GUN SPRING 2016
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/14/2016
EXTREMELY RARE AND HISTORIC DOCUMENTED COLT SINGLE ACTION ARMY CARRIED IN THE JOHNSON CO, WYOMING RANGE WAR BY TX GUNFIGHTER J.K. BARLING. COLT SAA 139904 .45 COLT Cal. 45 Colt. Usual configuration with 5-1/2" bbl, altered front sight & 1-line Hartford address with Cal. marking on left side. Left side of frame has 2-line 3 patent dates and Rampant Colt in a broken circle. Mounted with period "Eagle" grips numbered to another gun. Accompanied by a Colt factory letter which identifies this revolver in Cal. 45 Colt with 5-1/2" bbl, blue finish, type of stocks not listed and shipped to R. Stanhope, Paris, Texas on April 11, 1891 in a 2-gun shipment. Volume 11, Lamar County, Texas Genealogy (no date given) lists a Stanhope Gun Shop as having existed in Paris, where Jerry and brother Robert Barling resided in 1891. This revolver is listed by serial number on "Major Wolcott''s List" of Texans who were captured by the Army at the TA Ranch, about 10 miles outside of Buffalo, WY in Johnson County. A number of gunslingers had been hired out of Texas by a group of powerful Wyoming cattlemen who created a "Death List" of small ranchers, cowboys and others they considered a hindrance to large scale ranching interests. These cattlemen belonged to the "Cheyenne Club" and included the political, social and economic elite of Wyoming. The hired guns known locally as either "The Invaders" or "Wolcott''s Regulators", consisted of 50 men including the 23 Texans and assorted other locals and range detectives. Those on the "Death List" were to be either shot or hanged and contracted to pay the Texans $5 a day plus a bonus of $50 for every rustler killed. The Invaders traveled by special train to Cheyenne then north to Johnson County for outfitting and off-loading in Casper. Once de-trained, they traveled by horseback to the KC Ranch where they surrounded the bunkhouse occupied by 4 men, including Nate Champion, who was on the list to be killed. Two of the other men were captured when they left the house for water and Nick Ray was shot while standing in the front door and later died. Champion held off The Invaders for several hours, wounding three, until they set fire to the cabin forcing him to evacuate where he was killed by 28 bullet wounds. The Invaders then retired to the TA Ranch on Crazy Woman Creek where they were besieged by over 200 members of a posse of local ranchers and residents. They were pinned down for two days until the Invader''s friends got President Benjamin Harrison to declare a state of insurrection in Johnson County and have the Army put a stop to the fighting. As part of the surrender, all arms and equipment were surrendered to the Army. Major Wolcott, as unofficial leader of the Invaders, made a list of these arms and provided it to the government. The Invaders were loaded on a train and sent to Ft. Russell in Cheyenne for trial. There had been 2 witnesses to the killing of Champion and Ray who would testify at the trial, but those 2 unfortunates were assassinated prior to the trial. Therefore, with no witnesses, the charges were dismissed. A famous published photograph of the Invaders taken May 4, 1892 at Fort D.A. Russell (now Francis E. Warren Air Force Base), pictures Jerry Barling(s) as number 29, his brother Bob, number 37.
Jerry Kannady Barling, who was recorded as owning this Colt revolver, was born in Sebastian Co, AR in 1862. Beginning in 1883, he was employed as a U.S.Deputy Marshall for Judge Isaac Parker often called the "Hanging Judge", from Fort Smith, AR. He was commissioned in the Western District at Fort Smith, Arkansas on April 17, 1888, serving under Marshal Jacob Yoes. Jerry was killed in Fort Reno, Indian Territory, after a night of heavy drinking at his third brother Frank''s saloon...probably the first or second week he returned from Wyoming. His body was shipped backed to Fort Smith for burial in a family plot in Oak Cemetery on the road out to what is now Barling. His brother Robert Gibson Barling (1865-1923) was also a member of The Invaders. Frank, was also involved in law enforcement but not the Johnson Co Wars.
The incident described herein began with the murder of Champion and Ray on April 8, 1892 and was over by April 13th, 1992 with the capture of The Invaders. Now some 120+ years after the Range War in Johnson County, only 2 or 3 documented firearms from that incident have ever come to light with examples selling at auction in excess of $50,000. PROVENANCE: Accompanied by an affidavit from James Barling Great Nephew of Jerry Kannady Barling, dated 5 Feb.,2016 which details Barling family history along with a volume of reprinted archival material. CONDITION: About good. No orig finish remains being an overall cleaned metal finish with scattered moderate pitting. Some deeper pitting, thought to be from blood, exists. Ejector housing and ejector rod are reportedly replacements with other internal repairs. The hammer will not hold in safety or half-cock notches, otherwise mechanics are fine. Strong dark bore with good rifling. Eagle grips have crack through right panel and are well-worn. Accompanied by early unmarked hand-made 2-pc smooth bone grips which are worn and slightly undersized. 49869-1 JR114 (20,000-30,000)