The Guilty - Jason Pinter [53]
After sating my curiosity, I made my way around the
museum until I found the exhibit featuring the military
cavalry sword of John Chisum which Marjorie claimed was
a fake.
The sword was mounted in a glass case nearly four feet
long. The blade was slightly curved. I examined the security
glass, wondered if the sword had actually been stolen. And
if so, why it had never been reported.
Behind the sword was a black-and-white photograph
featuring a caravan of horses, and a portrait of a man who
was presumably John Chisum. A black placard above the
sword explained that Chisum was a cattle driver, and one
of the first to send a herd into New Mexico. Chisum was
a tangential part of the infamous Lincoln County Wars, a
feud between businessmen Alexander McSween and John
Tunstall and their rivals Lawrence Murphy and James
Dolan. During these wars, Chisum had been accosted by a
band of outlaws known as the Regulators. The Regulators
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were notorious cattle thieves, who pilfered from Chisum
and other herders, but were deputized after Tunstall's murder. They hunted down the men who killed Tunstall, killing
four including a corrupt sheriff named William Brady.
According to a placard on the wall, the Regulators consisted
of men named Dick Brewer, Jim French, Frank McNab, John
Middleton, Fred Waite, Henry Brown and Henry McCarty.
Next to the name of Henry McCarty, it read: aka William
H. Bonney, aka Billy the Kid.
In the very last room of the museum I found what I'd come
across the country for: an exhibit featuring the Winchester
1873.
Behind a crystal-clear glass case was mounted a pristine
Winchester, along with various posters and propaganda leaflets.
I took out the Winchester Xeroxes, compared them. The
weapon in front of me looked identical to the one on the page.
Inside the case on a poster, written in big bold letters
beneath two opposing firing pistols, were the words: Winches-
ter 1873 edition: The Gun That Won the West.
There were several bullets mounted to the display below the
weapon. A placard identified them as authentic .44-40 magnum
ammunition, the very kind used by that edition Winchester.
I compared the gun and the Xerox until I was reasonably
certain they were one and the same. Then I waited until the
museum had quieted and the manager was free of troublesome tourists. He was reading a copy of the Albuquerque
Journal, looked bored to death, but he set it on the counter
when he saw me approach.
"Help you?" he said.
I pointed at the relics lining the walls.
"This is some pretty amazing stuff," I said, opening a
window for him.
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Jason Pinter
"Man, you don't have to tell me that. I get a buzz just sitting
behind this desk." The Albuquerque Journal was still splayed
open on the counter.
"No doubt," I said absently. I nodded at the display containing Chisum's military sword. "How'd you come upon
that beauty?"
"John Chisum," he said without thinking. "One of the most
influential cattle drivers in U.S. history. Blazed the Chisum
trail from Paris, Texas, all the way to the Pecos Valley. You
know John Wayne himself played John Chisum in a movie?"
"No messing? Which one?"
"Was called Chisum. "
"Guess that makes sense."
"Anyway, when Mr. Chisum passed on, died in Eureka
Springs, his great granddaughter endowed this museum with
the sword. D'you know Chisum's only children were born to
him by a slave girl he owned?"
"I didn't know that."
"'At's a true fact."
"Sword like that," I said, "probably worth, what, few
grand?" I saw the man's eyes twitch, and he looked down for
a split second.
"Try a few hundred grand. The country's swarming with
collectors of old Western antiques. 'Course most of 'em call
it memorabilia, like a freaking baseball card. Most of 'em
wouldn't know a Winchester from Worcestershire sauce, and
I never heard of a baseball card used in a gunfight."
"Speaking of antiques," I said. "Is that a real Winchester
'73 on the wall?"
The man's chest puffed out with pride.
"You're darn right it is. Gun that won the