Gun collector Charles Asher said the founder of Hensley Settlement definitely owned the weapon at one time.
Asher recently purchased the pistol and will have the weapon on display at the Bell County Historical Society on Friday and Saturday during the Cumberland Mountain Fall Festival.
Possessing a notarized letter of ownership, Ashers said the gun's previous owner had inherited it from his father, who in turn, had gotten it from his brother. The pistol had passed to the man's uncle via pawn and Hensley never recovered the weapon.
Asher said the best he could figure, the weapon was pawned between 1919 and 1930, the original pawn receipt, he said, had been lost.
The pistol was originally produced in the 1870s as the Colt Model 1873. It had a 7-inch barrel and was produced for the U.S. Military.
The .45 caliber pistol packed a heavy punch and was a favorite on the frontier.
According to the United States Fire Arms Manufacturers Company Website, the model was used by the U.S. Cavalry and other U.S. forces during the Indian Wars of the late 1800s.
In the 1890s, the worn pistols were returned to the factories by the army to be reworked. These pistols were disassembled and reassembled using only the best-conditioned parts. These models were dubbed "Artillery Models" and featured a shortened barrel (down to 5 1/2 inches). As a consequence of the refitting process the serial numbers of each component is different.
All the components are stamped by the military inspector of the day, Orville W. Ainsworth.
Asher said he suspected the pistol may have been in a batch of pistols reworked in the Philippines around the time of the Philippine Insurrection which involved U.S. Army forces during the first years of the Twentieth Century.
It is unknown whether Hensley served in the Philippines or if he purchased the pistol as surplus property (government weapons were often sold on the civilian market in those days once the model was replaced.)
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