GUN FALL 2015
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/5/2015
VERY EARLY WINCHESTER MODEL 1876 OPEN TOP LEVER ACTION RIFLE THAT BELONGED TO FAMOUS SIOUX INDIAN CHIEF SITTING BULL.WINCHESTER1876353645-75Cal. 45-75. Standard grade rifle with 28" oct bbl, full magazine, altered front sight with a piece of antler or bone replacing the nickel silver blade and an 1876-marked rifle ladder rear sight, missing its slide and base screw. Mounted with uncheckered straight grain American walnut which includes straight stock and crescent buttplate with trap. Buttstock has 7 square-shank tack holes in the comb, 14 other square-shank tack holes in 2 parallel lines forward of the buttplate and 12 more on right side of forearm with 3 others on left side of forearm, which may be a period of use replacement. Accompanied by a Winchester Gun Museum letter which identifies this rifle with oct bbl and plain trigger, shipped May 1, 1878, and one period .45-75 cartridge.
Also accompanied by a very large volume of correspondence, documentation, and images regarding the authenticity of this rifle as having belonged to famous Hunkpapa Sioux Indian Chief, Sitting Bull. This rifle is first documented as having been purchased in 1932 from the liquidation of the Bank of West Hollywood by Walter H. Robinson, an attorney employed by the State of California to liquidate the holdings of several defunct banks. In a sworn affidavit, dated 20 November 1965 over the signature of Edith Jones Roush, who had been the wife of Mr. Robinson in 1932. She states that when her husband purchased this rifle from the assets of the bank, it was being held as security for $1,500.00 personal note. When the bank was unable to locate the owner the rifle remained in the bank assets until purchased by Mr. Robinson. Mrs. Roush states that when Mr. Robinson brought the rifle home it "was packed in a wooden box bearing the express marks and labels showing that it had been expressed from Dakota". In addition to the rifle there was "certain documentation identifying the rifle as having belonged to the Indian Chief, Sitting Bull, including a small yellow piece of paper bearing the typewritten statement, "This gun was taken from Sitting Bull''s house, upon the occasion of his arrest on Dec. 15''91. Jas. Mc Laughlin" Mrs. Roush further states that the rifle remained in the box until Mr. Robinson''s death in 1955, after which she remarried and moved and at some point the box was "broken up for kindling wood and all identification lost except the yellow card above referred to, which I have delivered to Mr. Whedon along with the rifle". Apparently, prior to the date of this document, Mrs. Roush had sold this rifle, identified by SN in the affidavit, to a Mr. Parker Whedon of Charlotte, North Carolina. Also accompanied by the original 4-1/2" x 2-1/2" piece of yellowed paper which has the typewritten notation "This gun was taken from Sitting Bull''s house upon the occasion of his arrest on Dec. 15/91." over the typewritten signature "Jas. Mc Laughlin". In addition there is a report of fiber analysis conducted by OIPS Testing Experts of Appleton, Wisconsin, dated December 18, 2012. This test states "No UV florescence" and "Mix of soft wood, unbleached sulfite - (Spruce and/or Hemlock) and Softwood Groundwood - Fir and (Spruce and/or Hemlock) / "It is possible for the paper to be from 1890. The fiber types were available by 1890 but the type of mix was not typical."
Also in this volume of provenance are several letters of correspondence to Mr. Parker Whedon, apparently an attorney in Charlotte, North Carolina from the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology and the Museum of the American Indian, NY, NY. In a June 24, 1968 letter from the Smithsonian, over the signature of John C. Ewers, Senior Ethnologist, he states that "While reading My Visit Among the Hostile Indians and How They Became My Friends", Rudolph Crownau on pages 410-425, I noted a printing of a letter to Crownau from Mr. W.D. Campbell, proprietor of Campbell''s Curio Store, 325 South Spring Street, Los Angeles, California, dated June 14, 1897, stating that he had obtained a number of articles "from the Indian agent at Standing Rock and he got them when Bull was killed." The agent would have been James Mc Laughlin." On page 423 the letter mentions several items that are still known today. On page 425 Mr. Crownau states that all of those items became the property of Mr. T.S. Lowe of Los Angeles in 1898. When Mr. Lowe died, they apparently then went to a Mr. William Fitzhugh of San Francisco, where they were exhibited for many years. When Mr. Fitzhugh died, the collection was acquired by the Museum of the American Indian, HEYE Foundation NY,NY. He continues that the article does not mention Sitting Bull''s guns but speculates that they were sold before the Crownau letter. In a July 20, 1968 letter to attorney Whedon from the Museum of the American Indian over the signature of Fredrick J. Dockstader, director, he states that his museum still has the Fitzhugh collection, intact, but there is no indication that they ever received any firearms and he speculates that the evidence "Seems to agree strongly with the documentation which supports your belief that the rifle #3536 in your possession is indeed the one formerly owned by Sitting Bull". Another letter from Mr. Dockstader dated August 2, 1968, states he could "Further help you only in the fact that some of the typewritten statements in your possession match those which were with specimens which we received on our own collection".
Another letter to attorney Whedon from Assumption Abbey of Richaroton, North Dakota dated December 13, 1969 over the signature of Father Louis Pfaller, wherein he advises that he is enclosing a copy of a letter written by Mc Laughlin to D. F. Barry in which he presents Barry with "one of the 5 guns taken from Sitting Bull''s cabin". He further states that "In checking some typewritten material from 1895, I find that it is very likely the same typewriter. My reason is that the number 9 is exactly alike. The lower part of the number is short and almost forms a period." Also accompanying is a copy of the Barry letter dated "Standing Rock April 30th 1891" over the signature of James Mc Laughlin. Mr. Mc Laughlin states "I present you herewith for your collection of "Curios" a Sharp''s carbine, patent of 1848 numbered 39120 which was found in Sitting Bull''s house by the Indian police-----on the morning of December 15th 1890-----". And later "This was one of five (5) rifles found in Sitting Bulls house by the police-----." An additional letter from Father Pfaller dated January 3, 1970 states that he is enclosing the page in notebook 12 "which shows that three of Sitting Bull''s guns were loaned to the Indian Policemen, after Dec. 15, 1890. There is no record of what eventually happened to them." A copy of that page, which is apparently found in a small notebook with a typewritten label, "McLAUGHLIN COLLECTION / Notebook 12, Dec. 1890 / RCM", above that label is handwritten "Guns turned in and captured by Indian Police subsequent to Dec. 15th 1890". A copy of page 12 lists the names of 24 Indians whose guns were "loaned to Indian Police", line 15 lists Sitting Bull.
Excerpts from the book The Arrest and Killing of Sitting Bull(author unknown), on pages 86-87, 108-109 describe the arrest of Sitting Bull on December 15, 1890. Pages 86-87 are by Sioux policemen Shoots Walking. He states that the night before a large number of Indian Police had gone to the home of Chief of Police Bullhead about 3 or 4 miles from Sitting Bull''s place. The morning of the 15th they rode directly to Sitting Bull''s house and surrounded it with Cpt. Bullhead, Sgt. Shavehead and 3 other policemen entered the house with the others standing outside. He states that Sitting Bull was in bed and 2 of the policemen pulled him out of bed. Cpt. Bullhead took a rifle which was under Sitting Bull''s bed and another hanging on the wall. They allowed Sitting Bull to get dressed and led him outside where they were confronted by Sitting Bull''s supporters who attacked the police with one of them shooting Cpt.Bullhead through his body which prompted another policemen, Strikes the Kettle to shoot Sitting Bull, killing him instantly.
In an unsigned and undated old letter on the letterhead of Walter H. Robinson, Attorney at Law, addressed to renowned old time dealer/collector, Robert Ables, Mr. Robinson details much of the same information as found in the sworn affidavit of Mrs. Roush. Accompanying this lot is an orig cabinet card from Copelin Studios, Chicago which is a studio photograph of Sitting Bull in buckskins with his pipe and bearing what is probably an authentic signature of Sitting Bull. Also accompanying is a first day issue of the Sitting Bull 28 cent U.S. postage stamp postmarked Rapid City, SD September 14, 1989. Additionally accompanying are several copies of photographs of Sitting Bull''s cabin. Also accompanying is a copy of several handwritten letters, presumably from Maj. Mc Laughlin, all dated December 14, 1890, regarding the order to arrest Sitting Bull.
The evidence that this rifle was taken from the cabin of Sitting Bull on the day he was arrested and killed is very compelling. Rarely does such an item come to market with documentation beyond "family lore" or simply word of mouth. So much so that in a December 23,1969 letter from John Ewers, the Smithsonian inquired with interest in obtaining the rifle to accompany the now famous 1866 SRC on display there. CONDITION: Fair. No orig finish remains with the metal being an overall mottled dark brown patina. Forearm is missing a sliver on the left side and has a crack on the right side, otherwise wood is sound showing a dark hand worn patina. Mechanics need attention. Worn dark bore. Cabinet card photo of Sitting Bull is fine. 49593-1 JR (35,000-55,000)