Page 130 - 4093-BOOK2

LOT 1139
Historic Documented
Fort Worth, Texas, Shipped Factory
Engraved Colt First Generation Single Action
Army Revolver with Steer Head Carved Pearl Grip
and Presentation Inscription to Elliott Roosevelt’s Friend Ralph
V. Hitchcock “A Friend You Can Hitch To” from Walter B. Scott During the 1933
Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show with Factory Letter - Serial no. 343042, 38
WCF cal., 4 3/4 inch round bbl., nickel finish, pearl grips. This historic factory engraved Colt Single
Action Army revolver was presented to Ralph V. Hitchcock, a close friend of President Franklin D.
Roosevelt’s son Elliott, during a visit by the two men to Fort Worth, Texas, in March of 1933. While
in Fort Worth, they were hosted to a private dinner by Walter B. Scott at the Texas Hotel and also
attended the Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show as guests of Scott and the event’s
manager John B. Davis. Such a remarkable factory engraved revolver complete with pearl grips
with a steer head carved into the right panel was certainly a befitting presentation piece from an
important “Cowtown” civic leader to an influential friend of the son of the president of the United
States at the famous stock show and rodeo which dates back to 1896 and has been held annually
nearly without interruption save two exceptions, the first in 1943 while Elliott Roosevelt was serving
as an aviator in World War II. 1933 was notably not the first time a Roosevelt had attended; former
president Theodore Roosevelt was the guest of honor at the event in 1911. The revolver was notably
presented to Hitchcock just six days after the first inauguration of FDR and Vice President “Cactus
Jack” Garner of Texas.
128