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FORT GRIFFIN – FRANK CONRAD SHIPPED MODEL 1874
SHARPS RIFLE – SHIPPED 1877 - IDENTIFIED TO THE HUNTER:
This Model 1874 Sharps Sporting Rifle, serial number
160306, was invoiced at the Sharps Bridgeport,
Connecticut factory on July 9, 1877 to Frank Conrad at
Fort Griffin, Texas. Described in the Sharps Company
records as being .45 caliber, using a 2 7/8 inch
cartridge; with a 30” full octagon barrel, with, double
set triggers, open sights, and weighing 15 ¾ pounds,
this rifle survives today in the original
configuration. The original letter from Dr. Richard J.
Labowskie, present owner of the Sharps Rifle Company
business records, documenting the rifle’s description
and its shipment to Conrad, accompanies the sale of this
rifle.
The name “R. C. GUIRE” is stamped
on the top flat of the barrel between the front and rear
sights. Robert Carter Guire was an early Colorado
Territory pioneer and this, his rifle, was found in
“relic” condition in a long abandoned and burned cabin
in central Colorado by an employee of the US Bureau of
Land Management.
The importance of Ft. Griffin shipped Sharps Rifles and
their historical significance was established in recent
collector history by Dr. Robert L. Moore. In his well
known article, “Fort Griffin and the Buffalo Sharps”
(Robert L. Moore, The American Society of Arms
Collectors Bulletin, No. 52 (April 1985), Dr. Moore
recorded that a total of 182 Sharps Rifles were shipped
to Frank Conrad, and to the partnership of Conrad & Rath
at Ft. Griffin, and of that number, he had been able to
identify only 25 of these 182 guns that were still known
to exist at the time that article was published. Since
that publication, Dr. Labowskie, current owner of the
Sharps business records, has adjusted the number of
rifles shipped to Conrad to be closer to 170, with
approximately 40 of those having been documented and
known to exist in modern collections.
Dr. Moore noted “All of these rifles that I have seen
show much use and at times crude alterations. They are
all tired guns and have little or no finish. The
collector has to accept the fact that a Sharps with lots
of finish probably never saw the buffalo range.”
The rifle, as it appeared when it was found, had
obviously seen much use, and the butt stock and forearm
had been consumed during the cabin fire. The rifle has
been restored to a fully functional weapon, true to its
original design and purpose. The butt stock, forearm
and butt plate were restored with replacements obtained
from the C. Sharps Company in Montana and several of the
internal
springs were replaced with
original, “new old stock” Sharps Company springs.
The barrel, having a slight
bend, was sent to Mr. Norman Johnson of Turtle Lake,
North Dakota, for straightening. The balance of the
rifle – the barrel, sights, receiver, trigger assembly
and lock – are all original to the rifle as it was
discovered. This rifle has been fired since this
restoration work was completed and it is fully
functional.
Given the history of this rifle,
as to be expected there is no finish remaining on the
metal, and the overall appearance of the metal is shown
in the accompanying photographs, featuring a naturally
aged patina. None of the components are weak, broken,
deformed or otherwise rendered unserviceable. As stated
above, the rifle is fully functional. The Sharps
Company stamp on the top flat of the barrel, the caliber
stamp on the top flat at the breech and the cartridge
length on the side barrel flat, the patent information
on the rear sight base, and Guire’s name stamp on the
barrel are all clear and legible. The bore is in very
good, almost excellent, condition with a clear bright
surface and very strong rifling, with only minimal light
pitting in isolated areas. The lock and trigger action
is crisp and the double set triggers are fully
functional. The breech block is tight and locks tightly
into place. The forestock and buttstock are
replacements, as described above, are well fitted to the
receiver, and have been given an aged finish to blend
appropriately with the metal.
Once the rifle was restored, the new owner embarked on a
remarkable journey through history to identify “R.C.
GUIRE” and his family, uncovering a captivating story of
a Western Frontier family. Of special note, the family
revealed that at least two guns belonging to Robert
Guire had descended to his grandsons – a Winchester
Model 1885 High Wall Rifle in 32-40, and a muzzle
loading double barrel shotgun. In the same manner as
the Guire identified Sharps Rifle, the Winchester Model
1885 Rifle was stamped “R C GUIRE” on the top flat of
the barrel, and the family history included the story
that this Winchester was known as “grandpa’s sniper
rifle”, perhaps referring to Guire’s use of this rifle
during his days as a deputy marshal.
A considerable amount of research accompanies this rifle
consisting of a complete biography of Robert C. Guire; a
timeline that tracks the movements, activities, and
relationships of the Guire Family; a complete Guire
Family history including census records, period personal
correspondence, photographs of Robert and several
members of his extended family; first person historical
accounts from the areas of Colorado that involved the
Guire family, including specific mention and records of
the Guire family members; period news accounts of the
activities of the Guire family members; and copies of
the Dr. Moore “Fort Griffin and the Buffalo Sharps”
article and other historical material related to Ft.
Griffin - in all, over 80 pages. This is as complete a
package of an artifact from the frontier west and the
supporting documentation as I have seen offered in some
time.
With such a small number of Sharps Rifles originally
shipped to Conrad at Ft. Griffin, and
an even smaller number surviving in modern collections,
the opportunity to own one of these
rifles seldom presents itself. That this rifle surfaced
in 2010 after the man who found the rifle passed away,
and only this year, 2011, has been identified as a Ft.
Griffin gun, makes this rifle one of the most recent
discoveries in this very desirable and historic
collecting field. $35,000
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ROBERT CARTER GUIRE
Robert Carter Guire was
born February 1, 1856 in Decatur, Iowa, the first of seven
children born to David Caylor Guire (b. 03-22-1833) and Nancie Ann Thorn.
David Guire and his
family, to include young Robert, joined the westward
immigrant movement in 1862, settling near Monument,
Colorado Territory, in what would become El Paso County,
where he filed a homestead and preemption claim
consisting of 320 acres.
David Guire’s brothers –
Henry (b. 1835) and Jacob (b. 1839) – and their father,
Joseph (b. 1810), either made this trip with David, or
made the move at some later date, but the brothers and
father were in El Paso County, Colorado Territory by
June of 1868 and were reported in the same county in the
1870 United States Census.
The Guire Clan quickly
established itself as one of the keystones of this
developing settlement community, with the male members
of the family assuming leadership roles in combating the
depredations committed by Indians, bandits and
addressing such issues as the damage to the crops and
livestock by the herds of Texas cattle that passed
through the area. In particular, Robert’s father,
David, was well known as a brave and fearless defender
of the farms and homesteads in the Monument area from
Indian attacks. In one account he is credited with
traveling to Denver to secure arms and ammunition for
the settlers in El Paso County.
With young Robert’s
exposure to his father’s stalwart personality it is
little wonder that he matured to pursue the many
adventures that would fill his life. Although having
gained statehood – and a certain claim to civilization -
in 1876, Colorado continued to record a colorful and
violent history as a very wild part of the American West
for many years to come, and it was in this environment
that Robert grew and would go on to make his mark.
The mid-1870’s would
prove to have a substantial affect on Robert’s life.
The family was impacted by the death of his mother and
his father’s subsequent marriage to his second wife.
During this same period, the uncle with whom Robert was
particularly close – his father’s brother Jacob - had
become involved in the serious and deadly Lake County
War. Siding with the “Regulators”, Jacob found himself
on the losing side and was forced to leave the area,
driven out by the opposition known as “The Committee of
Safety”.
Between 1875 and 1880,
the whereabouts of both Robert and Jacob are
undocumented, but it is during this period that Robert
must have come into possession of this Sharps Rifle.
What is known is that
this particular rifle was shipped to Frank E. Conrad at
his Ft. Griffin,
Texas store in July of 1877. The caliber, weight and
features of this rifle absolutely define it as a rifle
specifically intended to be used by a commercial buffalo
hunter. Conrad’s store ledger from 1877 survives today
in the collection of well known Sharps Rifle collector
Gary Robinson of New York.
It is common knowledge in
the collecting world that Conrad recorded in his ledgers
the serial numbers of the rifles he sold, and the names
of the hunters to whom he sold them. Perhaps Robert
Guire’s name appears in Conrad’s ledger, recording the
sale of this rifle to the young hunter from Colorado.
It seems unlikely that Guire would have obtained the
Sharps in any other circumstance, as this is not the
sort of rifle a frontiersman would select for
subsistence hunting or self defense – it is simply too
heavy and too cumbersome for any contemporary purpose,
other than hunting buffalo.
In the course of this
research project, a period cabinet card image was
located on the Sharps Collector’s Association website
depicting a buffalo hunter that bears a strong
resemblance to Robert Guire as he is pictured in a
portrait with his wife obtained from his granddaughter.
Not only are the facial characteristics remarkably
similar in both photographs, but the size and shape of
the hands of both men feature the same long slender
fingers. The hunter in the Sharps Association website
image is holding a heavy barreled Sharps Rifle with all
of the same characteristics of Guire’s rifle and the
cartridges in the hunter’s belt could well be the same
.45- 2 7/8 cartridges Guire used in his rifle. While
the identity of the hunter is not known, several people
who have viewed both images agree that the similarity of
both the men and the rifles is certainly uncanny.
By 1879 the dwindling
number of buffalo on the plains surrounding Ft. Griffin no longer supported the
commercial harvest, and for all intent and purposes, the
southern herd was gone. The death knell for the town
sounded in 1881 when the army abandoned the post and
Conrad moved his store to nearby Albany. With the
departure of the hunters wishing to pursue the remaining
buffalo herds further north and with them, the only
remaining commercial reason for the town to exist, “The
Flats” were soon deserted.
Situated
on what was then the edge of the
Texas frontier, the town of Fort
Griffin
and the hunters, store and saloon owners, gamblers,
soiled doves and others who inhabited the few buildings
or roamed the surrounding plains, left very little
evidence of their passing. Never a large community,
the population was relatively transient in nature and
does not appear to have left much of a written record in
such documents as
complete census files,
newspaper accounts, a city directory, real estate
records, or known family letters as is found in other
frontier communities. Given the nature of the town and
that so many of the temporary residents gravitated to
that area for no other reason than to hunt the buffalo,
or to make their living by catering to the needs of the
professional hunters, when that brief period ended there
was no reason to stay, and even less reason to record
what had happened there.
So, it is of little
surprise that no official record of Robert’s presence in
Texas during this period has been found; however the
identification of this Sharps Rifle as one shipped to
Conrad at Ft.
Griffin and bearing Robert’s name is compelling
evidence that he was indeed present on the Texas plains.
Any other explanation
of how Guire acquired this rifle involves the
consideration and acceptance of a series of coincidences
that would have had to occur in the face of incalculable
odds. The timing of the demise of the southern buffalo
herd, the end of the hunt on the Texas plains, and the
end of the hey day at Ft. Griffin coincided with the
return of Robert to Colorado, where he is recorded at
his father’s home on the 1880 United States Census.
Robert’s return to
Colorado began a period of his life that from all
appearances indicated he planned to establish himself as
his father had, as a settled, productive citizen of the
new state, and like his father, a man upon whom his
neighbors could depend.
Robert married in 1882, and in the 1885 Colorado State
Census, he is shown living in Las Animas County,
Colorado, in the area of Trinidad. A boom town of wild
and wooly proportions, Trinidad of the 1880’s saw the
likes of Wyatt Earp,
Doc Holliday and Bat
Masterson among its citizens, and experienced more than
its fair share of gun play.
A currently serving law
enforcement officer in Trinidad, Colorado has
accumulated a considerable history of the city, county,
state and federal law enforcement officers that served
Trinidad and the surrounding area. Providing a fascinating insight into the
degree of violence that was visited on the town during
the late 19Th and early 20Th
Centuries, his research has revealed that during the
years 1880 through 1920, 24 law enforcement officers
were killed in “stand up” gun fights – that is, face to
face confrontations – in Trinidad, and the surrounding
County of Las Animas.
Just as his grandfather,
father and uncles had done, Robert answered the calling
to stand up for the peace and safety of his community.
Between 1880 and 1887, Robert was sworn in as a deputy
marshal. The family history indicates that he was a
Deputy US Marshal, and the family is still in possession
of his badge, but unfortunately the badge was not
available at the time of this writing to confirm to with
which agency Robert took his oath.
During this same period,
a range and cattle war had developed around Trinidad, and in his role as a deputy marshal, Robert pursued a family of
rustlers. In a confrontation, Robert shot and killed
the head of the family, initiating a series of threats
and attempts on his life and that of his family by
members of the slain rustler’s family. The situation
escalated to the point that Robert was forced to leave
Colorado, removing
his family to Arkansas by way of Texas in 1897.
Settled in Arkansas, he
naturally returned to the family business of farming and
raising his family. In a final twist of irony, after
surviving a life time of immigrant travel, Indian
attacks, settling a frontier territory rife with county
wars and battles with bandits, and venturing into the
lands of the Comanche and Kiowa to hunt buffalo, Robert
succumbed to a simple farming accident. While digging a
well, a bucket fell on his head and caused his untimely
death in 1904 at the age of 48.
The research into Robert
Guire and the entire Guire Clan continues at this time,
and the researcher has promised to share any additional
information that surfaces with the new owner of this
Sharps Rifle. |
