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LOT 49
Historic and Well-Documented Inscribed New Haven Arms Co. Henry Lever Action Rifle Owned and Carried By One of the Old West’s Premier Lawmen, California Sheriff, Wells Fargo Detective, and Captor of Black Bart, James
B. Hume, Formerly on Display at the Wells Fargo Museum for 33 years, Accompanied with Full Documentation - Serial no. 4905, 44 Henry RF cal., 24 1/4 inch octagon bbl., blue/brass finish, walnut stock. This Henry rifle is boldly inscribed with “James B. Hume” in script on the top of the action between the hammer
and ejection port and “1864” on the top of the receiver at the breech. It also has
a nickel-silver blade front sight, “HENRY’S PATENT OCT. 16 1860/MANUFACT’D BY THE NEWHAVEN ARMS CO. NEWHAVEN. CT.” marked on the barrel ahead of the notch and ladder rear sight, sling bar affixed by two screws on the left side of the barrel/magazine tub, corresponding sling swivel mounted on the left side of the buttstock, and matching serial numbers marked on the barrel on top at the breech, the left side of the lower tang, the upper stock mortise, both buttplate screws, and inside of the buttplate. An original four-piece cleaning rod is in the stock. This rifle is shown along with Humes magnificent gold and enamel badges from LOT 50 on El Dorado County’s website and also shown in the article “Black Bart: The Bloodless
Bandit” by Lee Silva. In the article it is captioned as “One of Hume’s favorite rifles was his .44 Henry. It is engraved on the top of the receiver ‘James B. Hume 1864.’ A copy of the article is included. Also included is an old typed document identifying the rifle as owned by Sheriff James B. Hume of El Dorado County. It indicates
the rifle was sent by Hume to George Nail of the Somerset district because they did not have repeaters in the county at the time of the Bullion Bend robbery.
Nail drowned in December 1884, and the document indicates the rifle was then owned by a man identified as McAfee. The writer indicates he got the gun from that man’s son, Ernest McAfee. It is not signed. An included Geo. Rieber & Son Hardware receipt from January 19, 1921, notes $20 “Received of George Rieber on Acct of Gun. J.B Hume Gun. Ernest McAfee Send check to George Rollers. Very truly yours George Rieber. I am glad that I was able to get the gun for you.” A December 14, 1950, dated letter from a Mrs. Sybil S. Jones to Wells Fargo Bank Historical Collection states that her uncle, H.P. Blanchard had loaned the rifle to the historical collection in 1943 and that her son Robert Blanchard Jones was authorized to claim and receive the rifle. A 1994 dated letter from Assistant Vice President Robert J. Chandler of Wells Fargo Bank states: “The History Department had on loan Jim Hume’s Henry rifle, Serial #4905 from 1949 to 1982.
James B. Hume Sheriff, Wells Fargo Detective and Capturer of Notorious Outlaw, Black Bart
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