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Upon arriving in Fort Worth, “The visitors were greeted here by Walter B. Scott and Assistant District
Attorney James C. Wilson Jr., and were guests of Scott at a private dinner at the Texas Hotel.” Scott was a
prominent attorney in Fort Worth and held various civic appointments, including as a member of the local
Chamber of Commerce, an executive committeeman on the Trinity River Canal Association, and a member
of the Texas commission for the state’s exhibit at the A Century of Progress International Exposition in
Chicago that same year. Given the wording of the inscriptions, Scott evidently presented the revolver to
Hitchcock after seeing what a steadfast friend he was to Roosevelt and to make clear he
was welcome back.
The Star-Telegram on March 12 featured a photograph of Elliott Roosevelt noting that he was making a
cross-country journey to get a “taste of the real West” and attended the Southwestern Exposition and Fat
Stock Show as a guest of Manager John B. Davis, including at its opening on Friday March 10, the day this
revolver is dated. The paper also indicates that he made another appearance on Saturday riding on a pony
and indicated he was accompanied by Walter B. Scott and Davis to visit the chutes. “He left for Dallas late
in the afternoon in an automobile accompanied by Ralph Hitchcock, his companion.” On March 14, 1933,
the Star-Telegram in “A Page from the Datebook” by Nedra C. Jenkins noted, “Among those seen rodeoing:
Walter B. Scott in a pink silk neckerchief and 10-galloner...Some of the young ladies privileged to meet
Elliott Roosevelt here are still talking about his eyes and his ‘cute’ way of talking. He said the Stock Show
was ‘swell’ and the horses ‘just grand.’ Roosevelt’s companion, Ralph Hitchcock, also came in for his share of
praise among the coterie of young ladies that prefer brunets.”
After leaving Fort Worth in 1933, the Roosevelt and Hitchcock took up residence for six weeks
at attorney Samuel Platt’s residence at Lake Tahoe in Nevada so that
Roosevelt could get a divorce from his first wife, and the two friends spent
much of their time in outdoor pursuits during the trip. Rumors of the
romantic relationship and potential marriage with Googins had already
been swirling in the press but denied in June 1933, but just over a week
after his divorce, he married Googins in Iowa on July 22, 1933. The Fort
Worth Star-Telegram more recently on May 6, 2023, features an article by
Carol Roark regarding the Roosevelt family’s time in Fort Worth in which
she explains that when Elliott Roosevelt made his visit to Fort Worth in
March of 1933, the local civic leaders “thought they might introduce him to
opportunities in the Fort Worth Area…Walter B. Scott, an attorney involved
with the Chamber of Commerce, hosted a private dinner there for the young
Roosevelt. Probably that is where Elliott Roosevelt first met Ruth Googins,
although some sources indicate that the future couple met at a dance in
Dallas. Roosevelt apparently fell hard.”
After their marriage, the couple made regular visits to Fort Worth, where their
first daughter, Ruth, was born on May 9, 1934. The couple later made their
home at the Dutch Branch Ranch where the Roosevelts raised Hereford cattle
in addition to several Arabian horses. Elliott Roosevelt also worked in media
and aviation, including as an honorary member of the air squad of the Los
Angeles Police Department. His good friend Hitchcock had been similarly given
an appointment as a Texas Ranger as an honor by 1934. Hitchcock also remarried in 1936
to Barbara Larkin and served on the Democratic National Committee that year. They lived
in Flushing. “The Michigan Alumnus Index Volume XLV” from 1939 indicates he worked on
the New York World’s Fair that year, and he is listed as a salesman working in printing in the
1940 Census. In 1959, he and his wife are noted as moving from
Baltimore to Washington, D.C.
During World War II, Elliott Roosevelt resigned from the presidency of the
Texas State Network and Transcontinental Broadcasting System and was
commissioned as a captain in the Specialist Reserve Corps of the U.S. Army
and with U.S. entry into the war serve as an aviator in the U.S. Army Air
Corps flying approximately 89 combat missions. He also served as a
connection between his father and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
In 1944, he and Ruth divorced. He later remarried first to actress Faye
Emerson, then Minnewa Bell, and finally to Patricia Peabody Whitehead.
CONDITION: Excellent plus overall, nearly mint with crisp engraving,
carving, and historical inscriptions. Mechanically excellent. This is an
incredible factory engraved Colt presented in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1933
in association with the legendary Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock
Show to Elliott Roosevelt’s close friend Ralph V. Hitchcock less than a week after FDR’s first inauguration.
Provenance: The Pete Harvey Collection; The Brig & Louise Pemberton Collection.
Estimate: 45,000 - 65,000
AS PICTURED AND DESCRIBED
IN THE COLT ENGRAVING BOOK
VOLUME TWO BY WILSON
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