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Title: (Texas) Wilbarger County Sheriff's Office Selling Rare 1920s Machine Gun
Source:
KFDX 3
URL Source: http://www.texomashomepage.com/stor ... 0/15883/h4L1HFnqg0iFFaiOAUUsdA
Published: Mar 4, 2015
Author: David Gonzalez
Post Date: 2015-03-04 18:49:02 by X-15
Keywords: None
Views: 170
Comments: 10
Gun collectors, pay attention, because the Wilbarger County Sheriff's Office plans to sell a rare, fully automatic machine gun from the 1920s. Wilbarger County Sheriff Larry Lee says this 1920s Colt Thompson was obtained in the late 1930s by a former sheriff, free of charge, from a U.S. Navy surplus and has been locked up in a vault for 70 years. Lee says the gun is a rare 1921 model overstamped later with the year 1928 when the company began selling leftover '21 models. He says the gun is fully functional and has only been fired a few times. Lee says the gun is valued at more than $30,000 and selling it would benefit the community. "A gun that's this valuable I can sell and use those proceeds to buy all of my deputies new side arms, new rifles to carry in their patrol units; something that's going to make our officers safer, help protect the citizens and it's not going to cost our citizens one penny," Lee says. You can check out the gun for yourself by making an appointment with Hath at Butch's Guns in Vernon. 
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#6. To: X-15 (#0)
(Edited)
Lee says the gun is a rare 1921 model overstamped later with the year 1928 when the company began selling leftover '21 models. [Sidenote: Wilbarger County, Texas: Notable natives and residents - Roy Orbison, singer/songwriter born in Wilbarger County] Navy surplus -- sounds from that detail like it wouldn't be one of the many guns said to have been stolen by Public Enemy #1, John Dillinger, and his gang but they reportedly stole 3 like it; 2 of them still missing. Also, they had been down that way in El Paso going towards Arizona, where they were officiously captured. Coincidently, he had been in the Navy (very early 1920s, says the Wiki site above) and was assigned to the battleship USS Utah as a Fireman 3rd Class but he deserted after a few months when it docked in Boston. Stories are varied somewhat about his infamous theft of a Tommy gun during one of his jail breaks. Here's a 1.5 minute video and some reported info about that: Brad Meltzer's Lost History: John Dillinger's Prison Escape Plan (S1, E1) - YouTube Brad Meltzer explains how American gangster John Dillinger got possession of the Thompson gun that he used to seal his reputation, in this scene from "The Ground Zero Flag [episode]." From one of the Comments there: "this guy don't even know that John Dillinger's gun Places mentioned in the video: Crown Point, Indiana [seat of Lake County, top NW corner] and Porter County, Indiana [Lake County's "next door neighbor" to the right] Articles: Principle places mentioned: Auburn, Indiana [seat of DeKalb County near the top of the eastern border], Lima, Ohio [seat of Allen County to the east but nearby] and Peru, Indiana [seat of northerly-centered Miami County] Tommy gun stolen by Dillinger gang returned to Indiana town - chicagotribune.com, March 07, 2014. Excerpts: The gun arrived in Auburn just before noon Thursday, steeped in local legend and a history of murder, with an estimated value of $50,000 to $1 million. The gun was formally presented to the city by FBI Special Agent Robert Allen Jones of Indianapolis, who returned it to what he called “the rightful owner.” The story behind the gun is that Dillinger, who was being held in jail in Lima, Ohio, was freed by three members of his gang, who killed the sheriff. Two days later, they traveled to Auburn, where Dillinger and two other gang members locked up the only officer on duty and took hundreds of rounds of ammunition and several guns, including the submachine gun. A week later, they also robbed the Peru police station of a number of guns, including two other Thompson submachine guns. It wasn’t until 2010 when a caller who McCoy said wanted to remain anonymous told him the serial number of the Thompson on display at the FBI headquarters, and police in Auburn realized it matched their records. Still, it took four years for the gun to come back home. Meanwhile, no one has any idea what happened to the two Thompsons taken a week later in Peru. Auburn Mayor Norman Yoder said the submachine gun was part of the folklore of Auburn, and he’d heard tales even as a child but never knew if they were true. Thursday, he held the real gun, which has been disabled, and saw for himself that the tales were all true. Tommy gun Dillinger swiped back home again in Indiana - usatoday.com, April 7, 2014. Excerpts: Soon, the police were locked up in their own jail cell, and the gangsters were driving away with the department's entire arsenal — three bullet-proof vests, six pistols, two rifles, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and the prize: a Thompson submachine gun. The Thompson, known popularly as a "Tommy gun," a "chopper," a "Chicago typewriter," is one of America's iconic weapons brandished viciously, or carried not that discreetly in a violin case, in gangster movies since the Depression. In March, 80 years after it was stolen, that very weapon, by now a highly collectible piece of history believed to have been wielded by Dillinger personally (and valued conservatively at $150,000, which is way more than Dillinger ever got from any one bank), was back in the hands of the Auburn Police Department. A high-ranking FBI man handed it over, with ceremony, in the rotunda of the DeKalb County Courthouse, across the street from the police station, which looks a lot like it did in 1933, except now they lock the door. Dillinger's raid is still an important part of the town's back story. Most people here know something about it. Ed McDonald knew everything about it. He was born and raised in Auburn and was a long-time cop here and a fanatic when it came to history. In his sleuthing, McDonald turned up several vintage Tommy guns, including the one Auburn bought to replace the one Dillinger stole (the department sold it after it became obsolete, in the 1970s). But the Dillinger Tommy remained elusive. Then, one day in 2010, out of the blue, a gun collector and Dillinger buff from California notified Auburn Police that its gun was on display at FBI headquarters in Washington. The collector/buff, who may have been motivated after learning of McDonald's efforts, insisted on anonymity, McCoy said. Dillinger had lost possession of the Tommy gun earlier [the] same year [that he was killed - 1934, July], following his arrest in Tucson, Ariz., where he and his gang had gone to lay low after pulling off a flurry of bank robberies in the Midwest. Several Dillinger gang members stayed at Tucson's Congress Hotel, which (through no fault of their own) caught fire. Firefighters recognized the bank robbers, and the Tucson Police Department arrested them and later their boss. This they did without firing a shot In arresting the Dillinger gang, the Tucson Police Department seized their weapons, including the Auburn Tommy gun. The gun still bears a sticker that says "Tucson Police Dept." The TPD disabled the gun and probably used it for ornamentation. Holes drilled into it suggest a wall mount. In 1966, the TPD made a gift of the gun to longtime FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who'd overseen the Dillinger operation and by then had become one of the nation's most powerful people. The public relations-savvy Hoover displayed the gun at the bureau's widely toured headquarters in Washington. McDonald and others in Auburn knew four years ago that the gun rightly belonged to the Auburn Police Department, but the FBI made them wait. "Well, we had to do a lot of research, and that takes time," explained Robert A. Jones, who's in charge of the FBI office in Indianapolis. Guns back in Dillinger's day weren't registered, Jones said, so for proof-positive, Auburn was compelled to reach deep into its records and produce the sales receipt. since its return last month, a lot of people have been allowed to handle it, and be photographed handling it, including Mayor Yoder and visiting journalists. But Ed McDonald never got to. 2nd set of slides, #6: John Dillinger and members of his gang attend their arraignment Jan. 26, 1934, at Tucson, Ariz. Russel Clark (from left), Charles Makley, Harry Pierpont, Dillinger, Opal Long and Mary Kinder. Dillinger and his gang fled to Tucson after a string of robberies in the Midwest. The gang was captured near the University of Arizona on Jan. 25, 1934. Dillinger was flown back to Indiana while the others were put on a train to Ohio. (Photo: AP file photo) Edited punctuation + sentence 1 of the comment paragraph + 3 of the bracketed notations, location and date info.
Cool story on the Dillinger gang and a Thompson! Here's an advertisement aimed at civilians when anybody with the money could buy one over-the-counter at a hardware store. First time I've ever seen a cowboy using one to bust up a gang of rustlers:
#8. To: Buzzard (#7)
ping!
The ad doesn't say anything about a holster for it, so that's probably why cowboys didn't use them much against rustlers. And, with mags of only 50-100, they'd have to stop and reload 15 or 30 times to fire at full capacity of 1,500 cartridges per minute! Having to lug those around, as well, could get tiresome and, in the meantime, some of the rustlers might get away. That's not even figuring the extra ducking and dodging that might be involved from the higher ricochet factor. Reminded me of this target shootin' show, though: "1 bullet, 3 paving stones and a cardboard hoosier ... and a cartridge in a pear tree" - dailymotion.com video @ 22:38, Adam Savage's 12 Days parody, Mythbusters: 2010 - Boomerang Bullet testing (documentary)
Cool Thompson ad. I want one.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestWilbarger County Sheriff Larry Lee says this 1920s Colt Thompson was obtained in the late 1930s by a former sheriff, free of charge, from a U.S. Navy surplus and has been locked up in a vault for 70 years.
that was actually a piece of soap that he carved, I mean w[h]ere in the heck would he get a movie prop in jail, What an Idiot, and hey he gets paid to be one what a joke!" More than 80 years after John Dillinger’s gang walked into police headquarters in the small Indiana town of Auburn, locked up the only officer on duty, a Sgt. Fred Kreuger [My note: aka "Freddy Kreuger"?], and stole a small arsenal of guns, including a .45-caliber Thompson submachine gun, the city has gotten the gun back.
Auburn's mayor, Norman Yoder, called it "our Barney Fife moment": Late on the night of Oct. 14, 1933, gangster John Dillinger's men barged through the unlocked front door of the police station in this northern Indiana county seat, reportedly just as one of the officers was preparing to enjoy a bag of popcorn.
#7. To: GreyLmist, Lod, Jethro Tull, randge (#6)
Replies to Comment # 7.
#9. To: X-15 (#7)
Here's an advertisement aimed at civilians when anybody with the money could buy one over-the-counter at a hardware store. First time I've ever seen a cowboy using one to bust up a gang of rustlers:
#10. To: X-15 (#7)
End Trace Mode for Comment # 7.