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LOT 3171
Historic Antique Colt Single Action Army Revolver with Factory Letter Documented to Arizona Lawman Charley Hood and Possibly Involved in the Death
of Warren Earp with Affidavit and Factory Letter - Serial no. 179869, 38-40 WCF cal., 4 3/4 inch round bbl., blue/casehardened finish, hard rubber grips. This classic late 19th century Colt Single Action Army revolver is accompanied by a factory letter confirming it in .38-40 with a 4 3/4 inch barrel, blue finish, and rubber grips when shipped to Simmons Hardware Co. in St. Louis, Missouri,
in a shipment of 12 guns of this type on July 30, 1898. The revolver has the standard markings and features for that period, including matching serial numbers on the frame, trigger guard, and back strap. The replacement grips are numbered “199090” (over another number on the left panel) as well as “3761.” The revolver is also accompanied by an affidavit dated October 9, 1952, from Deputy Sheriff and Range Deputy Sol Reah of Pima County, Arizona, stating that he was selling this revolver to Lt. Hack Proper of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and that Reah received the revolver from Charley Hood an “old time deputy and Arizona Ranger.” Hood had said he got the gun when he arrested Loos Horan and Johnny Boyett “in connection with a shooting around Wilcox. He arrested the two somewhere around Jerome, Arizona, and then returned them to Wilcox. They were both wanted for the shooting of Warren Earp, brother of the notorious Wyatt
Earp...He kept this gun for quite a while and as no one claimed it he kept it. He didn’t say or know whether or not this gun figured in the shooting of Earp or not.”
Warren Earp (1855-1900) was the youngest of the four Earp brothers born in Pella, Iowa. He missed the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881 but came back to Tombstone shortly after and became a deputy under Wyatt Earp and participated in the vendetta ride against the “Cowboys” afterwards and was wanted for arrest in Cochise County after the killing of Frank Stillwell. He left for a while but returned to the Arizona Territory in 1891 and worked as a stage driver running between Willcox and Fort Grant. Earp had previously stabbed a man
in San Bernardino and been involved in other violent actions. In Willcox, he was known for his temper and for being a bully. The Earp brothers’ reputation made him
a feared gunfighter. Texan John “Johnny” Nathan Boyett (1862-1919) was reportedly one of his bullying victims. The source of their hostilities has been disputed over the years, some have claimed they were quarreling lovers in an abusive relationship while others have said they fought over the affections of a woman. Boyett owned his own ranch but also worked for Henry Hooker, the wealthiest rancher in the Arizona Territory. Hooker owned the Sierra Bonita Ranch just north of Willcox and had previously employed Billy the Kid and was also a supporter of the Earp brothers.
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