He Invented the Gun That
Helped Tame the Frontier
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
ONE hundred years ago this month ? on February 25, 1836, to
be exact ? there was Issued in Washington, D. C., a patent
for an Invention which probably attracted little attention at
the time but which was destined to be a maker of American
history. During the next three quarters of a century It
would not only become a common name (analogous In usage
to Pullman for a sleeping car and Ford for an automobile)
but It would also be an important factor In taming the
V American frontier and "revolutionize military tactics."
That last is a quotation from the recent biography of
W the man to whom the patent was issued ? "Yankee Arms
" Maker ? the incredible Career of Samuel Colt," written by
Jack Rohan and published by Harper and Brothers. For the
Invention which was patented just a century ago was the revolver, the
first successful firearm of Its kind In history.
Connected with Samuel's Colt's revolver are two Interesting para
doxes. One of them is that this weapon, whickr would become so much a
symbol of the "Wild West," was produced by a native of one of the oldest
settled parts of the East. The other Is that it, an Instrument In the con
quest of a wild land, had its real genesis at sea.
Samuel Colt was born in Hartford, Conn., July 19, 1814, the third son
of Christopher and Sarah (Caldwell) Colt His mother was a daughter
of MaJ. John Caldwell, a veteran of the Revolution. The fact that she
was me uauguier 01 a suiuier ana mereiore naa
no prejudices against firearms probably had
much to do with her son's early interest In guns.
At the age of eleven Sam Colt was Indentured
to a farmer near Glastonbury and during his
service there two factors had a decided influence
In shaping his future career.
The only books in this farm home were the
Bible, the almanac and a volume known as the
"Compendium of Knowledge." Young Colt spent
most of his spare time reading the latter. In It
he found considerable scientific Information ?
an extended account of the work of Robert
Fulton, "Inventor" of the steamboat, an article
describing the galvanic battery and a formula
for making gunpowder.
Even more Important, however, was the time
he spent daring his errands to the village store
where, according to his biographer, "cracker-bar
rel philosophers weighed the destiny of the re
public. The outstanding doings of the Revolu
tion were still being discussed. From men who
had the story from their fathers when It was
fresh new; from the recollections of old men
who had been on the ground, Sam heard the
legend of the shooting of General Fraser, at
Saratoga, by Tim Murphy, and of other mar
velous deeds Murphy had performed with his
double-barreled rifle. Wide-eyed with Intelligent
Interest, the lad often listened to speculation as
to the casualties that might have been Inflicted
had the whole Continental army been armed
with like weapons. It some nation could Invent
a gun that would shoot five or six times without
reloading, that nation would rule the world, In
the opinion of the Glastonbury military observ
ers. But of course the thing was impossible.
Sam, listening mouse-like as be waited for the
storekeeper to put up his order, missed nothing
of what was said.
"Analyzing the discussions at his leisure, he
discovered that Robert Fultoh and several other
Inventors had accomplished things deemed Im
possible ? until they were done. He concluded
that the local forum's opinion on repeating fire
arms might not, after all, be Infallible. He' de
cided he would be an Inventor and create the
'Impossible' gun."
Thus was the germ of the Idea planted In the
Yankee boy's mind. It developed a little farther
a year later when he went to work In his father's
textile plant at Ware, Mass. There he had ac
cess to various chemicals and the opportunity
to borrow tools of all kinds from the millwrights.
Expanding upon the idea of Tim Murphy's dou
ble rifle, he bound four barrels together and
tried to make them revolve so that each, in turn,
would come under the lock and fire. But more
often than not all four fired at once so he liad
to give It up as a bad Job.
Next he was apprenticed to a Captain Spauld
lng of the brig "Corlo" which was sailing from
Boston on a voyage to Calcutta, India. Young
Sam wasn't especially thrilled over life as a
sailor but he did enjoy watching some of the
old salts carve odd little knick-knacks oat of
wood. While he had been employed In the tex
tile factory at Ware, he had made the acquaint
ance of a young mechanic named Ellsha K. Root
who had explained to him the value of making
working drawings and then wooden models of
some of the things he was trying to Invent.
Watching the sailors carve, Sam remembered
? Root's advice about models and set about learn
ing to carve. "He acquired considerable pro
ficiency, but when the voyage was half over he
was without any idea on which to construct a
model," says Rohan. But one day in the Indian
ocean a real inspiration came to him.
"Standing Idly watching the steersman, he no
ticed that, regardless of which way the wheel
was spun, each spoke always come directly In
line with a clutch that could be set to hold It.
He watched for a long time and finally caught
himself vlsionlng holes in the rim ? holes which1
successively came In alignment with a stationary
aperture ? which the young inventor's imagina
tion identified as the bore of a pistol. The re
volver was conceived! Sam had found use for
his leisure. With the jackknife that cost less
than a dollar, he started to whittle out the
foundation of a fortune which was to run into
millions!"
By the time the voyage was over he bad a
working model of his revolver, complete In every
detail and satisfactory in performance. Upon
his return home he showed his Invention to his
father, who caught his son's enthusiasm, prom
ised to finance the making of two revolvers and
to pay for obtaining the patents if they worked
as successfully as Sam said they would.
However, the gunsmiths whom Christopher
Colt engaged to make the revolvers looked upon
the Idea as "boyish nonsense and thoroughly un
workable." Also, they wanted to charge so much
for their work that the elder Colt's enthusiasm
cooled and he decided not to waste much money
on the guns. So be engaged an ordinary me
chanic to do the work. He turned out a crude
piece of workmanship which was far from be
ing a faithful reproduction of young Sam's Idea.
The result was that one of the revolvers wouldn't
fire at' all and the other burst at the first shot
Undlscouraged by this experience, young Sam
told his father that he would never rest until he
had secured a competent gunsmith, who could
do the precise fitting and delicate adjusting nec
essary to a revolver, and had given his Invention
a fair trial. So he went back to wprk in his fa
ther's textile mill, hoping to save enough money
from his earnings to employ a man who could
make a revolver as It should be made. But it
was several years before he was able to pet
ahead to hire John Pearson, a skilled
Samuer
Colt
Texas Arm
Th.e OriginaV
"Colt'1
Old v"*^
Model Jm
Navy Pistol,
With- Carbine
Attachment
?Walker Pistol.
*
pr " ?
Frontier Six 5 Hooter
mechanic, to get up a gunshop In Baltimore and
begin making samples of his revolvers.
He also interested his father In the project
again and the result was a trip to Europe where
he secured patents on his weapon in England,
Prussia and France. Returning to America he
borrowed $800 from his father and went to Wash
ington where on February 2."), 1830. his historic
patent was granted. Then he set about organiz
ing a corporation to manufacture and market his
weapon and on March 5, 1836, the New Jersey
legislature chartered the "Patent Arms Miinu
facturing company" of Paterson.
But despite this triumphal culmination of the
young Yankee's efforts to create the "impossible
gun," his future path to success was a rocky
one. There were quarrels with his relatives over
the management of the company In which they
had Invested their money, there were all sorts
of financial troubles, straggles with competitors,
lawsuits over patent Infringements and other dif
ficulties for this pioneer Industrial enterprise.
To the student of the history of American busi
ness and industry this new biography of Samuel
Colt is interesting because it shows that he "was
the first of the great American Industrialists.
Colt, not the modern motor car manufacturer,
conceived and first utilized standardized machine
production, division of labor and the 'assembly
line.'
"He was one of the first, If not the first, large
scale employer to assume responsibility for the
well-being of his employees. Colt showed the
way to the modern promoters of wars ... he
was the precursor of the modern munitions kings
?a pioneer In the art of playing one nation
against another to Increase his sales."
Equally Interesting Is the part which his wea
pon played in the military history of this coun
try and more particularly In the history of the
frontier. Unable to convince "moss-backed brass
hats" In the War department that his r^TOTver
and his revolving rifle were Superior to the
smooth-bore musket and single-shot horse pistol
to which they were devoted, he next tried to
get the Navy department to adopt them. But
again he was unsuccessful. Then the panic year
of 183T almost wiped out his business.
But an Indian war saved him ? the war with
the Seminoles In Florida. Gen. Thomas S. Jesup,
quartermaster general of the army, waa In
charge of operations against the Seminoles and
his second in command was Col. William S.
Harney, a fine field officer, who regarded Colt's
Invention with great favor. Harney realized
that "the revolver* were Just the arms needed
In the peculiar type of war waged by the In
dians. The tactics of the Seminoles were simple.
They would lie In ambush for the federal sol
diers and make a feint attack, drawing the fire
from the single-shot muskets. Then, while the
soldiers were reloading they would swarm over
them with the main Indian force and annihilate
them. Troops armed with guns shooting six
times would be a sad surprise to the Indians
and Colonel Harney was soldier enough to
know It"
As a result Colt was able to sell a considerable
number of his guns to Jesnp and Harney and
their success In the Seminole war proved cod
[He Cavalry Charge
?r mtoiRic remington
All picture* shown above, from Rohan'* "Yan
kee Arm* Maker ? the Incredible Career of Sam
uel Colt," courtesy, Harper and Brother*, pub
lishers.
? ?
cluslvely to the War department their value as
weapons for our soldiers. Another significant
event at about this time was Colt's meeting with
Capt. Sam H. Walker, a famous Texas Ranger
leader, who had come to Washington with a
delegation of frontiersmen to urge the admission
of the new Republic of Texas as a state in the
federal Union.
Up to this time Colt had been making a .34 '
caliber revolver but out of his conference in New
Xork with Walker came the .44 caliber Walker
Colt which soon became a favorite weapon on
the southwest frontier. A few years later this |
gun became even more significant in that part ,
of the country.
By the time Texas was admitted to the Union ;
In 1845 war between Mexico and the United
States was inevitable. President Polk sent a
force under Gen. Zachary Taylor to the Rio
Grande to "protect" the new state against Its
former rulers, the Mexicans. When a detach
ment of American cavalry was ambushed by a
Mexican patrol, Its commander, a Captain Thorn
ton, was the only man who escaped and be had
shot his way to freedom with a brace of Colt
revolvers.
General Taylor was impressed by this fact and
asked for more information about tbese weapons.
Capt. Sam Walker of the Rangers, who was
guarding Taylor's lines of communications, told i
the general that the only thing wrong with the
revolvers was that there were not enough of
them. Thereupon Taylor sent Walker to Wash
ington to make known this need to the Presi
dent and the result was an order on Colt for
1,000 of his revolvers, which be at once supplied.
More than that he put over as clever a publicity
campaign as any modern press agent ever
thought of doing.
"It was not the sales of his revolvers to the
army that made Sam Colt," says Rohan. "It
was the manner In which he capitalized the vic
tories of the Americans over numerically-supe
rior forces. The revolvers In use at Resaca de la
Palma, Monterey and Buena Vista were few and
far between. But those few, when Sam Colt got
to spreading the story around the world, ac
counted for the defeat of the Mexicans. And
the latter, glad of any excuse for their humilia
tion, cheerfully corroborated his claim V
?If the Mexican war gave Sam Colt his first
real start, the War Between the States sent his
enterprise booming toward the pinnacle of suc
cess. The extent of that conflict soon called for
production of the new weapon on a bigger scale
than ever before. In 1801 the Colt factories
turned out nearly 70,000 revolvers. The next
year production jumped to more than HOjOOO.
But the Inventor did not live to see the amazing
success of the thing which be had whittled out
of wood on the brig "Corso." He died January
10, 1862, bnt others carried on his work.
When the war ended and Americans set about
to conquer the last frontier, Colt's Invention be
came Increasingly important In that conquest. It
hung at the hip of virtually every horseman of
the plains, whether Texas Ranger, trooper In tbe
United States army, cowboy, frontier marshal or
outlaw. It barked In cavalry charges against tbe
wild tribesmen of the Comanche, the Sioux and
the Cheyenne; Its roar was heard In many a
frontier dance bail and saloon In the cow towns
on the Texas cattle trails. It became not only
a synonym for a certain type of firearm and
a common name, bat It also became a symbol of
the reign of law In a lawless land. "Judge
Colt" was Judge. Jury and executioner and a
man's life depended upon tbe quickness of tbe
"draw."
That era ended Just 30 years after Sam Colt
died. One event was significant of Its close.
Into the little town of CoKeyvillc, Kan., one
day In 18B2, rode the Dal tons. When one of
the hottest street battles ever fooght In the !
West was over, the Dnltons, last of the old-time
bandit gangs, bad been wiped out The "Wild
West" was no more. Incidentally, among the
weapons found in tbe streets of CofTeyvillc (hat
day waa the Colt "frontier six-shooter" which Is
pictured above and which hangs on the wall of
the room In which this article Is being written.
C W*?t*rn Newspaper Uum.
Jiffy Knit Sweater j
With Matching Hat
PATTER 51 Wo. 0513
Any four-to-elglit-year-old will be
warm as toast la tbis sweater and
cap set. The sweater's a "Jiffy" knit
?just plain knitting combined with
yoke and sleeves of easy lacy stitch,
and finished almost before you know
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gathered at the top, also Includes
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In pattern 5512 you will And com
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shown In sizes 4, G and 8 (all given
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it and of the stitches needed ; mate
rial requirements.
Send 15 cents In stamps or coins
(coins preferred) to The Sewing Clr
,-le. Household Arts Dept.. 2SU W.
'^Fourteenth St., New York, N. X.
Tung Oil Available Here
Tung oil, which Is pressed from
the nuts of the tung tree, was for
years available 6nly In China. Now
tung trees. In Increasing numbers,
are being cultivated In the southern
most states of this country. Tung
oil Is used as an Ingredient of some
paints to facilitate quick drying and
Is also used In varnish to make It
v/aterproof.
The Mind *
LOWELL ,
Meter ? HEiNDERSON '
e Ml Syndic*!# ? WNU Sarvlca.
- The Syllables Test
In this test there are two columns
of syllables. Take a syllable out of
the first column and unite it with one
n the second column to form a word.
When you are finished, you should
bare ten words.
first Column Second Column |
1. ros 1. tuce
2. pal 2. " lse
3. na 3. cord
4. prem ? 4. rel
5. let S. sar
6. cou 6. try
7. con 7. lect
8. col 8. trum
9. bar 0. pon
10. bur 10. sal
Answers
1. rostrum & coupon
2. paltry 7. concord
3. nasal 8. collect
4. premise 9. barrel
5. lettuce 10. bursar
Life in Ne?d of Love
Life, like all else, needs to be
lived ; those who cannot love life are
vanquished from the very start. ?
Roman.
Motorists Bump Into Grim
Reaper; Case* Dismissed
Police Lieutenant R. L. D. Nord of
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traffic complaints against Richard
Morton, William J. Lyons and J. K.
Thompson.
"On what grounds?", asked Munici
pal Judge Newell Carn.
"These men are dead, your honor,"
said Nord. "They were killed la
traffic."
VSTOMACH UPSETS?
fMn. lfsHnds E. Caftn
of 224 Norway A*e_.
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thin. I never cared to cat.
At times my stomach
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Golden Medical Discovery
toned up my digestive
system, my appetite im
proved, I gained weight and had very little
stomach distress."
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XJVJTL ULKJud A
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