Jesse James' Colt .45 revolver expected to fetch $1.6million at auction 130 years after outlaw's assassination

The six shooter was a favourite of the notorious gunslinger



It is described as one of the most significant ever to appear at auction

Passed to James' son Jesse James Jr who gave it to a doctor in 1923

It then ended up in the hands of Harry Hawes, a Missouri state senator

It is due to go under the hammer in Los Angeles on November 24

A pistol belonging to infamous Wild West outlaw Jesse James is tipped to sell for over $1.6million (£1million) 130 years after his assassination.



The Colt .45 revolver was a favourite of the notorious gunslinger who spent more than 20 years terrorising the America's Mid West with his gang of bandits in the mid 19th century.

Experts have described his gun as one of the most significant ever to appear at auction.

For sale: The Colt .45 pistol once owned by the notorious outlaw Jesse James is expected to fetch over $1.6million (£1million) when it is put up for auction later this month

Legend of the West: A young Jesse James, armed with three revolvers, poses of a picture in the late 1800s

James became a folk hero in his home state of Missouri after waging a guerrilla campaign against Unionists during the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865.

Following the war James became one of the most iconic characters of his era, gaining celebrity status by holding up banks, stagecoaches and trains.

James was shot and killed in 1882 by Bob Ford, a member of his gang who had been secretly hired as a hitman by the state governor Thomas Crittenden.

Following James' death aged 34 the Colt passed to his son Jesse James Junior who made it into a display which he would charge members of the public to see.

In 1923 Jesse Jnr gave it to a doctor as a bond after he was hurt in a car crash and it ended up in the hands of Harry Hawes, a Missouri state senator.

Historical: Experts have described the gun as one of the most significant ever to appear at auction Detail from the pistol shows it was made in 1871 five years before the James' gang disastrous raid on the First National Bank of Northfield, Minnesota

The gun has emerged for sale 130 years after the legendary outlaw was assassinated by a member of his own gang



Frank Boykin, a congressman, owned the gun until 1975 when he sold it to a US collector.

Bidding will start at $400,000 (£250,000) for it but experts have tipped the gun to sell for a seven-figure sum.

It comes with documentation proving its provenance, including letters from three generations of the James family confirming its history.

Tom Slater, Americana expert at Heritage Auctions, said: 'Jesse James is the ultimate Western outlaw and this gun is the holy grail for collectors.

'He often took guns from the people he robbed so there's every chance this gun didn't start out life as his.

Memorabilia: A display of weapons and other items including the Colt .45, that were used by the James Gang. The picture is signed by Jesse James Jr who inherited the gun after his father's death in 1882

'The story behind this gun is almost as fascinating as the gun itself.

'It was first documented in a 1923 display of Jesse James' guns which was put together by his son Jesse Jnr.

'Jesse Jnr carried the display around on the back seat of his car and charged people a quarter to see it.

'The following year Jesse Jnr was in a serious car accident and suffered injuries that required ongoing medical treatment.

'He couldn't afford the bills and so he turned over two guns to the doctor as security.

'The bill was never paid so the doctor kept the guns.

'Jesse Jnr's family tried to get the guns back but the doctor wouldn't cooperate so the family brought a lawsuit against him.

Vice President John Nance Garner points two revolvers, including the Jesse James gun, at Harry Truman in 1938. Both Truman and the guns' owner Harry B. Hawes were Missouri senators at the time

'Before the suit came about the doctor died and the guns disappeared.

'They surfaced several years later in the hands of Harry Hawes, a senator from Missouri.

'From him they passed to congressman Frank Boykin who owned them until 1975 when his son sold them to a collector.

'Ever since Jesse Jnr gave the gun to the doctor the James family have been trying to get it back and there is a folder of correspondence from them to back it up.

'This sort of provenance with a gun like this is unheard of, and that makes it a very special gun indeed.

'Put simply, it is one of the most important firearms ever to appear at auction.

'We have set an opening bid of £250,000 but we have no idea where it will go from there.

'Bidding could easily go into the millions.'

The auction will take place in Los Angeles on November 24.



HOW LEGENDARY GUNSLINGER JESSE JAMES MET HIS END

A wedding portrait of legendary outlaw Jesse James taken before his marriage in 1874 He Is a wild west legend and one of the most famous American outlaws of all time. Jesse James rose to notoriety during the American civil war when he and his brother Frank led a Confederate guerrilla force against the Union in their home state of Missouri. After the war they fell into a life of crime robbing banks, stagecoaches and trains as they riding in different gangs. Jesse's fate was sealed following a disastrous bank robbery in Northfield, Minnesota, when many gang members were captured or wounded. They had chosen the Minnesota town because it was small and thought to be peaceable but most importantly there was only one bank and recent newspaper stories had reported that a new safe and time lock and two heavy doors for the vault had just been added to First National’s building. This didn’t put the gang off. They reasoned the threat of a gun would be enough to persuade most men to unlock a vault. It just meant that all the money in town was in one place and if there was enough of it to make it worth investing in a such security there was enough to make it worth robbing. According to a detailed account of James' life by the historian Mark Lee Gardner, the day they rode into Northfield, September 7, 1876, they were ‘at the top of their game. But the bank staff resisted. Frustrated, Frank James fired shots above bookkeeper Joseph Heywood’s head. In the smoke and confusion a colleague though he had been shot and made a run for it,bringing more shots from the robber. Everything began to unravel.

The town was alerted to the raid taking place. All their money was held in that building – all uninsured. They decided to fight.

The gun battle lasted less than ten minutes – panicked the gang members who had been keeping watched dashed to and fro amid bullets and rocks that arced through the air as locals fought with anything to hand. Inside all was confusion and violence. Mr Gardner states, ‘While the townspeople were shooting to kill, the outlaws’ shots were really meant to frighten, to scare away, to buy time – at least in the beginning.’ Keeping watch outside, panic growing Cole Younger signalled the retreat: ‘For God’s sake,’ he shouted. ‘Come out. They are shooting us all to pieces.’ When it was over robbers Clell Miller and Bill Chadwell lay dead in the street. Bookkeeper Joseph Heywood had a bullet in his head and another local had been killed in the frenzy outside. The gang’s haul totalled just $26.60 ‘in coin and crip.’ Bob Coles had been hit. They left, six men on five horses and for the next 14 days evaded capture in what became the largest manhunt in US history. With a large bounty on his head, Jesse James was eventually shot and killed by Robert Ford, a member of his own gang More than 1000 men chased them across marsh and woodland. Cole Younger later recalled: ‘We suffered in those fourteen days a hundred deaths.’ Jesse managed to slip away and live in St Jo under a false name, unaware there was a $10,000 bounty on his head.

But one morning, as the 34-year-old Jesse climbed on a chair to straighten a picture, he was shot in the back of the head by gang member Robert Ford. Ford cut James down as he stood to adjust a picture in the parlour of his home. James was parnoid after a life on the run and had invited Ford and his brother Charles to live with him and his wife Zee and protect them. 'Meet me in Kansas City tonight or tomorrow. I have my man,' Jesse James assassin Robert Ford's telegram to Governor Crittenden. Instead the man who had survived shooting battles and daring raids, died as he had lived; by the bullet and for bounty. While his wife wept by her dying husband’s side Bob and Charley Ford, Mr Gardner writes: ‘Quickly grabbed their hats and also Jesse’s revolvers and gun belt and hurried off for the town’s only telegraph office. ‘Once there, Charley paced nervously…as Bob tried several times to write out a telegram.’ When he finally handed a piece of paper to the operator it read as follows: ‘Meet me in Kansas City tonight or tomorrow. I have my man.' The telegram was addressed to Thomas Crittenden, Governor of Missouri who had placed a $10,000 reward on Jesse, dead - $40,000 if he was taken alive but no-one really believed Jesse James would be taken alive. ‘If you hear they’ve captured me alive,’ he once said to a cousin. ‘Say it’s a lie; they may kill me, but they will never get me otherwise.’ That they captured him at all was an event that, according to Mr Gardner, had its beginnings in the chaos of Northfield, Minnesota and the raid on the town’s First National Bank.





