Hammer It, those are fine looking pieces of art. Do you actually shoot any of them? I'd be afraid to.
Chris
Hello Chris
Thank you Cris for the compliments, I appreciate it. I have Fired all of them shown, but I backed off shooting the
1925 Regulation Police Revolver when I found out it was carried and owned by
Harry Anderson the Evansville, Indiana Police Chief back in
the Late 1920's. The
Pre-30 3" Revolver is a Nightstand Gun and I fired it a few times but have retired it.
The rest see range duty Often including my
Pre-16 K-32 Masterpiece which I really enjoy shooting. Here is some more Pictures of Old Harrys gun and him self. Can you
Imagaine chassing the bad Guys that were around back in the late 1920's-1930 time span like
Al Capone, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde and ECT with a 3-1/4" Barreled revolver chambered in .32 S&W Long cartridge ? I later Learned that the reason for the 3
-1/4" Odd barrel length is because Old Harry carried
it in a flap holster strong side while riding a motorcycle.. After I got it, I Contacted The Evansville, Indiana Police Department and asked them to Forward anything they could about Harry Anderson. Here is what I got in return from them.
You never know where a Used gun has been or who owned it and the best part is the price I gave for this revolver which was
$210.00 from the second owner of it. Hammer It
Here is the historical information on Harry Anderson with the Evansville Police Department. He served as Chief from 1926 to 1928.
If I can be of any other assistance, please let me know.
Sgt.Richard Hubbard
In March 1926, Nolte was hospitalized with a nervous breakdown and voluntarily took a demotion to detective, stepping down as chief in favor of Harry Anderson on March 29, 1926. Nolte continued as a member of the department until his retirement in 1931. Nolte died in 1933. Nolte's 3-month term as chief was the shortest in the history of the police department.
Harry Anderson
Harry Anderson, the 23rd chief of police, was born in Warrick County. He became active in the Republican Party. He joined the department on November 24, 1916. Prior to joining the department, Anderson worked as a bartender. He was promoted to motorcycleman on January 7, 1918. Anderson was a member of the Evansville Police Relief Association committee that published the book "A Souvenir History of the Evansville Police Department" in 1918.
In 1919, Anderson resigned and became a car salesman. In January 1921, County Clerk Frank Grange appointed Anderson a deputy in the county clerk's office. When the Republicans took control of city hall in January 1926 Mayor Herbert Males appointed William Nolte as his choice to replace Democrat-appointed Ira Wiltshire in the chief's position. After 3 months in the chief's office, Nolte suffered a nervous breakdown and took a voluntary demotion to detective. Anderson returned to the police department after an absence of 7 years as Mayor Males's choice to replace Nolte in the chief's position.
Anderson remained Chief of Police for 33 months. The City Council launched impeachment proceedings against Chief Anderson, License Inspector Benjamin Bartlett, and members of the Board of Public Safety in September 1928. In the 1928 county elections, he was elected county clerk. In late December 1928, Anderson submitted his resignation as chief. The text of Chief Anderson's letter of resignation read as follows:
"Honorable Herbert Males and Board of Safety. Having been elected Clerk of the Vanderburgh Circuit Court the past election and as this term of office begins January first, I hereby tender my resignation as superintendent of the police department to take effect January 1, 1929."
Chief of Detectives Edward Sutheimer was appointed to fill the chief's position for the remaining year of Mayor Males' administration
When Anderson resigned, he had served a total of 6 years as a member of the police department. The department's 8-year experiment with a mounted patrol began in 1927 during Chief Anderson's administration. Anderson ran for county clerk again in the election of 1932. The Roosevelt-Democratic landslide of 1932 buried Anderson, like his fellow Republicans. After losing the election, he returned to the trade that he had practiced before joining the police department in 1916, working as a bartender. In 1935, Anderson became a milkman. Later in life, he bought a dairy farm in Warrick County. After failing to make that enterprise profitable, he sold it. Anderson then moved back to Evansville, living at 209 First Avenue. He was appointed a Vanderburgh County deputy sheriff. He served as a guard at the Evansville Waterworks during World War II. In 1945 he moved to 26 East Chandler. He died on December 12, 1946. His wife's name was Bertha and he had one brother whom lived in California.
I learned from this Harry Had a brother in California and I assume the Son of his Brother is who got a hold of his Police revolver and later sold it off to the guy I bought it from.I Dug a Little deeper by contacting The Evnasville, Indiana Public Library, and a woman there sent me the Pictures of Harry below and his Obituary that she tracked down in the old files they had. I have hit a brick wall as far as learning any more about Harry Anderson since then, but hope to hear more in the future from the woman in the Public Library who is still searching for information on him.Below is a Picture of Harry when he was first made Chief of The Evansville, Indiana Police force. He was also in charge of their Motorcycle brigade an experiment they were trying using Motorcycles to answer calls with, as before this, all calls were answered on Bicycles. We have to remember this was around 1926 so I assume the Motorcycles used were either Harley Davidson's or Indian's.The Police department is also shown in the Pictures below and you can see Horses were still used in that time frame. I can't believe just how much harry had done in such a short life span as at the age of 55 Poor Old Harry's Heart gave out and he Passed on
