Bank Robbery Turned Gangster-Era Shootout

The Union Trust Co. Bank had a branch located on Xenia Avenue in Dayton, OH, that had been robbed three times recently. The Dayton PD was going to make sure it didn't happen a fourth.  Two officers had been assigned to the bank: Patrolman B. J. Hock and Officer W. T. Dempsey, and they were armed for the job at hand.  Hock was guarding the front, and Dempsey was watching a rear entrance.  Hock was at the rear entrance speaking with Dempsey at approximately 11:15 a.m. on May 6, 1930, when two heavily armed men walked into the branch and yelled out, "Stick 'em up!"  One of the robbers got on the ledge of the cage and was leaning down to strike Bank Manager Phillip Kloos with the rifle barrel when gun fire began pouring from the rear of the bank, stealing the thieves' attention and allowing Kloos and his colleagues to flatten themselves to the floor.

Having heard the commotion, Dempsey grabbed what Hock describes in his official statement, "a shot gun," and proceeded to the front of the bank to confront the criminals.  Hock grabbed another "shot gun" and stood guard at the rear door so that the lawmen wouldn't be potentially ambushed from behind if more robbers were involved.

Despite Hock's description of "shot guns" being used, Officer Dempsey is quoted by the Dayton Daily News as saying, "Before I could bring my machine gun into action, the bandit nearest me fired at me with a pistol.  I started firing immediately through two windows that were between the robbers and myself.  I must have fired 20 shots.  I saw both of the raiders fall to the ground. One was bleeding about the face.  Hock and I ran to the door, saw the... two bandits running east on Xenia Ave and... gave chase.  Both of these men staggered from the effect of our gunfire."  Three tellers, a customer, and a manager were in the bank at that time, fearing for their lives while trapped in the intense firefight.

Lot 1597: Historic Gangster Era Colt Model 1921 Class III/NFA Thompson Submachine Gun Confiscated from a Bank Robber by Dayton, Ohio Police with Documentation, FBI Case, Drum and Stick Magazines

Later it was revealed that Dempsey had hit both robbers.  One had fallen, gotten up to fire again at Dempsey, and was promptly hit again by accurate fire.  Both the outlaws then fled.  The lawmen were waiting for the smoke to clear to see if any other bandits had rushed into the bank.  After quickly verifying the lobby was secure, Dempsey rushed the front door and was told immediately by passers-by that the men had headed toward nearby Dover St.  According to Hock's statement, Dempsey ran down a nearby alley to shortcut the criminals while Hock himself ran east down Xenia Ave toward Dover.

It was here that the bandits encountered a truck filled with cattle feed that they immediately tried to commandeer for their escape.  The driver, Urban Thope, was ordered to start the vehicle, but intentionally stalled the engine.  Thope said, "They were bleeding both of them.  I could see they were trying to make a getaway from something, so I pretended the truck wouldn't start.  They cursed me, and ordered me out."  By this time, the two officers had converged on the truck from the respective routes with an additional man in tow.  Citizen Ollie Castle had been entrusted a police weapon by Hock and was part of the final firefight.  Hock's statement says he loaned Castle the "shot gun," while he maintained possession of his .38.  Meanwhile, the Dayton Daily News states that Castle, "seized a machine gun from one of the officers at the corner of Dover St. and Xenia Ave, and gave chase..."  Whatever the arrangement of firepower was, both lawmen opened fire on the truck and the men attempting to flee in it.  That is the moment when 3-year old bystander Lorene Burton was hit in her right knee by a stray bullet that had ricocheted off the sidewalk.  The paper stated her condition as "not serious" and she was the only non-criminal casualty of the day.

Dempsey arrived first and fired a shot at a bandit outside the truck who had already been hit at least once.   The bandit got up, took another shot at Dempsey, but was hit again by the officer.  The robber immediately slumped down and was seen to put up his hands by Hock, who had just arrived on the scene with Castle. The other bandit remained in the truck, looked out the back window, and also began to fire at Dempsey.  Hock describes what happened next as, "I saw his face thru the glass in the machine and Officer Dempsey throwed his gun on this man and he shot at Officer Dempsey and Officer Dempsey shot him... At this moment, this bandit slumps down in the seat and I wasn't fully satisfied that he was shot.  I thought he might have got himself down inside in a position to shoot when we approached.  At this officer Dempsey approach [sic] the car and I hollered, "Be careful, Dempsey, that man may not be badly hurt."

The two officers tentatively approached the vehicle.  Hock saw that the man inside the truck "was laying in a slumped-up position down on the floor of the car.  I saw he was shot and in bad condition."  Soon thereafter, Chevrolet ambulances were on the scene to rush the two wounded robbers and the little girl to the Miami Valley Hospital.  One of the robbers died within minutes of arriving.  The other that had earned himself the nasty head wound in the bank lived.  No money was taken that day.

Post Robbery Action

"Within 10 minutes of the firing of the first shot police and deputy sheriffs were on the scene, questioning bank officials and the one customer who was in the bank at the time of the holdup," states the Daily News.  "The bank office was literally covered, counters, floors, tables, and desks, with chipped glass from the many bullet holes in the cage and outside windows.  Pictures on the walls, drapes, and furniture was battle scarred from machine gun fire."

These are microfiche photos obtained by the DPH.  While hazy, one can clearly make out the devastation to the bank caused by gunfire.

The original captions from the newspaper photos describe 6 photos, four of which are shown above.

Photo No. 1 - Teller's window smashed by bullets from bandits' pistols and Officer W. T. Dempsey's machine gun.

Photo No. 2 - Exterior view of the bank door after the attempted robbery, drawing the crowd when [illegible].

Photo No. 3 - Holes in the bank rear office bored by the many shots from Dempsey's machine gun as he fired out at the two bandits who entered.

Photo No. 4 - The bandit car, abandoned beside the bank.

Photo No. 5 (not shown) - The Nahn residence of Dover St, into which one of the captured bandits ran when Policemen Dempsey and Hock, along with Ollie Castle, a civilian, overtook the feed truck which the robbers had been trying to start. (Note: This is the first time this home is mentioned in any of the 5 accounts being used to research this story and is likely the result of early and inaccurate information)

Photo No. 6 (not shown) - Photo showing bullet holes in the Xenia Ave fron windows of the bank, made by gunshots from within.


Initially, due to many witness accounts claiming the robbers in so many locations, four bandits were thought to have been involved in the attempted robbery.  However, by the time the Dayton Daily News was printed that evening, a clarification had been given by Police Chief Wurstner that only two bandits were believed to have taken part.

The robbers must have been in a terrible hurry to escape Officer Dempsey's fire because they were more concerned with running away than running to their own escape vehicle.  Instead of commandeering a loaded feed truck, a vehicle not well-known for its acceleration, handling, or top speed, they could have escaped in their own vehicle.  The original vehicle had been abandoned by the criminals in their panic and was later helpful in identifying the two men when it was towed to police headquarters for fingerprinting.

In the days following the robbery, the papers continued to follow developments in the story; the most notable of which was the identities of the two robbers.  The robber that had been wounded in the head gave his name as James Royal, 31, at the hospital, but refused to divulge any information on his partner other than he had met him recently in St. Louis.  By Wednesday, May 8, two days after the robbery, he was incorrectly identified as James Rowan (or Royan), who then proceeded to change his story about where he had met his accomplice, whose last name he did not know.  By May 10, Rowan's condition had stabilized to fair and the funeral of the dead bandit was delayed so that any of the thousands of viewers of the body might be able to identify it.

On May 13, headlines proudly proclaimed the identities of the two would-be robbers.  The wounded criminal was properly identified by fingerprints from police headquarters in Marion, Ind.  He was Chicagoan James Brink, and his deceased accomplice was Orral Farley, 23, who was buried the day prior at the cemetery at the Montgomery County Infirmary.  The two had met while doing time at the Indiana Reformatory.  Brink was held on a $20,000 bond and in the photo above, can be seen with his head heavily bandaged.  He had been shot near the left eye and in the shoulder, and doctors at the hospital speculated he would lose sight in both eyes.

For their heroism and what their commendation calls, "coolness and bravery in this emergency and followed the case through to the finish in a commendable manner," both Dempsey and Hock were given letters of recommendation in their files signed by the Captain of Police as well as checks for $100 each by J. H. Barringer, vice president and general manager of the National Cash Register Co.

The story you have just read is true and was assembled from various period documents.  This includes  several newspaper clippings, official commendations, and statements given by one of the policemen involved.   All that is very exciting and a sensational piece of local history, but does it tie in to this gun?  The answer is a resounding, "maybe."  There is no documenting paperwork that concretely links SN6039 to this bank robbery.  While the primary sources do describe different firearms used during the event ("shotgun" vs. "repeating rifles" vs "machine guns"), this can largely be attributed to the lack of a standardized firearms vocabulary.  The photos of the event as shown in the newspapers speak for themselves.  Machine guns were used in the battle, but was SN6039 among them?  The answer may be lost to time.  So how did this gun get its Dillinger association?  How did it get a bank robbery association at all?  The answer, as with much history, is a mix of factual origins and less-than-factual dissemination.

A Myth is Born

First things first, it is not uncommon in locales where Dillinger was present to lay claim to a "Dillinger Thompson."  Even law enforcement agencies that never had direct involvement with Dillinger may have had a Thompson that has become known over decades of lore as a "Dillinger Thompson" regardless of how much that may conflict with a distinct lack of concrete proof or documentation.

Dayton PD, on the other hand, at least has a leg up in having arrested Dillinger at one point in time.  It was on September 22, 1933, a scant 135 days after his parole, that Dillinger was arrested by the Dayton PD while trying to visit a "lady friend," one Ms. Mary Longnaker.  Unfortunately for Dillinger, cops had been tipped off to his arrival by her landlady and stormed the apartment shortly after his arrival.  A common understanding is that Dillinger was taken from Dayton to Troy, Ohio where custody was exchanged with the Allen County Sheriff Deputies at the Miami County Jail.  The event of Dillinger's transportation earned the use of the "Bank Flyer" as an escort vehicle  It's likely that the Thompsons would have also present.

The "Bank Flyer."  I know we showed this photo to you last week, but it's definitely cool enough to show again.

On the day he was arrested in Dayton, Sgt. Charles Gross entered the room armed with a Thompson.  That gun, used for the arrest, was initially identified by the Dayton PD as their "Dillinger Tommy gun."  It is believed by our friends at the DPH that over time the true meaning of the gun was lost, and the "gun that captured Dillinger" became to be wrongly understood as, "the gun that was Dillinger's."  Now, was this Thompson gun likely pulled from its rack in Dayton after Dillinger's escape?  Almost certainly.  A sheriff was murdered, a Thompson had been stolen, and fear of reprisal in Dayton for his arrest was very real!  Cop killers elicit anything but sympathy even today, so imagine the attitude to capture Dillinger by any means necessary in an era when the public was fed up with criminal violence.

Again, is there anything that concretely identifies SN6039 as the "Dillinger Tommy gun" of the Dayton PD?  No.  However, it does have a link to that provenance thanks to the line that reads "confiscated from bank robber," on its registration paperwork.  To further verify its sole claim to this title, one could request the registrations of the other Thompsons owned by the Dayton PD (SNs 4186 & 4418) and see if similar notes were made on their paperwork.  If those notes are not present on the other two Thompsons, there is an excellent chance that SN6039 is the gun recognized by the Dayton PD as the gun that captured Dillinger, even if in a single short year between his arrest and the gun's registration, the Thompson's legend was already becoming convoluted.

The Myth Continues

Every Dayton Police Academy class since the very first one in  January 1946 had the honor of shooting the Thompson known as the "Dillinger Thompson."  This tradition ceased in the early 1970s for unknown reasons.  After that, facts become rather far and few between in the lives of the three Dayton Thompsons.  We do at least know that SN6039 had its registration requested in December of 1977 because of the date that appears on the bottom of the registration paperwork.

Coincidentally, 1977 is also the same year that the Dayton PD heavy weapons team and their bomb squad were placed under the umbrella of the newly formed Tactical Response Team (TRT).  Initially, this unit was not funded by the department.  Uniforms were non-existent and teams, "were initially left to their own devices to obtain better equipment and improve upon it.  Even into the 80s, for an applicant to be chosen for the TRT, he had to own a truck in order to pick up 'ready room' equipment."  However, members of the TRT began training with the FBI and by 1980 a Hostage Negotiation Team (HNT) was also formed as a partnering team.

The Dayton Police Dept Tactical Response Team prior to having standard uniforms.
Photo from daytonhistorybooks.com

By the mid-1980s, funding began to flow to the teams comprising the TRT.  Money was used to obtain official uniforms, equipment, and vehicles.  Even if the new uniforms, comprised of dark blue pants and jackets, were nicknamed "garbage man" or "Jiffy Lube" uniforms by their wearers, they could now be easily identified by the public.  Part of this funding to the TRT was also the purging of older equipment.  The Dayton Police Historical Foundation states that the three Dayton Thompsons  were sold off in 1987 by the department in order to help pay for equipment for the tactical unit.  This did not stand well with many of the officers who recognized their historic value and who had likely fired it in their academy training.

The 1st uniforms of the Dayton TRT, mid 1980s.  Notice the Steyr Augs and awesome mustaches.
Photo from daytonhistorybooks.com

The good news is that much of the legend around SN6039 has been clarified thanks to the cooperation between RIAC and the DPH.

1. It was NOT confiscated from John Dillinger in 1930.  Dillinger was in prison until May 1933.
2. It was VERY LIKELY used to prevent the Union Trust Co Bank Robbery in May 1930.
3. It MAY have been used to capture Dillinger in September 1933.
4. It was VERY LIKELY used to escort Dillinger from Dayton to Lima.
5. It was VERY LIKELY prepped and ready for any Dillinger appearances after the murder of Sheriff Sarber and the breakout from Allen County Jail.
6. It MAY be the Thompson used by Dayton Police Academy classes from 1946 until the early 1970s.

Also, since the publishing of last week's article, DPH tells me that a second Dayton Thompson has come to light.  The collector who owns SN4418 was kind enough to contact them and inform them of its whereabouts.  That's two found and only one left to go: SN 4186.  If you have any information concerning the Dayton Thompsons, please feel free to email DPH directly at info@DaytonPoliceHistory.org.  

---

I never imagined that a single piece of paper with a Tommy gun registration would have me wading through Dillinger biographies, $400 Thompson reference books, Ohio newspapers from the 1930s, official police documents, sending dozens of emails, and searching a plethora of websites.

While certain aspects might never be known concretely about this gun, there is a ton of exciting provenance, action, and possibilities that envelope this supremely fascinating Thompson.  Just like the separation of chaff from wheat, the honing of myth from facts surrounding this American icon has left us with an extremely valuable assortment of history that should appeal to any firearms collector or investor.

-Written by Joel R. Kolander





SOURCES:


http://www.daytonhistorybooks.com/daytonhostageparttwo.html

http://www.daytonhistorybooks.com/dayton-police-firsts.html

And again, the hard work, research, and passion of the Dayton Police History Foundation

Did This Tommy Gun Rob A Bank?

When RIAC received a very fine condition Thompson submachine gun for our 2015 September Premiere Auction, it came with a pretty impressive claim to fame.  This legendary American firearm was purported to be associated with none other than notorious Prohibition-era gangster, John Dillinger.  The first I saw of this "Chicago typewriter" was the auction's Photo Preview on our website that showed the following picture.

These photos are intended as a "sneak peek" to boost interest before our catalog is ready for publication and, as such, this particular item did not yet have our usual headline or description.  If it was a Dillinger gun, I knew I had to write about it.  Classic firearm, machine gun, historic provenance; it had all the right qualities for a great article and to raise some interest on a fascinating item.  However, with little to no information available, I went in search of someone at RIAC who would be more familiar with the firearm or who may have spoken directly with the consignor and know its full story.

If you've been attending, bidding, or even just watching our auctions, you know that guns need proof if they are said to belong to famous people, have participated in certain battles, or are decorated by famous artists.  Sometimes that proof is iron clad with many documents verifying a gun's provenance through decades or even centuries, perhaps even passing through renowned collections or institutions to further lend credence.  Those guns we are able to sell with no reservations at all, and we certainly have.  Many guns have passed through Rock Island Auction Company with historic and exciting provenances!  We owe it to our buyers to verify those claims, if possible.

Then there are guns where the proof is not 100%.  Maybe there's a gap in the timeline or any number of things, small or large, that allow for doubt to enter the picture.  These items cannot be sold so simply.  A careful balance must be made to convey what the consignor is representing and also to inform potential buyers of the possible doubt and let them make up their own mind with the evidence at hand.  Such guns are often given a headline stating that it is "associated with" a certain person, "attributed to," or that an item is "reportedly" theirs.  These statements serve the purpose of satisfying responsibilities to both the consignor and the collector.

When I went looking for someone at RIAC more familiar with the item than myself, I wanted to know how we were going to be representing this Thompson.  Was it 100% John Dillinger's gun?  Did he use it or was it used by a member of his gang?  Was a connection iron clad or just "likely?"  It turns out that it had arrived so recently that nobody else had yet dived into the item's history.  If I wanted to tell this gun's story, if it indeed had one, the responsibility of research fell to me.

Lot 1597: Historic Gangster Era Colt Model 1921 Class III/NFA Thompson Submachine Gun Confiscated from a Bank Robber by Dayton, Ohio Police with Documentation, FBI Case, Drum and Stick Magazines

I started by examining the paperwork that had come with the firearm.  It had arrived with many documents, period newspapers, and even some arrest records (these are all still included with the lot).  While much of this research was historically accurate about John Dillinger, his deeds, and his death, none of the sources mentioned a Tommy gun.  Correction: none of them mentioned a specific Tommy gun.  Most of them did describe his crimes and murders with the Thompson machine guns he had taken from various police arsenals, but that's still a long way from identifying a specific serial number.

There was one document that was different.  That was the notarized copy of the "Form 10" that registered the fully automatic weapon per the National Firearms Act of 1934.  It gave some very concrete information such as the serial number of the gun (a match to ours) and where it was registered.  Most interesting on this form was line 4, which likely gave rise to the gun's claim to infamy.

When I read, "confiscated from bank robber," I'll admit to thinking, "That's pretty cool."  Plus, it gave me a great starting point from a research perspective.  All I needed to do initially was check Dillinger's history to see if this bank robbery matched his location at that time.  I began looking online through various Dillinger sources and things came into focus rather quickly, but it wasn't what I wanted to see.

A brief internet search reveals that on September 6, 1924, Dillinger and local pool shark Ed Singleton had robbed Frank Morgan, a grocer in nearby Mooresville, Indiana.  They were caught in no time.  Singleton pled not guilty and received a sentence of two years.  Dillinger, on his father's advice, plead guilty and received a plague of charges for his honesty resulting in two sentences of 2-14 years and 10-20 years.  To say that Dillinger didn't do so well with that is a gross understatement, and he became a hardened, bitter man in prison.  He used the time to study other bank robbers, plan heists with his new acquaintances, and in a statement laced with foreshadowing Dillinger is quoted as saying, "I will be the meanest bastard you ever saw when I get out of here."

On May 10, 1933, Dillinger was paroled thanks to a petition championed by his father, so that John might see his dying step-mother.  Unfortunately, she passed shortly before his return home.  Ever the opportunist, Dillinger put his prison-planned heists and robberies into action almost immediately in a stretch of terror that lasted until his death on July 22, 1934.  For those paying attention to dates, you'll notice that Dillinger was a guest of the state of Indiana from 1924 - 1933.  Translation: there's no way the Dayton, Ohio Police Department could have confiscated that Thompson submachine gun from John Dillinger in May 1930.

So what's the real story?  Why was "confiscated from bank robber" typed on that line?  If it wasn't Dillinger, then who was it?  Was the document even real?  Now the real digging could begin.

I began with the document that started it all - the registration paperwork.  Frankly, it all seemed to be in order.  Sure there are some handwritten notes on there, but they are easily discerned from the period typing that originally appeared on the document.  Also, the phrase "Confiscated from bank robber," appeared to be original, having the same gentle tilt to the right that appeared on every other typed line of the document.  To me, that meant it was period type and not something added in subsequent years for glory or "bragging rights."

As I was scouring the internet looking for any possible leads into Dillinger associated Tommy guns, I came across one name several times: Herigstad.  Many people were referencing his book in discussions online, so I naturally began to investigate it to see if it could also help solve the mystery behind this Thompson.  It wasn't difficult to locate, Amazon has copies available, but those copies were $369.95!  I lamented this price for a moment, but then I looked at the "image previews" on the Amazon listing.  The last photo was opened to the page that specifically discusses the Thompsons used by John Dillinger.  What luck!  Knowing that this book would definitively confirm or deny any association with Dillinger, I requested that the book be purchased by RIAC.  Now $370, sounds like a lot for a book, but if it prevents a situation where tens of thousands of dollars are at stake AND it's something that can be used for all subsequent Thompsons that come through our building, it's a small investment to make.  The purchase was approved immediately.

The "photo preview" that appears on the book's Amazon listing.  Jackpot.

Upon receiving it, I discovered why it was considered such an important book.  Gordon Herigstad's Colt Thompson Submachine Gun: Serial Numbers & Histories is a handsome, two volume set with a matching slipcase, and each installment contains over 1,100 pages.  These two books represent decades of dedication, intense research, countless follow-ups, hours of driving, weeks in front of a computer, many dollars spent, and I'm sure more than one or two sleepless nights.  The first volume discusses some of the prototype models, descriptions of the various models, but is mostly a cataloging of every single Thompson submachine gun by serial number.  Yes, every single one.  Sure, there are a few blank spaces, including a large range after SN10000 representing pending information on Thompsons that were exported, but the information that remains is a treasure of data, history, and research.  Herigstad's research began in 1991, and he produced the sixth edition of this book (the one used for this article) in 2014.  That's over two decades of research for a single book!  Thompson collectors the world over owe Herigstad a huge debt of thanks for his work, patience, and passion.

While waiting for the book to arrive, I began looking into other sources to see if there was a degree of truth to this claim.  Basically every life story of Dillinger references Thompson machine guns, so could this gun be associated with him on a date later than what was stated on the registration form?

After being paroled (May 10, 1933) and immediately resuming his life of crime, Dillinger was pinched again just as fast.  On September 22 he was arrested by the Dayton, Ohio police, but interred at the Allen County Jail in nearby Lima, OH.  This small fact is especially exciting because the original registration paperwork registers the gun to the Dayton PD.  A connection between the two seemed close but still lacked a final coup de grâce.

When he was searched at Lima, plans for what seemed to be a prison break were found on Dillinger, who of course had no idea what those documents were.  A mere four days later eight of Dillinger's prison buddies cut their stay short at the Indiana State Prison using several shotguns and rifles that had been smuggled into the facility.  They killed two guards in the ensuing fracas and used a plan with uncanny similarity to the one found on Dillinger.

On October 12, three of these men and a recent parolee posing as lawmen came to the Allen County Jail in Lima where Dillinger was being held stating that they were going to transport Dillinger back to the prison for violating parole.  They were talking to Sheriff Jess Sarber, who lived on the upper floor of the jail with his wife.  The couple had just finished eating dinner when the knock at the door came.  When Sarber asked to see the men's credentials to release Dillinger, they brandished their guns, prompting Sarber to go for his own weapon.  One of the criminals pulled his pistol faster and shot the sheriff two times before beating him unconscious with the firearm.  His wife gave them the keys to the cell, where they quickly released Dillinger, and made a hasty departure back to Indiana.  Before they left, they stole the sole Thompson belonging to the Allen County Sheriff's Office, a 1921AC serial number 6099.  Sheriff Sarber died within hours.

With the gang all back together again, they began to put into action all the robberies they had planned while incarcerated.  To do this, they needed the deadly tools of their trade: bullet proof vests, more firepower, and lots of ammunition.  On October 14, two days after his escape, the Dillinger Gang burst into the police arsenal in Auburn, Indiana, overpowered the guards, and made off with the following, according to a local newspaper:

"1 Thompson submachine gun (SN 8946), a .401 Winchester self-loading rifle, a .44-40 Winchester carbine, a .30 Calibre Springfield Army Rifle, three bulletproof vests and several pistols which include, a .45 Colt Automatic, .44 Smith & Wesson Revolver, .38 Smith & Wesson Revolver, 9mm German Lugar and a .25 Spanish Auto Pistol."

Still not satisfied with their growing stockpile of weapons, they held up the police station in Peru, Indiana, stealing several pistols, bulletproof vests, and another Thompson, SN 5878.  Finally meeting some arbitrary criminal guideline for being adequately armed, they robbed the Central National Bank in Greencastle, Indiana, on October 23, absconding with nearly $75,000.  All these acts were early in Dillinger's blessedly short career.  He went on to rob several more banks, break out of one more jail (famously using a wooden gun), steal even more Thompsons, and take the lives of several more law enforcement officers.

When the book finally arrived I, of course, turned immediately to the Dillinger section and began pouring over the information to see if the Thompson in the upcoming auction, SN 6039, was mentioned as having a Dillinger provenance.  It wasn't.  Granted, there were some possibilities that still existed, like that of Dillinger possessing Thompsons classified as "missing" to this day that were in the same shipment as those he was known to have, but it was a long shot. With no reason to believe otherwise, I needed to investigate other avenues.  If it wasn't Dillinger's, then whose was it?

Thankfully Herigstad's book already had the answers for me.  Volume I of the two book set is the chronicling of the majority of Thompson serial numbers.  When I turned to find SN 6039 there was some rather unexpected information awaiting me.  SN 6039 was one of three Thompsons originally purchased by the Dayton PD.

It was initially disappointing news and seemed to be the nail in the coffin for any sort of Dillinger provenance.  But while it answered one question, it gave rise to new ones.  If Dayton PD is the original purchaser, why does the registration form conflict with that?  The book went on further to say that SN 6039 was shipped on January 21, 1930, while the registration form lists its "Date of acquisition" as May 1930.  Why the date discrepancy?  Were there two different guns being attributed to the same serial number?  What was going on?  I had two very reliable sources, a period government document and an authoritative book with decades of research behind it, but things still weren't matching up.  With that, I decided to go to the source: the Dayton, OH Police Department.

After a few phone calls where I tried not to sound like some out-of-state weirdo seeking firearms records from the 1930s, I left a few messages and within a week had a call from a Sergeant Jeff Yaney in the Dayton PD Records Dept.  He would not have been out of line to just tell me that those records weren't available or had been destroyed, it's what I would've expected happens to documents that are over 80 years old, but he surprised me by being extremely helpful and volunteering to search for the information I was seeking.  What exactly was I seeking?  I told him about the possible, but at this point very unlikely, Dillinger connection and that I was looking for anything on the Thompsons owned by the Dayton PD: purchase records, transfer records, bills of sale, other registration paperwork, or anything that might give me another chance to find out the real, documented history behind these guns.  Little did I know that as I was contacting Dayton for information, Dayton would also soon be contacting me.

 By the time I had called the Dayton PD, I had been looking into this Thompson for about a month in between other job responsibilities and projects.  Within days of contacting the Dayton PD and Sgt. Yaney, the Rock Island Auction Company received an interesting email.  It was from the Dayton Police History Foundation (DPH).  A Dillinger aficionado and friend of the organization had seen the image and knew that the DPH was interested in discovering the whereabouts of Thompsons owned by the Dayton PD.  He then contacted the DPH, who took up the lead, then somehow deciphered the nearly microscopic print on the image of the registration forms, noticed it referenced Dayton, and emailed RIAC to request more information.  Keep in mind, that the RIAC catalog was not yet available online.  The item listing was not yet up which shows the document much more clearly.  Gun collectors and historians are an eagle-eyed bunch.

The man who emailed me was Stephen Grismer, a retired sergeant of the Dayton PD with 25 years of service to his name who now served as a trustee of the DPH.  He had no idea I had recently been in contact with the Dayton PD; it was a random coincidence that his email arrived within mere days of that phone call.  It was one week after I had received the Herigstad book, emailed my superiors that the Thompson had been originally purchased by the Dayton PD, and only days since I had contacted the Dayton PD.  I was more than happy to send Mr. Grismer the document, but I had a few questions of my own and this extremely serendipitous email came from a group that could not have been more perfectly poised to answer my questions.  I sent him the document, told him of my calls to Dayton, and asked if I might call him as well since it could be more quickly explained over the phone.  A fellow history enthusiast, Mr. Grismer quickly agreed, and we set an appointment to delve into Dayton's surprising history.

First off, Steve alerted me that my search was starting in the incorrect place.  The Dayton PD Records Section have housed their archived arrest records at the Wright State University Archive Center since 1989, and usually questions such as mine are forwarded to the DPH.  Grismer's association with both the PD and the historical foundation made him incredibly valuable to this mystery.  He also immediately brought to my attention the date discrepancy (Dillinger was in prison) and we agreed that any Dillinger association was extremely unlikely.  He also sent a photo (below) of the seized items when Dillinger was arrested in Dayton and no Thompsons appear in that photo.

Money, guns, & shells?  Sounds like a checklist for an awesome weekend.
Also, I love the expression that says, "Can you believe this?"

The exchange of information continued.  Steve sent me things as he found them, and I sent him the information and documents on our Thompson since it was unquestionably linked to the Dayton PD.  DPH searched the Dillinger files at Wright State University and found no records to the Dayton Tommy guns.  I scoured Herigstad's books for more information, but without a way to cross-reference or Google search a book, that would have resulted in reading each individual page and then perhaps doing it again if the information was missed in the first pass.  RIAC did have some information with the gun on the Dayton house in which Dillinger was captured, that had since been razed, but that was about it.  DPH sent me a photo of a Cadillac "Bank Flyer" with some prominent Dayton policemen in front of it with some serious firepower, but ultimately, it felt like we were now grasping at straws.  Communication had slowed.  We needed a fresh piece of information to chase.

For me, there was little push beyond curiosity.  I figured that, at best, I would be able to pass along some historically verifiable information on to whatever collector would be lucky enough to purchase the gun.  If I got really lucky, the resulting research might even result in an extra bid or two.  DPH, on the other hand, had a more external form of motivation.  Never saying as much, and always exceptionally gracious with whatever information was received, one email revealed that a Dayton Police History Museum was in the infancy stages of becoming established.  The Dillinger story being important to that history meant that anything newly discovered would have a significant role in the museum.  The passion for local history and the pending museum was visible in their effort.

The Cadillac "Bank Flyer" (c. 1930) and the men of the "Flying Squadron."  The customized vehicle was outfitted with reinforced bumpers, impenetrable tires, radiator shield, bullet-proof windows, and custom racks on the inside to hold shotguns, Thompsons, gas grenades, bullet-proof vests, and other items.
 It was the escort vehicle when transporting Dillinger from Dayton to Allen County.

L to R: Dayton Police Chief Rudolph Wurstner, Capt. Harvey Siferd, Officers, John Blake, Howard Reed, Brenton Collins, and Walter Geisler.

With information slowing two weeks into our search, DPH volunteered to look through some newspaper archives and other material to see what information could be found on any bank robbery that would've taken place in Dayton in May 1930.  At the same time, now knowing the serial number of one of the Dayton PD Tommy guns, they were seeking any additional information on it.  In the course of one weekend, we had our new lead.

DPH had found the serial numbers of two Thompsons that were ordered for the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office and was hoping I could offer some more information on the guns using the Herigstad text (Note: Dayton is located in Montgomery County).  They had also found newspaper articles dated May 6, 1930 detailing a bank robbery that had taken place!  We could almost smell the answers and our excitement was renewed.  My first step was to investigate the Thompson serial numbers given to me, 2621 and 4556.

A quick flip through the book revealed that these two guns were part of a larger, 5-gun shipment on April 7, 1927.  Thankfully Herigstad had already documented the serials of the guns in that shipment as 2621, 4186, 4418, 4556, and 4582.  The five guns were all ordered by the same person and were divvied up as such:

SN 2621: Model 1921AC   Sent to Montgomery County Sheriffs Office, Dayton, OH (1 of 2 owned)
SN 4186: Model 1921A      Sent to Dayton PD (1 of 3 owned)
SN 4418: Model 1921A      Sent to Dayton PD (2 of 3 owned)
SN 4556: Model 1921AC   Sent to Montgomery County Sheriffs Office, Dayton, OH (2 of 2 owned)
SN 4582: Model 1921A      Sent to Toledo, OH PD (1 of 13 owned)

The Thompson at Rock Island Auction Company was its own shipment on 1/21/1930
SN 6039: Model 1921AC   Sent to Dayton PD (3 of 3 owned)

This was very exciting data!  We had now uncovered all three of the Dayton PD Thompsons - information the DPH had been specifically seeking.  Based on those shipment records, several reasonable conclusions can be reached.

1.  If the "Bank Flyer" Cadillac in the photo is indeed from their 1930 model year, then the Thompsons shown in the photo with the "Bank Flyer" Cadillac were likely the first of the two Thompsons sent and not the Thompson available in our upcoming sale (SN6039).  Though admittedly, the photo could have been taken at a later date, even if it is unlikely.

2.  Since SN6039 was shipped on 1/21/1930 we can surmise a few things.  The first is that this photo was taken in the summer months of 1929.  Had it been taken in the summer months of 1930 (based on the foliage in the background) why would they omit their newly acquired third Thompson?  Also if this was taken in 1929, then we know that the Cadillac is either a) of model year 1929 or earlier or b) that car companies release model years of cars prior to the start of calendar years much as they do today.  Perhaps someone much more familiar with antique cars and the sales thereof can clarify in the comment section.

While I was tracing down the origins of the "Trench Brooms" purchased by the local Ohio agencies, DPH had been hard at work finding not only newspaper articles on the robbery, but also the first-hand accounts of officers involved in the action that day!  The connection with Dillinger long since discounted, now we could find out some of the things this Tommy gun had really seen during its life.  Newspaper accounts differ from the official police statements in some of the details, but the incredible story was coming together in exciting fashion.

Stay tuned for next week's article that details the action-packed, gangster era, bank robbery shootout!

-Written by Joel R. Kolander





Sources:

Herigstad, Gordon. Colt Thompson Submachine Gun Serial Numbers & Histories. 6th ed. Vol. I & II, Ridgecrest, CA: G. Herigstad, 2014. Print.

http://www.biography.com/people/john-dillinger-9274804#the-dillinger-gang

https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/john-dillinger

http://www.thenorthwestern.com/article/20090625/OSH0504/90624104

and of course the hard work of Stephen Grismer & the Dayton Police Historical Foundation

The Revolver of Clyde Barrow

Clyde Barrow, the latter half of the infamous 'Bonnie & Clyde,' is one of most recognizable names from the Depression Era's list of unsavory characters.  As remembered for his relationship as his life of crime, Barrow began a humble Texas boy, but in his short 25 years on this earth, he grew into a part of American history.  One of Clyde Barrow's guns will be sold at Rock Island Auction Company's May 2014 Premiere Firearms Auction.  This Colt Army Special double action revolver is chambered in 38 Special and comes with three documents of provenance all signed by Texas lawmen.

Lot 1206: Historic Documented Colt Army Special Double Action Revolver Belonging to Public Enemy Era Outlaw Clyde Barrow

As mentioned Clyde Chestnut Barrow (whom the FBI labels "Clyde Champion Barrow," an alias provided by the outlaw himself) didn't exactly have the most illustrious of beginnings.  He was born on March 24, 1909, the fifth of seven children on a poor Texas farm.  The family allegedly lived under their wagon in a move to an impoverished area known as West Dallas, and had to save money just to buy a tent.  He and his brother would help provide for the family by stealing.  His life of crime began rather comically: his first arrest coming for failing to return a rental car on time (charges were dropped, but remained on his record) and his second arrest was for stealing a truckload full of turkeys with his brother Marvin.  He would eventually find gainful employment beginning at 18, but would supplement that income with robbery and stealing cars.  In an attempt to turn his life around, young Barrow attempted to enlist in the Navy, but was rejected for medical reasons, likely the aftereffects of a childhood disease.  This would have been devastating for the young man who had already tattooed "USN" on his left arm.

This Dec. 3, 1926, mug shot from the Dallas Police Department files shows a dashing teenage Clyde Barrow. He was charged with auto theft, but according to later records the indictment was dismissed.

1930 was an interesting year in the life of Clyde Barrow. While sources vary on the specifics, it is credible that Barrow met one Ms. Bonnie Parker early that year. Unfortunately for the "star-cross'd lovers" their romance was almost doomed from the start. Clyde's life of crime would continue and eventually catch up with him, landing him a 14-year stretch in Eastham Prison Farm in April of 1930.  It was a notoriously rough prison, not only for its "guests," but also for its brutal work load on prisoners.  Prison changed Barrow, allegedly due to a sexual assault (or several) at the hands of Ed Crowder, who was serving a 99-year sentence for bank robbery. Barrow would have his revenge by splitting Crowder's head open with a pipe wrench - his first homicide.  The story that went to the outside was that Crowder had gotten in a home-made knife fight with a man named Aubrey Scalley, a friend of Barrow's who was already going to be inside for a long time and had little to lose.

Knowing he had to get out of prison, Barrow elects to cut off two of the toes on his left foot with an ax - the big one and part of the second.  Self mutilation and amputation was a surprisingly popular way to get out of work in that prison; sometimes with as many as fourteen men having "accidents" in a single week.  It could be self-performed, but most men knew certain inmates who would perform the task for them.  This mutilation would leave Barrow with a limp the rest of his life.  Unfortunately, Barrow had no idea that his mother Cumie had been petitioning for his early release.  His mutilation would be in vain as Barrow would be paroled days later by Governor Ross Sterling on February 2, 1932.  He would leave the prison on crutches.

The sexual assault, the murder, the horrible conditions, the work, the desperation so great that a man would have his own toes cut off, all changed Clyde Barrow.  Those who knew him best, his family and fellow inmates, say that he changed, "from a schoolboy to a rattlesnake."  He immediately resumed his life of crime, but his end game was much different.  It was no longer the money, guns, and cars he had sought before, although he certainly still needed those.  Now Barrow was after those items so that he could launch a raid on Eastham Prison.  After all, he owed a big favor to Scalley who took the fall for his murder while he was still doing time.  But helping Scalley was just the icing on the cake.  Barrow wanted revenge on the institution he felt had wronged him and to reunite with Ms. Bonnie Parker.

However, life had a way for not going as planned for Barrow.  His early string of robberies, more often gas stations and stores than banks, resulted in several murders and from April to August in 1932 the gang of Barrow, Bonnie Parker, and several other individuals had killed five people including two law men.  As the murder of innocent people and law men continued, public opinion began to turn against Bonnie & Clyde.  Once the darlings of a daring romance who defied the banks and big businesses (a popular notion during the Depression), even their most fawning admirers could no longer turn a blind eye to their violent ways.  This is not to say the gang was always violent.  In fact, several scholars of Bonnie & Clyde believe that the gang only used violence when necessary to avoid capture.  Several victims, including law men, were kidnapped as opposed to killed and would be eventually let go, sometimes with money to get home.  An interesting disparity against the myth that surrounds them as nothing but cold-blooded killers.



However, killers they were, and even with the law well aware of their life of crime, the Barrow Gang seemed incapable, or apathetic, to avoiding the law.  Raucous behavior, gun play, drinking, and more all captured the attention of locals who would contact the law.  Many times the gang would get itself cornered and shoot its way out courtesy of Clyde's appreciation for the BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle).  Even with Thompson sub-machine guns and armored cars, the law was outgunned.  The Barrow Gang's firepower combined with Clyde's skill behind the wheel of the new Ford V8 engine was a combination that permitted them several miraculous escapes, despite being surrounded and often heavily outnumbered.




From 1932 to 1934, Bonnie and Clyde had changed from petty thieves with a goal to murderers who would never be taken alive.  The couple knew that if they were captured they would certainly be executed, which lead to a desperation to always escape.  Clyde had no intentions on returning to any prison.  The group circled the Midwest and southern states, traveling from one member's family to another and performing robberies along the way.  This appreciation and love of family, even while ruining so many others, is another unexpected contradiction posed by the Barrow Gang.  This predictable method of travel would prove to be their end.

Their ways would turn steadily more violent, removing any remaining romance they may have had with the public and attracting even more attention from the law.  On April 13, 1933 Joplin, Missouri police responded to what they thought were noisy bootleggers.  They got more than they bargained for.  One lawman was killed and another wounded as the gang made their escape. Having been caught by surprise, the gang left behind many of their belongings including a small arsenal, several legal documents belonging to members of the gang, some of Bonnie's poetry, and a several rolls of undeveloped film.  It's from this cache of personal belongings that we have many of today's existing photos of Bonnie & Clyde.  The pictures show a more playful, whimsical, and loving side of the two killers and when they were plastered on newspapers everywhere it rekindled the public's affection and catapulted their notoriety from the Dallas area to across the nation.

That year, more robberies and kidnappings led to being even more wide spread notoriety and forced the gang to more extreme measures to avoid capture. Seldom could they rent houses and cabins. Now they were often forced to stay in campgrounds, cooking their meals over campfires and bathing in rivers. To make matters even worse, while driving on June 10, Clyde had missed some "Bridge Out" signs, smashed through the barricades at 70 mph, and crashed their car into a ravine. Sources differ on whether or not Bonnie was trapped under the car, or whether the third-degree burns on her leg that went down to the bone were caused by a gasoline fire or from leaking battery acid, but the result was the same. The gang would have to lay low while Bonnie healed. Some say that she could never walk again after that day, but more likely she walked with a terrible limp, alternated by hopping around on her good leg or being carried by Clyde.

The downward spiral continued for the Barrow Gang.  On July 29, Clyde's brother Buck, a member of the gang, was mortally wounded during one of Clyde's miraculous esacpes.  Buck's wife Blanche was captured that same day. In August, the gang managed to burgle the armory in Plattville, IL, giving them a fresh supply of ammo, handguns, and three new BARs.  In November, police also captured Clyde's protege and Barrow Gang member W.D. Jones in Houston.  The couple was now on their own.  They managed to escape yet another trap set for them by the Dallas sheriff and his deputies on November 22 and continued carjacking and robbing.  Even with all this heat on the duo, Clyde had not forgotten about his time at Eastham and on January 16, 1934 five prisoners escaped with help from Barrow.  He had planted two pistols in a ditch that the prisoners used to kill two guards (not enough in Barrow's mind) and then escape under bursts of BAR fire from Barrow.  Clyde finally got some pay back, but it came at a huge cost,  The escape was a huge embarrassment for the law and in response, they would turn on the heat higher than ever.

In 1934 things became even more increasingly desperate for the pair - killing two young highway patrolmen on April 1, before killing another constable and kidnapping/wounding a police chief on April 6.  Forever after the prison breakout and these killings, Bonnie & Clyde would be pursued by former Texas Ranger Captain Frank A. Hamer.  He had retired, but accepted the special assignment of hunting down the Barrow Gang.  It was Hamer's idea not to chase the gang, as so many had done before, but to use their predictable travel patterns to surprise them.  Using the family of escaped convict and gang member Henry Methvin, Hamer and his posse of 5 men waited for the gang just outside Methvin's parent's residence.  Sure enough, Barrow's Ford quickly approached, yet slowed upon seeing Methvin's father's (Iverson or "Ivy") truck in the road.  It had been planted there to force Barrow to one side of the road, but also to slow Barrow who would be looking for Ivy Methvin.  The Methvin's cooperation with the authorities would end the lives of Bonnie & Clyde.

At approximately 9:15 on May 23, 1934, the posse, who had allegedly been waiting concealed for two days, opened fire on the Ford with an undetermined number of rounds.  Some sources say as few as 80 and others say no fewer than 168 rounds were fired.  Two of the posse gave the following quote to the Dallas Dispatch,

"Each of us six officers had a shotgun and an automatic rifle and pistols. We opened fire with the automatic rifles. They were emptied before the car got even with us. Then we used shotguns ... There was smoke coming from the car, and it looked like it was on fire. After shooting the shotguns, we emptied the pistols at the car, which had passed us and ran into a ditch about 50 yards on down the road. It almost turned over. We kept shooting at the car even after it stopped. We weren't taking any chances."

In footage taken at the time, Bonnie can be seen in the passenger seat slumped on Clyde.

After members of the posse went into town to call their bosses and tell them the gruesome news, word spread fast and a crowd quickly formed at the scene.  Many members of the crowd were scrounging for souvenirs; one woman cut a piece of Bonnie's bloody hair and dress (these were later sold), others scooped up shell casings, pieces of broken glass, and one man was caught trying to cut off Clyde's ear and another man was stopped from amputating Barrow's trigger finger.

The car was an arsenal itself, containing a dozen guns including several shot guns, three BARs, and  several thousand rounds of ammunition which included 100 20-round BAR magazines.  Hamer and his posse would later take some criticism over not giving the couple a chance to surrender, but the car's deadly payload made it clear to all the men there that day that they had made the right decision.

Only some of the firearms and ammo recovered from the vehicle.

The couple wished to be buried side-by-side, but Mrs. Parker would have none of it, insisting that her baby girl be brought home.  She is quoted as saying, "He had her for two years. Look what it got her. He's not going to have her anymore. She's mine now."


"They don't think they're too smart or desperate
 they know that the law always wins. 
They've been shot at before;
 but they do not ignore, 
that death is the wages of sin. 

Some day they'll go down together
 they'll bury them side by side. 
To few it'll be grief, 
to the law a relief 
but it's death for Bonnie and Clyde."

- Final stanza's of "The Trail's End" by Bonnie Parker

---

The revolver appearing in Rock Island Auction Company's May 2nd, 3rd, & 4th Premiere Auction was formerly the property of Clyde Barrow.  It was found by Navarro County, Texas Sheriff Rufus Pevehouse on May 6, 1930.  Now for those of you paying attention, you'll know that Barrow was in prison at the time the gun was found.

However, the revolver was found inside a car previously impounded by the sheriff's office and the pistol was overlooked in the vehicle's glove compartment.  In fact, the stolen vehicle had been left at the home of Frank barrow, Clyde's uncle, who called Sheriff Pevehouse to come pick up the vehicle.  Later, when the gun was on display, it was recognized by Texas Ranger M.T. "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas, who stated that the gun had been stolen from his car and that its modifications had been made while it was in Gonzaullas' possession.  Long story short, when Clyde left this stolen car at his uncle's, he forgot the stolen gun in the glove box.  This revolver is accompanied by a contemporary case and three documents which attest to its provenance, two signed by Pevehouse himself and one signed statement from another Texas Ranger attesting to its authenticity.

The gun is a Colt Army Special double action revolver with several distinct features.  It has been customized in the Fitzgerald Special style, which includes a short barrel, bobbed hammer, and cutaway trigger guard.  The nickel finish remains excellent with only minor indicators of wear.  The revolver has also been fitted with finger grooved, yellow phenolic grips.

This revolver will provide some lucky collector a fantastic opportunity to own a piece of "Public Enemy" era history.  Bonnie & Clyde remain one of the most famed outlaw couples of all time, spawning movies, literature, and countless documentaries.  Though before you know it, this historic firearm will be just like Clyde's succinct epitaph, "Gone, but not forgotten."

This revolver is just one example of the many history-laden items in Rock Island Auction Company's May 2014 Premiere Firearms Auction.  There is also signed correspondence from George Washington, two letters signed by Richard Jordan Gatling, the inventor of the Gatling gun, a Civil War autograph book filled with autographs from Union Generals that were acquired by Spencer Meade, son of Gen. George Meade, many Civil War photographs from the same collection, Samuel Colt's Henry rifle, a LePage shotgun given from the President of France to the President of Mexico, an 1897 Gatling gun with Spanish-American War history, plus firearms belonging to William Loeb Jr., Ed McGivern, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Heinrich Himmler, and Fritz Sauckel.  Browse our catalog by clicking here and see what historic artifacts you can find to add to your collection.




-Written by Joel Kolander






SOURCES:

http://bonnieandclydehistory.blogspot.com/

http://texashideout.tripod.com/bc.htm

http://www.biography.com/people/clyde-barrow-229532

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/bonnie-and-clyde

Butch Cassidy's Colt and the End of the Wild West

It is no coincidence that the Old West and gun collecting go hand in hand.  For firearms manufacturers, it was a time of innovation and industrialization.  Colt's Paterson was invented in 1836 and was the first percussion cap revolver, while Smith & Wesson's first cartridge revolvers would be produced two decades later in 1856.  These innovations in firepower were amplified by standardizations that were concurrently taking place.  Guns could be mass produced for the first time making them affordable and easier to repair.  Ammunition was also becoming standardized, safer, easier to use, and more powerful.  The guns produced in this era were some of the first to utilize many of the technologies that we take for granted today.

The Old West also connects with gun collecting because firearms were an indispensable part of the landscape.  In an era without 911, police radio, and most forensics technologies, the gun was often the only way to defend oneself from frontier wildlife, Indians, and outlaws.  It could also protect your livestock, be used for hunting... and villainy.  Besides their noble and necessary roles, guns in the West obviously served several "less than savory" roles: dispute settler, stagecoach/rail/bank robber, claim jumper, border enforcer, and avenger.  The gun we'll investigate today was once the tool of one of the Old West's most infamous outlaws and will be offered in Rock Island Auction Company's September 2013 Premiere Auction.


Antique Colt Single Action Army Revolver with Notarized Letter Attributing the Revolver to Famous Western Outlaw Robert Leroy Parker, Best Known as Butch Cassidy

Butch Cassidy is a man that many picture as a ruggedly handsome Paul Newman, when in reality he was a square-headed, straw haired, extremely successful thief.  Butch Cassidy was born as Robert LeRoy Parker on April 13, 1866 in Beaver, Utah.  Known around the house as "Roy," he was the youngest in his Mormon family of 13 children.  His family being poor, Roy worked ranches at a young age and would eventually leave home in his early teens in search of greener pastures.  He continued working ranches and at one point even took work in a butcher shop, earning him his lifelong moniker "Butch."  The topic of when Roy earned his famous nickname is debated, others say he took it after he changed his last name, but everyone agrees on the occupation.  On one of those ranches where he found work, Roy befriended a rancher by the name of Mike Cassidy, who had a reputation of rustling horses and cattle.  No doubt that Mike Cassidy warmed right up to his protégé.  History reports that Butch was never anything but charming, kind, and well-liked with an infectious grin.  Mike Cassidy taught young Roy how to rope, drive cattle, expertly ride a horse, and to become an expert marksman.


Butch's first, lesser-known foray into crime was actually when he entered a Hay Springs clothing store, took a pair of jeans, but left a note promising to pay his debt when he next returned to the shop.  The shop owner pressed charges regardless of the note, but Butch would be acquitted by a jury.  Butch showed aptitude toward any task he put his mind to and had quite a reputation as a skilled and able cowboy.  However, Butch would eventually take the promise he showed as a rancher and would apply that skill to other, less savory, areas. Starting his new life, Butch decided to try his fortunes in a town called Telluride, Colorado, a boomtown full of showgirls, saloons, prospectors, miners, and gamblers.  Initially paid for hauling ore, Butch would eventually begin winning money for racing horses.  He was only 23 when he, along with three other cowboys, robbed the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride and had over $20,000 to show for their excellent planning.  No doubt using some of his plunder, he purchased a ranch in Dubois, WY in 1890 and returned back to his cattle and horse rustling roots.

His reputation as an outlaw began to grow after his Telluride robbery.  In an attempt to honor his old  mentor and not disrespect his family, especially his mother, Butch changed his surname to Cassidy.  His popularity also began to grow as sentiments again the "cattle barons" of the day grew increasingly hostile; his rustling of cattle from barons was seen as a blow against the giants for the "little guy" independent ranchers.  In 1894, he would be jailed for 18 months of a two year sentence in the state prison in Laramie, WY.  The prison sentence was earned from a "sting" set up by the cattle barons.  They sold Butch unbranded horses for a irresistible price without papers.  They then notified the local law about his "undocumented" livestock and had him arrested, ironically, for "rustling" horses that he had actually purchased.

Butch's prison mugshot

The last 6 months of his sentence were commuted after he had shown he was a model prisoner and allegedly promised Governor William Alford Richards that he would no longer rustle in the state.  Newly freed, Butch's drive for crime and excitement had grown immensely and he would quickly surround himself with others of a lawless nature and form what came to be known as The Wild Bunch. They were hand-picked by Butch himself and they would bring a new level of professionalism, excellence, and precision to bank robbing.  It wouldn't be until just after their Aug 1896 robbery of the bank in Montpelier, Idaho of $7,000 that he would recruit one Mr. Harry Longabaugh, better known to the world as "The Sundance Kid."  The next 4-5 years of Butch and his gang's career follows a fairly predictable pattern of robberies in various Western states and then retreating to their hideout nicknamed the Hole-in-the-Wall.  It was a geological formation in the Big Horn Mountains of northern Wyoming which gave the gang, and other outlaws, everything they needed: protection from the elements, an excellent vantage point, long lines of sight, seclusion, allies, food and ammunition stores, and easily defensible narrow passes.  Butch loved the area so much, he would homestead there later in life in a ranch called the Blue Creek Ranch.



His reputation as a witty, charming, funny, brainy, considerate, non-violent man persisted his whole life.  People always found him agreeable and when he would occasionally imbibe, he often drank less than most men.  His only disdain were for those he felt had wronged him or abused their power:  big ranchers, bankers, and railroads often bore the brunt of this sentiment and is likely the result of a boyhood experience where his father lost land in a property rights dispute.  Butch's father Maximillian was a "jack-Mormon" a term coined for inactive members, and when the land dispute arose it went to a "bishop's court," a customary thing in Utah at that time for both civil and occasionally criminal matters.  The bishop ruled against Max in favor of a tithe-paying, active, church member and Max Parker's family was thrown even further into poverty.  Something neither Butch, nor his family would ever forget.  Butch's rustling would frequently target the herds of "religious hypocrites." While Butch is believed to only have used violence as a last resort, he surrounded himself with men who had no such ethical dilemmas.

Eventually the high-profile bank, train, and payroll robberies would earn Butch a little too much attention and the railroad giants, after trying to hire Butch to help guard their trains in exchange for amnesty, would hire the famous Pinkerton National Detective Agency to protect their trains.  Pinkerton would form a special posse called the Union Pacific Mounted Rangers on a specially designed train with specially trained men.  The Wild Bunch was initially unconcerned and continued their robbing ways, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars.  However, it wouldn't be long before the Wild West began to give way to modernity and the 20th Century.  Many of the advances in technology shrank the world that Butch and his gang lived in and they began to feel the grip of law enforcement tightening around them.  Butch had thought previously of escaping to South America and that option got more attractive every day.  So attractive, in fact, that Butch began robbing with the intent of saving enough money to make the trip and a life for himself in Argentina.  During this robbing spree, the gang took the famous photo in Ft. Worth, Texas, now dubbed the "Fort Worth Five."  The photo would ultimately hurt the gang deeply when the Pinkertons discovered it and used it to make wanted posters of the men.  Up until that time the law only had older descriptions of two of them men, including Butch's prison photo.  It would not take long for Butch, Sundance, and Sundance's longtime companion Ethel "Etta" Place, to feel the heat and on February 20, 1901 departed from New York City to Buenos Aires, Argentina aboard the British steamship Herminius.  They no doubt enjoyed the lavish New York lifestyle for several weeks prior to their departure.  To avoid detection aboard the ship, Butch would take the alias James Ryan and pretend to be Etta's non-existent brother.  Upon arriving in Argentina, they quickly set up their own ranch and began living a successful life on the straight and narrow.

The pilfering pair would soon resume their lifestyle of robbing banks and trains in South America.  The "end" of Butch Cassidy's story is clouded at best.  Most believe that the law began catching up with them in South America.  The trio would flee to Chile on several occasions, but continually return to Argentina.  Etta, for reasons unknown, would leave the group on June 30, 1906 on a ship bound for San Francisco.  Butch and Sundance tried to make an honest living for a time, by guarding a mine company's payroll of all things.  Several robberies were attributed to "two American bandits" and eventually they were identified thanks to a mule.  A hotel owner would recognize either the animal or the mining company's logo on its flank and report his find to a local Bolivian Cavalry camping nearby.  The cavalry sent three men to investigate and after enlisting the help of local law enforcement, they surrounded the cabin where the two stayed and a fierce firefight erupted.  Now things become even further convoluted.

1.  Some sources say that after an extended period of quiet there was a scream, a single shot which silenced the screaming, and then, after a pause, a second shot.  Those sources also state that after several hours (some even say the next day) the cavalry finally looked in, discovered two bodies with numerous bullet wounds to their limbs; one body had a bullet hole in its forehead, the other with one in the temple.  The assumption was that Butch had put his long-time friend and partner out of his suffering and then ended his own.  This story and the next both claim to take place on November 3, 1908.

2.  Others say that Sundance, out of ammunition, attempted to reach rifles and ammunition across a small courtyard.  He made it to the rifles, but was gunned down while returning with them to the cabin.  Butch retrieved his friend from the courtyard, brought him back inside the cabin, but the damage had been done.  Sundance expired in that cabin and not long after Butch took his own life with his last bullet.  This is the most accepted of all the stories.

3.  A third story says that Butch survived somehow.  Maybe he got away from that cabin.  Maybe the two "Americans" weren't Butch and Sundance at all, there were certainly other American outlaws in the country performing the same crimes as our pair.  Some folks state that Butch and Sundance moved back to the U.S. and lived the rest of their lives in hiding under aliases.  This story is backed by many first-hand accounts saying that Butch has visited them after his alleged South American death in 1908.  These "visits" by Butch would continue to be reported through the 1930s even by his own family members, however, the accounts often conflict.  Similar evidence exists for Sundance's return to the states and eventual death in 1936.

4.  A more specific legend has Butch going to Europe for a time, then returning to the United States under the name William Phillips.  Once back, he began living in Michigan and married a woman named Gertrude Livesay in May of 1908.  They would eventually move to Arizona to live a straight life.  He would reportedly earn a little extra money by fighting with Pancho Villa in the Mexican Revolution, but would eventually start the Phillips Manufacturing Company, watch it go bankrupt, make a few desperate trips back to Utah and Wyoming looking for buried caches, but ultimately find none.  Diagnosed with cancer, he would die on July 20, 1937.

5.  Still another version has Butch escaped from Bolivia, though Sundance was not so fortunate, underwent plastic surgery in France, reunited with a long lost love in Wyoming, and settled down in Washington State.  This version is detailed in a book called Bandit Invincible: The Story of Butch Cassidy written by a man named William T. Phillips - the same name allegedly used by Butch as an alias in version #4.  This means the book would not be a biography, but an autobiography!  However, this theory earns little credibility.  The book was initially considered fiction and historians say it bears little resemblance to Cassidy's real life.  Especially damning to this theory is that after Phillips died, his wife Gertrude told a Cassidy historian that the couple knew Butch personally and that Phillips was not him.

6.  Others still report that Butch was stabbed in the slums of Paris, killed after a bank raid in Uruguay, or was shot in a New Mexico brothel.  Sundance also managed to die in any number of ways between 1920 and 1940 in Venezuela, Chile, and/or Argentina.  Even William A. Pinkerton, hearing all the conflicting reports, never officially closed the book on Butch and Sundance.

Famous photo of the "Fort Worth Five"  Left to right: Harry Longabaugh ("Sundance Kid"), William "News" Carver, Benjamin Kilpatrick ("The Tall Texan"), Harvey Logan ("Kid Curry"), and Robert LeRoy Parker ("Butch Cassidy").

Whatever the ending of Robery LeRoy Parker's story, it is a tale that has stood the test of time.  It also marks the end of the last great Western outlaws and some say the end of the Old West itself.  Thankfully, this gun endures as a connection to both the man and the era in which he thrived and Rock Island Auction Company is honored to have a temporary custody of such a historic firearm.  It was given by Butch Cassidy to a small time outlaw Joe Davenport, an occasional member of the Wild Bunch.  When Joe retired from crime and went straight, he took a job as a night watchman in Rock Springs, Wyoming.  He would later give this revolver to a dentist named Dr. Breihan possibly for services rendered.  The dentist would eventually pass the revolver on to his son, who would trade it to a man named Jack Wallace for his services as a machinist.  Jack would father a Lt. Col. John W. Wallace, who would inherit the pistol from his dad and document its vast history in the included affidavit.

Butch Cassidy is truly a man of his times.  He innovated his depraved art, just as the Industrial Revolution did with so many products and the young United States.  He enjoyed a sense of adventure as did so many Western-bound settlers in those days.  Perhaps most importantly, he lived and faded right along with his beloved Wild West.  They peaked together, but all the new technologies and innovations which had been used to such success would prove the end of both.  How perfectly fitting that they should fall together.  No one could ask for a more suitable man to herald the end of this age.

Rock Island Auction Company's September 2013 Premiere Auction is absolutely rife with firearms and items that have been in the lives of men who have changed history: Lt. Col. George Custer, Gen Norman Schwartzkopf Sr., Butch Cassidy, Emmitt Dalton, Benito Juraez, Adolf Hitler, Nikita Khrushchev, Herman Göring, Fidel Castro, and more!  Visit our Online Catalog to search for your favorite weapon or any of the historic individuals just named.  You'll see high resolution photos and can bid right from our website.  We know you'll find something fascinating and your own little slice of history.

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-Written by Joel Kolander






SOURCES

Phillips, William T. The Bandit Invincible: The Story of the Outlaw Butch Cassidy. Hamilton, MT: Rocky Mountain House, 1986. Print.

http://www.biography.com/people/butch-cassidy-9240908?page=1

http://www.utah.com/oldwest/butch_cassidy.htm