The Beginning



Herein I present the historical background and saga of one of the most fascinating and interesting weapons that has surfaced in the last one hundred years, or more. The recounting of this tale, at times, puts the reader in mind of a strange mixture of a Harlequin romance novel and a docudrama that is infinitely real, yet so dramatic and profound as to stagger the imagination. This is a tale of intrigue, insatiable quest for power, unrequited love, and finally, a suicide out of desperation and frustration that did much to change the course of world history.

If any thought exists that I might be stretching the imagination in this particular drama, then I suggest that at the end of this narration the reader reflect on just what the outcome might have been had things developed differently.

It all revolves around a petite .22-caliber revolver, No. 709, manufactured by the Smith & Wesson firm. This insignificant-looking small-caliber gun, however, steps into the annals of history’s most famous and infamous weapons and joins the world’s fictional and actual implements of destruction throughout the ages: Excaliber, the sword in the stone wielded by King Arthur; Nothung, the sword that Wagner’s Seigfried used to cut the anvil in twain; the derringer used in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln; the cheap Carlano carbine that struck down our president Kennedy; and, of course, the revolver that Jack Ruby used to kill the “killer,” Lee Harvey Oswald.

Many weapons have gained notoriety, such as Bat Masterson’s .44, Billy the Kid’s Colt Bissbe, and the .38-caliber pistol that the “Dirty Little Coward” (Bob Ford), used to kill “Mr. Howard,” (Jesse James). All these guns have great historical value as demonstrated in a recent television special narrated by Mr. Greg Martin of the Butterfield and Butterfield Auction in California. The values of some of these, evidenced by their auction and sales records, document this fact. One must realize, however, that the provenance that accompanied most of them is meager, at best.

The desire of collectors to own such an important piece of history is often insatiable and rather irrational—desirability oftentimes precludes reasonable discernment and perceptivity.

The aforementioned television series, “The Gun,” was masterfully presented and one of the most interesting chapters was the one devoted to “Guns of the Famous,” narrated by Mr. Martin and others. We should applaud the efforts that were made to bring out the human-interest aspect and almost hypnotic fixation that grips the collector, historian, or dramatist when viewing, holding, or actually acquiring a weapon—dagger or gun—that helped to make history. Few other objects of antiquity can elicit such feeling as a gun, and nothing is as ominous or forceful as the firearm. The cotton gin changed history decisively enough, but the stone that David’s slingshot unleashed against the temple of the giant, Goliath, excites the imagination more directly, and brings forth that adrenaline flow and sense of high adventure that even modern man cannot entirely remove from his psyche.

This is the story of the personal revolver of Adolf Hitler and its connections with at least two earth-shattering events that had far-reaching affects upon the history of the 20th Century and, most undoubtedly, will influence the geopolitical future of the centuries yet to come.

When one who enjoys an active and healthy imagination visits a museum display of various weapons, one cannot help but to muster up visions of the wars, conquests, and hand-to-hand combats of the past as they flash before the mind’s eye: the Crusades, the War of the Roses, the various revolutions, the Indian wars on our continent, et al. On that note, let’s stop and examine the influence the American-Indian wars, in particular, had on the subject of this narrative. Someone once said that history is a continuum. The world conqueror who was most interested in this particular epoch was, strangely enough, the German leader, Adolf Hitler.