Bill Miner's gun

[Buffalo Creek Law Dog]

The other day they had a program on TV about British Columbia history.  The main topic was Bill Miner.  They had Bill's six gun on the program (which belongs to the museum at Kelowna, B.C.) and on the left side between the cylinder and the grip, was a piece of leather about 2.5 " long and about 3/4 " wide, folded once lengthwise and attached to the gun by the hammer screw.  Neither the guest nor the moderator had any idea why this was attached to the gun. 

It kind of looked like a poor man's lanyard ring. If one ran a cord through the loop it could be hung around the neck.

Anyone ever see or heard of this before?

[St. George]

You may find out more from www.billminer.ca/journal - kept by the writer of 'Interred With Their Bones - Bill Miner in Canada 1903-1907' - by Grauer.

It would seem that that particular revolver has been viewed as the 'lost' revolver, and being 'lost', quite naturally there will be folks who clain to have it in their possession.

Here's an excerpt from the journal:

" One item that, fittingly for the venue, was brought to my attention by at least 5 individual show vendors was the "lost Bill Miner pistol."  When Miner, Dunn and Colquhoun were captured, they had six pistols in their possession.  One 32 cal. Colt semi-automatic is in the Kamloops Museum and Archives.  Four others,  a second .32 cal Colt semi-automatic, as well as a 9mm Luger semi-automatic, Colquhoun's .38 cal. Iver-Johnson revolver, and CPR Mail Clerk Andrew Herbert Mitchell's .38 cal. Smith and Wesson revolver, are supposedly in the RCMP Museum and Archives in Regina.  Even after a number of queries by the author prior to book publication, museum staff was unable to locate them.  However, they are undoubtedly there, as the writer has printed and written original provenance showing shipment to the Museum.  That leaves the last pistol, variously described as a 44 cal. Colt or a .41 cal Bisley Model Colt's revolver, unaccounted for.  (My book "Interred With Their Bones" describes it as a 44 cal. revolver.  However, at that time before publication there was conflicting evidence as to the correct calibre of Colt's revolver.  It was variously described as a .44 or a .41 calibre.)  Many of the individuals who came up to me were acknowledged experts in the field of historical arms and their provenance.  What was surprising was that all of them independently told me the same story.  Two of those who enlightened me considerably as to the firearm's history were George Cruickshank of Duncan and Randy Gott of Lone Butte.  According to these very knowledgeable gentlemen, it was in fact a .41 cal. Bisley Colt's revolver.  I was told that when looking at the back of the cylinder, it would have been very easy to describe the pistol as a .44 calibre weapon as the cartridge the .41 cal. took had a shell the same diameter as a .44, but the projectile was .41 calibre.  A number of show vendors told me that the weapon that Richard Farnsworth as Bill Miner in "The Grey Fox" handled in the movie was actually the original pistol.  The provenance as it was described to me in great detail, from the weapon's capture until the movie,  seemed to fit with all the information that the writer has in his collection of research material.

It was eventually put up for sale at auction.  The actual auctioneer that sold the pistol was also in attendance at the Kamloops Gun and Antique Show, and Karen and I had supper with him and his wife.  He told me that the .41 calibre Bisley was sold at auction some time ago for $15,000 to a collector of Bill Miner memorabilia in the US."

As to your question about the leather device - I've seen thong-and-loop arrangements that allowed the individual to 'carry' the piece looped over the neck.

Only that individual can say why it worked for him.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Buffalo Creek Law Dog]

Interesting!

Although the guest on the program was knowledgeable of Bill Miner, you could tell that he nor the moderator were not gun people.  They didn't even mention the calibre. 

I would have thought that the museum that the gun was stored at would have been Kamloops however, they mentioned Kelowna more that once.

Who knows?

Cheers!

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