A fine .38(W.C.F) 'Single Action Army' revolver by Colt, No. 302729

In its contemporary leather dress rig in the style of Ed Bohlin

Footnotes

Provenance
Sheriff Tom Turner, Arizona
James D. Julia, Inc., Fairfield, Maine, 8 & 9 October 2007, lot 2352

Tom Turner (1860-1937) originally from Texas was for many years connected with the area of Nogales, Arizona, where he served as Sheriff of Santa Cruz County. At various times during his life he was a rancher, wagon foreman of the San Raphael Ranch, manager of the Empire Ranch and later general foreman of the Greene Cattle Company. According to numerous newspaper articles and other accounts (offered with the lot) he was not a man to be trifled with. Very tenacious in his pursuit of outlaws who stole livestock from his ranch, in one instance it is recounted that he pursued a band of Mexican rustlers into the north of the Chiricahuas Mountains where he recovered his livestock following a gun battle in which he killed three out of the four. Following an inquest and the burial of the bodies the coroner's jury adjudicated on the affair the outcome of which resulted in an old Justice looking severely at Turner and commenting '...young man, you have committed a very serious offence, and you deserve the most serious punishment this court can inflict upon you. Damned if I don't fine you the drinks for the town for letting that other Mexican get away'. It apparently took Turner all day to treat every man of Wilcox who could be induced to take a drink and it cost him $14. During his time as manager of the Empire Ranch he confronted six troublesome individuals and in the ensuing gun battle managed to kill five of them all 'in the length of the boxcar'. In 1900 he was elected Sheriff of Santa Cruz County (an office he held until 1904) and found that the custom of pistol toting was prevalent with most of the men in his jurisdiction carrying handguns in violation of the law. This led to him publishing a notice that it was contrary to the law and giving warning that the law would be enforced. It is related that Turner and a deputy confronted about 150 revellers in one of the town's largest dance halls, The Palace, and managed to confiscate firearms from most of them. According to a newspaper report he kept his firearm confiscation activities 'up from time to time for a week until he had a collection of something more than a thousand revolvers...'. A newspaper article in the Phoenix Oasis on June 1901 goes on to explain 'before Turner's election gun plays were numerous in Nogales. A man who had the nerve to disarm a community like Nogales should be entitled to the support of every voter'. For further information see Jane Eppinga, Nogales Life And Times On The Frontier, 2002

Offered with a Colt Firearms Division letter dated 2 July 1988 confirming the revolver's specifications and that it was part of a shipment of 30 to Simmons Hardware Co., St. Louis, on 11 August 1908; and numerous facsimile transcripts and newspaper articles relating to Turner, his life and times

This revolver may be held under s7.3 Heritage Pistols in the U.K.