Page 35 - 89-FLIPBOOK3

On the face of the shield are the words, ‘Harvey S. Faucet, City Marshal, Leadville.’ On the transverse side are the words, ‘Presented by the Leadville police force and many citizens July 11, 1884.’
The cost of the badge was $100. It is certainly a very beautiful present, and Marshal Faucett’s appreciation of the regard that prompted the presentation of so handsome a testimonial is only exceeded by his worth as an officer. After he recovered from the surprise he sent out for beer and cigars and ‘set’em up’ for the boys.”
The badge is accompanied by a binder of research and provenance information. Two included letters from collector John J. Connors to Greg Lampe in 2010 accompany the badge. The first states that the badge is “completely hand made solid gold” from four gold pieces. The shield
and star are listed as red gold while the raised shield edge and eagle are yellow gold. Connors indicates the badge has “original mine cut diamonds, black enamel, and pinstem and catch.” In the second letter to Lampe, Connors notes that the badge was left to Harvey S. Faucett’s daughter Edith along with “documents, guns, badges, photographs, diaries, and more.” He indicates she gave her son Charles the inscribed Peabody-Martini “Kill Deer” rifle, from the previous lot,
along with some other items and the badge to Laurence Sanford Faucett Murdock from whom Connors purchased the badge in 1973.
The document file also includes a copy of Faucett’s business card as City Marshal,
newspaper articles about his work as a lawman, photographs of Faucett and Leadville,
and more. Also included is a framed photograph of Faucet as Leadville City Marshal and
a photograph of his Leadville detective badge. A copy of a letter from the Faucett on Leadville City Marshal’s Office letterhead to Zechariah Chafee on March 29th, 1885, indicates that Faucett was urged to not seek re-appointment as city marshal because his wife was worried he would get killed in the line of duty, and he noted that he had not realized the dangers of the job while he was a single man, but that as a husband and father he now was concerned about what would happen to his family if something should happen to him. He was considering selling his mining interests and becoming a cattle rancher.
As discussed in the description for Faucett’s Peabody-Martini rifle, Harvey Sanford Faucett had a very exciting life in the West and had many pursuits during his lifetime. He was a teamster, Indian fighter, U.S. Army scout, frontier guide, and lawman in the West. He came to Leadville, Colorado,
in 1879 in search of silver and joined the Colorado State Militia and became a lieutenant and then captain in Company F of the 3rd Colorado Volunteers. He was confirmed as a special policemen for upper Main Street in Leadville on November 21, 1879, thus marking the beginning of his career as a lawman. The following year he became a regular policeman. Leadville was a rough mining town noted for murder, robbery, and other serious crime. One observer reportedly remarked, “There has been a man killed on every street corner in Leadville, and in most places between the corners.” Vigilante justice was all too common early on but was largely stopped by the police by 1881. Faucett married Mary A. Young of Leadville in 1882 and was elected as Constable of the 7th Ward that same year. In 1884, he was appointed City Marshal in April and was presented this badge in July. The town had grown to 40,000 residents.
Among them was Doc Holliday who moved to Leadville in 1883 and was working as a card
dealer in the saloons. On August 19, 1884, Holliday reportedly sent a friend to tell Faucett
that bartender Billy Allen of the Monarch Saloon was coming for $5 Holliday owed him or
a shootout. Allen arrived before the police, and Holliday shot him in the arm in Hyman’s
Saloon and was arrested and charged with attempted murder, but he was later acquitted.
Faucett and others sent Holliday away to Denver. In April 1885, the post of City Marshal went
to Patrick A. Kelly. Faucett worked in produce and then became the Deputy Sheriff of Lake
County in 1887 and then became the Marshal for Robinson. He also served as a U.S. Deputy Marshal and was a police officer in Seattle, Washington in the 1890s and got in a shootout
with “Kid” Donnelly in which Donnelly was wounded. In April 1895, he made yet another career change and became the Superintendent of Police back in Elwood, Indiana, but then moved back to the West and lived in Kansas City, Kansas, with his family in the early 20th century. He worked in the Kansas City Market as a special officer and died in Kansas City on September 24, 1930.
CONDITION: Extremely fine overall with minor handling and storage marks. Nearly all of the black enamel remains. The case is very fine and has mild wear. One of the finest, 19th century, western peace offers badges known.
Provenance: Leadville City Marshal Harvey S. Faucett; Edith Wiggers (nee Faucett); Laurence Sanford Murdock; The John Connors Collection; The Greg Lampe Collection.
Estimate: 25,000 - 45,000
33