Lethal Passage (37 page)

50
One of its members … Confidential source, interview.

51
Lisa Hilliard, the … Lisa Hilliard, interview.

52
“What people believe …” W. Eugene Hollon,
Frontier Violence: Another Look
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1974), 195.

53
For the average resident … Ibid., 197; Frank Richard Prassel,
The Western Peace Officer
(Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972), 20, 22.

54
People rarely locked … Hollon,
Frontier Violence
, 210, 211; Prassel,
Western Peace Officer
, 22.

55
Burglary was rare … Roger D. McGrath,
Gunfighters, Highwaymen and Vigilantes
(Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1984), 248, 249; Hollon,
Frontier Violence
, 203.

56
Frank Prassel, an … Prassel,
Western Peace Officer
, 20.

57
One of the great … Hollon,
Frontier Violence
, 165.

58
Moments before … 
Abilene Chronicle
, January 5, 1871.

59
According to historian … McGrath,
Gunfighters
, 88, 184, 199, 255.

60
Nonetheless, the homicide rate … Ibid., 268; Hollon,
Frontier Violence
, 201; Prassel,
Western Peace Officer
, 47; Elliott West, “Wicked Dodge City,”
American History Illustrated
(June 1982): 23–31.

61
On March 19, 1872 … 
Missouri Republican
, March 19, 1872, 2.

62
Buffalo Bill Cody was … Joseph G. Rosa and Robin May,
Buffalo Bill and His Wild West
(Lawrence, Kans.: University Press of Kansas, 1989), 163.

63
The first book … Peter Lyon,
The Wild, Wild West
(New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1969), 119.

64
After Jesse James … Robert Sherrill,
The Saturday Night Special
(New York: Charterhouse, 1973), 39.

65
After Jesse was murdered … Ibid., 39.

66
The
Gazette
described … Lyon,
The Wild
, 92.

67
Belle was a … Ibid., 89.

68
Billy the Kid, far … Ibid., 123.

69
In a rare act … Hollon,
Frontier Violence
, 189.

70
He was discharged … Deborah Berrier, “Clay Allison: Never Killed a Man Willingly,”
American History Illustrated
(June 1982): 38–39.

71
Fabled gunfighter … Elliott West, “Wicked”; Ralph Brauer,
The Horse, the Gun and the Piece of Property
(Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1975), 200.

72
Contrary to popular … Prassel,
Western Peace Officer
, 110.

73
In Leadville … Ibid., 47.

74
The real marshal … Elliott West, “Wicked,” 30.

75
In that mythic realm … Ibid., 27.

76
They were known … Lyon,
The Wild
, 15, 18, 21.

77
Morgan Earp, one … Ibid., 20.

78
A thief named … Ibid., 83.

79
The police officer … Brian McGinty, “John Wesley Hardin: Gentleman of Guns,”
American History Illustrated
(June 1982): 32–36.

80
In one notorious … McGrath,
Gunfighters
, 90–91.

81
“Lawmen and …” Prassel,
Western Peace Officer
, 248.

82
The Colt Peacemaker … A. C. Gould,
Modern American Pistols and Revolvers
(Boston: Bradlee Whidden, 1894), 203. See also
Wall Street Journal
, June 24, 1993, 1.

83
On one journey … Glenda Riley, “The Specter of a Savage: Rumors and Alarmism on the Overland Trail,”
Western History Quarterly
15:4 (October 1984): 427–44.

84
In Bodie … McGrath,
Gunfighters
, 192.

85
Clay Allison shot … Berrier, “Clay Allison,” 38.

86
Wild Bill Hickok … Hollon,
Frontier
Violence, 200.

87
On January 9, 1876 … Nyle H. Miller and Joseph W. Snell,
Great Gunfighters of the Texas Cowtowns, 1867–1886
(Lincoln, Nebr.: University of Nebraska, 1963), 83–84.

88
When Pat Garret … Prassel,
Western Peace Officer
, 104.

89
Jesse James’s brother … Albert Castel, “The James Brothers,”
American History Illustrated
(June 1982): 10–18.

90
Bill Tilghman … Prassel,
Western Peace Officer
, 247.

91
A former train robber … Jack Lewis,
The Gun Digest Book of Single-Action Revolvers
(Northbrook, Ill.: DBI Books Inc, 1982), 201; Richard Slotkin,
Gunfighter Nation
(New York: Atheneum, 1992), 236.

92
Cody’s fame was … Slotkin, Ibid., 72–73.

93
As if to dispel … Ibid., 68.

94
Sitting Bull, the … Ibid., 74; Rosa and May,
Buffalo Bill
, 83.

95
Richard Slotkin, author … Slotkin,
Gunfighter Nation
, 87.

96
The proliferation of … Ibid., 77.

97
In 1903 … Ibid., 231; John G. Cawelti,
The Six-Gun Mystique
(Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1971), 3.

98
By 1925, William Hart … Lewis,
Gun Digest Book
, 199, 212, 214.

99
Fourteen feature-length … Slotkin,
Gunfighter Nation
, 347.

100
The underlying message … Ibid., 396.

101
In 1959, the networks … Brauer,
The Horse
, 54.

102
In 1959, eight … Cawelti,
Six-Gun, 2
.

103
An advertisement … American Sales & Manufacturing advertisement, July 1993.

104
In the “Wyatt Earp” … Lewis,
Gun Digest Book, 27-28
.

105
In 1982, Colt … Ibid., 31.

106
In 1992, Colt introduced … Colt’s Manufacturing Co. advertisement, 1992.

107
The master … 
Wall Street Journal
, June 24, 1993, 1.

108
In the autumn … Leighton Rockafellow, interview. Rockafellow represented the Nix family in a lawsuit against Sturm, Ruger. The family agreed to accept a settlement of $150,000.

109
Ruger continues … Sturm, Ruger & Co., catalog, 1993, 28.

110
A report in … Sturm, Ruger & Co., product liability log, entry dated March 14, 1980.

111
“It is quite …” Prassel,
Western Peace Officer
, 252.

112
“… Since the Western …” Slotkin,
Gunfighter Nation
, 352.

113
In 1970, historian … Richard Hofstadter, “Reflections on Violence in the United States,”
American Violence
(New York: Knopf, 1970), 24.

114
Sturm, Ruger & Co.…
Wall Street Journal
, June 24, 1993, 1.

115
Why else … Frank W. James, “Snubnose Revolvers,”
American Handgunner
(Combat Annual 1992): 29036. Photo: 34.

116
The company whose … ATF, Firearms Tracing Database Report, February 20, 1992.

117
By 1989 … “Handgun Production by U.S. Manufacturers, 1973–1989,” Shooting Industry, 1991.

118
It fondly … Cox Newspapers, “Firepower: Assault Weapons in America,” 1989, 2; Edward M. Owen, interview; Earl Taylor, interview.

119
“We’ve got technology …” Leonard Supenski, interview.

Chapter Four: Nicholas

1
“I didn’t feel …” NES, 32.

2
“I was scared …” Ibid., 82.

3
“I was looking …” Ibid., 77, 80.

4
“I was scared …” Ibid., 81.

5
“I was kind of …” Ibid., 81–82.

6
“I was thinking …” Ibid., 82.

Chapter Five: The Gun

1
“I grew up …” Leonard Supenski, interview.

2
A 1989 study … Cox Newspapers, “Firepower: Assault Weapons in America,” 1989, 2.

3
A study of all … ATF, “Project Detroit,” April 19, 1992, 4–5.

4
The head of … Thomas W. Stokes, interview.

5
Shortly after nine … Homicide Report, Denver Police Department; George I. Ogura, Autopsy Report, County of Denver, June 19, 1984; Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt,
The Silent Brotherhood
(New York: Signet, 1990), 244–250.

6
During a sweeping … U.S. vs Pierce, et al., Second Superseding Indictment. CR85–001M, 43, 48, 64, 65, 78.

7
Later, on April 15 … Flynn and Gerhardt,
Silent Brotherhood
, 472.

8
“It slices …” Cox Newspapers, “Firepower,” 12.

9
In March 1989 … Ibid., 8.

10
The same month … 
St. Petersburg Times
, March 2, 1989, 12A.

11
Six months later … Det. Cheryl Jackman, interview.

12
“It’s a terrible …” Cornelius J. Behan, tape of Maryland Handgun Roster Board Meeting, February 5, 1990.

13
The day before … Advertisement.
New York Times
, February 4, 1990;
Baltimore Sun
, February 6, 1990, 1A.

14
The third speaker … Elmer H. Tippet, tape of Maryland Handgun Roster Board Meeting, February 5, 1990.

15
The gun joined … Maryland Handgun Roster Board, Determination of Petition. Docket P-89085, February 13, 1990.

16
At about midnight … 
Oakland Tribune
, October 11, 1990, A-11.

17
In May 1990 … 
Vancouver Sun
, May 22, 1990, B1.

18
On October 20, 1991 … 
Vancouver Sun
, March 7, 1992, A7.

19
The same month … 
The Record
(Bergen County), October 11, 1991, A-1.

20
In 1991, New York … 
The Record
(Bergen County), July 16, 1991, A-7.

21
The following year … 
Denver Post
, October 1, 1992, 2-B.

22
A Baltimore rapper … 
Baltimore Sun
, November 29, 1992, 1A.

23
At least two gangs … 
Las Vegas Review-Journal
, May 17, 1992, 16;
Arkansas Gazette
, January 25, 1991, 4B.

24
Detailed renderings … 
Baton Rouge State Times
, June 15, 1990, 1-A.

25
Let me get … Indianapolis News
, June 25, 1992, A-1.

26
“I’ll make it up …”
Boston Globe
, November 25, 1992, 19.

27
“When you look …” Leonard Supenski, interview.

28
The gun’s direct lineage … Thomas R. Nelson and Daniel D. Musgrave,
The World’s Machine Pistols and Submachine Guns
, vol IIA (Hong Kong: Chesa Limited, undated): 501, 504, 507.

29
Ingram saw … Ibid., 508.

30
The United States had … Ibid., 503–4.

31
The Army bought … Ibid., 508.

32
WerBell, who … Ibid., 509.

33
In 1969 Ingram … Ibid., 512.

34
To best capitalize … Ibid., 512.

35
From 1969 … Ibid., 512.

36
The investors … Ibid., 512.

37
It was
McQ
 … Edward M. Owen, interview.

38
“Hey, Lon,” the … 
McQ
, Warner Brothers, 1974.

39
This enthusiastic bit … Nelson and Musgrave,
Machine Pistols
, 515, 517.

40
Under Wayne Daniel … Ibid., 521.

41
An operating manual … RPB Industries Inc., Ingram Submachine Gun Operating Manual, 1, 43.