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Offer in thousands comes from collector; were Texas Ranger's
Thursday, December 06, 2007
By MIKE MARSHALL
Times Staff Writer [email protected]
FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. - It took two days, a 40-mile drive and about 20 seconds of drilling for Dave Shade to open the trunk.
But as soon as he opened it, he knew he'd found the treasure he'd been hoping for when he made the starting bids at the estate sale on the morning of Oct. 7, 2006.
In the right tray of the trunk, partially hidden by some clothing, were two pistols.
Immediately, he saw some initials engraved just above the handle of one of the guns: "T.R.''
At first, Shade thought he had found two guns with a connection to Teddy Roosevelt and the Spanish-American War.
Bit by bit, though, Shade discovered more clues and pieced together the tale of the guns.
Soon, the story circulated among collectors: Both pistols were used by a cavalryman during the Civil War.
A collector in Texas has already offered him $50,000 for the guns. Another has estimated the guns' worth at about $75,000.
Shade wonders if they're worth more than that.
"How does this happen in Lincoln County, Tenn., or anywhere else?'' Shade said. "The lesson here is to buy as many locked trunks as you can.''
The trunk was listed as Lot 139 in the estate sale of Mary Bright Wilson, a 94-year-old social worker who died on Jan. 19, 2004.
On the morning of the auction, Shade, a vacuum cleaner salesman, was heading to work when he saw a sign advertising the auction.
He drove to the Riverbend Conference Center, site of the auction, and awaited the sale of the 158 items.
A large crowd had gathered there - more than 200, by Shade's estimate. Near the end of the auction, as the prices dwindled, Shade began to bid.
He bought a guitar, then a foot locker.
Then Lot 139 - a "wooden trunk,'' according to the auction brochure - was up for bid.
"I knew something was in there,'' Shade said. "It took two big Southern boys to lift it.''
The opening bid was $10. The next bid was $20.
Shade upped it to $30.
After a long pause, the auctioneer said, "Sold for $30.''
Just then, Shade recalls hearing a voice from the back of the room.
"Hey, I bid $40,'' someone said.
But the auctioneer said, "Sorry, too late.''
Ties to Texas
They tried and tried at the conference center, but no one was able to open the trunk.
At home, Shade waited for the rest of the weekend, wondering what was in the trunk.
On Monday, he drove to a locksmith's office in northwest Huntsville.
"The locksmith said there was no way to open it,'' Shade said. "So he used a drill.''
The first thing Shade saw when he opened the truck was some women's clothing, the frilly garments of Mary Bright Wilson's era.
The guns were under the clothing, at the edge of one of the front trays.
"I thought there would just be some dirty clothes in there,'' Shade said. "I just didn't want to tear it up. We were going to make a table out of it.''
Instead, he found a gun with some engravings, his primary clues about the identity of the guns.
"LT. W.H. SHARP,'' read the inside of the handle.
Engraved on the top of one of the guns was the manufacturer: "SAM L. COLT, HARTFORD, CONN.''
Shade returned to his office in downtown Fayetteville and researched the guns on his computer, typing his clues on the Internet.
Ultimately, he discovered that the guns belonged to William Henry Sharp, a lieutenant with Terry's Texas Rangers, a group of volunteers for the Confederacy during the Civil War.
He had been born in Georgia in 1837, but lived in Texas for most of his life. On Dec. 31, 1862, he had been wounded at the battle of Stones River in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Shade also learned that one of the guns was a .36 caliber percussion revolver, made in 1851. The other was a pocket .31 caliber, made in 1849.
"Nobody knows why the pistols were left with the family in Fayetteville,'' Shade said. "He and some other soldiers might have convalesced in their home after they were wounded.''
After the war, Sharp returned to his family's plantation in Texas. He married in 1866 and became the sheriff of Brazoria County, south of Houston, in 1878.
He was 60 when he died in 1897.
"It could be a great story for Hollywood,'' Shade said. "What if he fell in love with one of the relatives at the home and left the guns there?''
What if he did? Whoever it was, they probably had more interest in guns than Shade.
"I'm against guns and violence,'' he said. "I don't like weapons of any kind.''
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