** A .22" Short Winchester falling block rifle No 32519, 40½...

Estimate

£1,000 - £1,500

** A .22" Short Winchester falling block rifle No 32519, 40½", heavy octagonal barrel 24¼", stamped "Manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Co New Haven Conn USA", "22 short" with stepped rearsight. Lower tang of frame stamped Pat Oct 7th 79. Steel buttcap, fore-end with horn point. Good Working Order and Condition (some age wear, stock fractured at head with 2 dowel repair pins). Note: This Winchester was originally owned by Bill Doolin (notorious robber of trains and banks). He gave the rifle to Frank James for giving him shelter and food. In 1914 Frank gave the rifle to Cole Younger and as stated in an accompanying document "I do not believe any other weapon has had such usage dinstinction" . Bill Doolin was shot by Lawman Heck Thomas in 1896. BILL DOOLIN 1858-1896. In 1892 Bill Doolin joined the Dalton Brothers but he did not rob the Bank in Coffeyville as his horse went lame. Out of five men on the raid (three Daltons and two others) four were killed and one severely wounded. Doolin formed his own gang and raided banks and trains in Oklahoma Territory, Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas. He war captured in 1895 but escaped from jail. He was shot by Marshal Heck Tomas in 1896 while loading a wagon to take his wife and son to pastures new. He was not known t be a ruthless killer, he once stopped one of his gang shooting Marshal Bill Tilghman saying "Tilghman's too good a man to be shot in the back". FRANK JAMES 1843-1915: elder brother of Jesse James, he joined Quantrill during the Civil War. Unable to obtain a pardon after the war he joined forces with his brother Jesse in a life of crime. Frank was by nature more studious than Jesse and like reading Shakespeare. After the Northfield disaster that decimated the James-Younger gang he took the assumed name of B J Woodson and continued to rob trains with Jesse. Six months after his brother was shot by Bob Ford, Frank surrendered. He stood trial, was acquitted and thereafter he became a respectable citizen. He conducted tourists around the James Farm and was a living legend in his own lifetime. He died in 1915 at the age of 72. COLE YOUNGER 1844-1916: Eldest of the four outlaw brothers and a first cousin to the James brothers. He served with Quantrill's Confederate Guerrillas during the Civil War. The Youngers and the James gang joined forces for about ten years. Their big disaster was on September 7th 1876 attempting to rob a Bank in Northfield Minnesota. The citizens took action in force while they were at the bank. All the Younger brothers were wounded and captured. Three bandits were killed but Jesse and Frank got clean away. The Youngers pleaded guilty evading Capital Punishment. Cole was paroled in 1901, pardoned in 1903. He lived the remainder of his life in respectability. He died in 1916, aged seventy two. Please note: this item requires a valid Part 1 Firearms Licence. £1000-1500