Magazine Articles of Note or Interest (2001-2002)

[Pat Holscher]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by G.KUSH.UE</i>
<br />The Winchester Model'76 was also popular with the Texas Rangers. And was a favourite with the outlaw eliment. Billy the Kid's best friend and fellow regulator Charlie Bowdre carried a '76 and is pictured holding it in a blood-stained photograph removed from his body by Pat Garrett.

George
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The Model 1876 Winchester is the topic of an article by Herbert G. Houze in the December, 2002 issue of the American Rifleman. I've only scanned the article, but it doesn't look to bad. The Canadian service mentioned above is also mentioned in the article.

Pat

[Pat Holscher]

American Rifleman, December 2002. "The Mississippi" Rifle by John D. McAulay.

In addition to the article on the 1876 Winchester mentioned above, this issue also has this article on the M1841. The article is not very long, and is mostly a synopsis of the rifle's use, including a listing of various mounted units which used it.

Pat

[Camp Little]

Another famed user of the 76 was Tom Horn who was played to a T by Steve McQueen in the excellent movie of the same name.

[Pat Holscher]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Camp Little</i>
<br />Another famed user of the 76 was Tom Horn who was played to a T by Steve McQueen in the excellent movie of the same name.
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Arg! Tom Horn.

Actually, I'm sorry, but Horn is one of my pet peeves. McQueen did play him in the film, and did a nice job, but the actual Horn did not really have the nice personality portrayed in that film at all. Also, he really didn't use a 76, but a later model of Winchester in .30-30.

The actual Horn was a bit of a lost soul with a talent for violence. He had served in the late Indian Wars, if I recall correctly, in the Southwest and had also been in the service during the Spanish American War. I can't recall if he actually saw combat in that war. He did have a real talent for tracking.

However, he also had no problems with killing for hire, which is what he did in Wyoming. That he was a paid assasin is really not questionable. And, contrary to the myth, he did not limit himself to long range killing, although his choice of a "high velocity" rifle (for that time) shows he had kept up in rifle developments for that period. About ten or so miles from where I write this Horn killed a blackballed cowhand with a point blank pistol shot to the face, in the presence of numerous witnesses, and laughed about it. He simply rode up and killed the man, it was his job, and he liked his work. This county was one where he either openly killed men who were blackballed, or is strongly suspected of doing so, and amongst old timers here he is despised as a "Bushwacker".

On the topic of Horn, there are some interesting odds and ends about his trial. The transcript is still available, and the trial was well run and leaves no doubt as to his guilt. One of the attorney's associated with it, Willis Van Devanter, went on to become a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The jury was also integrated, with one black juror. This later fact is virtually never noted, but it demonstrates that in this locality, at that time, civil liberties were somewhat more advanced than elsewhere.

Well, sorry to have digressed, and no offense offered to anyone here. Horn is a sore topic with me, as he is far from what he has been portrayed to be.



Pat

[Camp Little]

Hey, no offense taken. I know most of what I know about Tom Horn from either the movie or Time-Life. I've got a book about him I browsed through and the conclusion of the editor/author is that Tom Horn was a psychopath in the modern sense of the word. Maybe N.B. Forrest was too for that matter. They were men of their times and taken in the modern context are worth examaining none the less. Still, McQueen played a great part probably written more for Steve McQueen than about Tom Horn. In and of itself, it was an enjoyable movie.

[Pat Holscher]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Camp Little</i>
<br />Hey, no offense taken. I know most of what I know about Tom Horn from either the movie or Time-Life. I've got a book about him I browsed through and the conclusion of the editor/author is that Tom Horn was a psychopath in the modern sense of the word. Maybe N.B. Forrest was too for that matter. They were men of their times and taken in the modern context are worth examaining none the less. Still, McQueen played a great part probably written more for Steve McQueen than about Tom Horn. In and of itself, it was an enjoyable movie.
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I'm glad no offense was taken, and I agree that the movie role was probably really written with Steve McQueen in mind. Indeed, in the movie, McQueen, who was already dieing from cancer, did a good job of portraying a worn down world weary man. That doesn't really describe the actual Horn, but that doesn't make it a bad portrayal.

One of the things here is that I no doubt am exhibiting the local person's reaction to a Hollywood portrayal of an event in my backyard. That always tends to irritage. And Horn isn't a hero where I'm from, so the portrayal of him that way always baffles.

Horn gives us another example of that odd trait to sanitize, glamorize, and popularize bad men. It's odd. Where he around now, we'd all hope they'd put an end to his behavior soon. But for some odd reason, like Jesse James, Billy the Kid, etc., they remain popular in the public imagination.

Because this is an international forum, and one that deals with military topics, I probably ought to clear up my statment about the .30-30 above. Horn publically stated his preference for the .30-30 over the .30-40, both of which were regarded as hot cartridges in the US prior to 1903 or so, which is the period we're talking about, of course. He used the .30-30. However, some international members are probably wondering how the heck I could speak of them in this context (high velocity), when, by that time, our Spanish speaking participant's nations had already adopted the 7x57, the Germans were already using the 8x57, the Swedes the 6.5x55, etc. So, that comment was limited to the view on that type of arm common amongst North Americans from 1895 until 1910 or so.

Pat

[Kelton Oliver]

Didn't Tom Horn run for territorial governor while he was in jail awaiting trial? Or am I thinking of some other bad guy?

[Pat Holscher]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Kelton Oliver</i>
<br />Didn't Tom Horn run for territorial governor while he was in jail awaiting trial? Or am I thinking of some other bad guy?
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I haven't heard that previously, but I'll check on it. It couldn't have been territorial governor, however, as Wyoming was a state at the time. Indeed Horn, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, were early 20th Century criminals, as well as being late 19th Century bad actors.

On the late date, while I can't recall the details, an attempt by Horn's friends to break Horn out of jail in Cheyenne failed, in part, because he couldn't figure out how to use the semi-automatic pistol that he acquired in that attempt. Just too new of item.

Pat

[Kelton Oliver]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> It couldn't have been territorial governor, however, as Wyoming was a state at the time. Pat
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Sorry, Pat. I don't know much about Tom Horn or Wyoming, but something I once read about an outlaw running for governor stuck in my memory and I thought it was Tom Horn.

[Pat Holscher]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Kelton Oliver</i>
<br /><blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> It couldn't have been territorial governor, however, as Wyoming was a state at the time. Pat
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Sorry, Pat. I don't know much about Tom Horn or Wyoming, but something I once read about an outlaw running for governor stuck in my memory and I thought it was Tom Horn.
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Kelton, there's certainly no reason to be sorry. We had one governor somewhat before that time that was a passive participant, at the least, in a major criminal conspiracy, so odder things have happened.

Pat

[Pat Holscher]

Once again demonstrating the odd way coincidences work, I read in this morning's paper that a Winchester .45-70 belonging to Tom Horn is up for auction in London. This rifle was obviously not the one he used in the final stages of his career, but again demonstrates, I suppose, that Horn favored longer range rifles over shorter, although he apparently favored repeaters.

Pat