Description:

Vintage Handbill which Showcased the Firearms used by the Dalton Gang in the Coffeyville Raids. 

Scattered foxing and paper loss in corners. 6.5" x 11".

After the Coffeyville Raid, a number of Coffeyville citizens immediately began grabbing souvenirs off the dead bodies of the Dalton Gang Members. While some of the robbers’ guns disappeared, the Emmett and Bob Dalton Coffeyville Colts were both involved in subsequent legal transactions that left a paper trail of their history.

The Colt numbered 147305 and its mate were taken from the gravely wounded Emmett Dalton by Coffeyville Journal newspaper editor David Stewart Elliott. The editor gave both firearms to older brother Bill Dalton, who did not participate in the Coffeyville raid. Emmett subsequently gave those Colts to his court-appointed attorney, J.R. Fritch. In 1912 Fritch sold No. 147305 to his client Michael Sweetman. In 1978 Sweetman’s family sold the guns to gunfighter historian John Bianchi, and that gun went from Bianchi into the Autry Museum collection. There is no public record of what happened to Emmett’s other Colt which was numbered 147306.

The Colt numbered 147307 was auctioned off in Coffeyville with other Dalton possessions on January 14, 1893. It sold to a W.H. Clark for $31. Clark then sold the gun to H.W. Read who was the owner of a Read’s Clothing Store and was the president of the First National Bank. In 1960, the Read family left the Colt on display at the Dalton Defender’s Museum in Coffeyville until 1992, when a Read family member removed it after they became aware of the firearm's historical value.

According to Colt factory records, all three of these consecutively numbered Colts had been part of a shipment of 15 single-action revolvers to an A.E. Williams, in care of Simmons Hardware in St. Louis on August 18, 1892, just a month and a half before the Dalton Gang struck Coffeyville. Legend has it that gang leader Bob Dalton outfitted the five men involved in the famous raid with brand-new horses, fancy Mexican saddles, new clothes, new Winchesters and a pair of fancy engraved Colt .45s with pearl grips.

From the archives of famous Old West photographer John Tackett.

John Tackett owned a photography studio in Coffeyville, where Tackett captured the famous images of the Dalton Gang after the Coffeyville raid. Tackett also went on to collaborate with Emmett Dalton in order to write, film, produce and distribute a movie about the raid.

Provenance:
1. John Tackett Archives
2. Jim and Theresa Earle Collection
3. Bonhams Los Angeles

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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