see you get something to add to the collection.

Jim

Thank you sir. I didn't know about that feature on Ebay. I entered several variations of "J.L.Holt Sheriff". Hopefully I'll get a hit one day.

 

[Shorty 45 MK2]

Wow...just wow!

Stuff like this is one of the reasons I got into firearms, just the history around a type of firearm, but when it's personal like that it is so much more interesting. Thanks for sharing and hope you can get his badge.

 

[pompier]

Great thread.....

This thread is very interesting. Love seeing the history come alive so to speak. I don't know anyone involved in this thread but if your interested you may be able to contact the sheriffs son at this email address: [email protected]
I hope you find what you're looking for.

 

[LOBO]

This thread is very interesting. Love seeing the history come alive so to speak. I don't know anyone involved in this thread but if your interested you may be able to contact the sheriffs son at this email address: [email protected]
I hope you find what you're looking for.

I appreciate your help, but I believe his son has passed...

Collins Funeral Home » HOLT, James Terrence ?JT?