A piece of Woodward’s history will go up on the auction block today in New Braunfels, Texas.
“The gun used by Temple Houston to kill Ed Jennings in a saloon fight in Woodward is going to be for sale,” said Ian Swart, curator for the Plains Indians and Pioneers Museum.
Temple’s Colt pistol is scheduled to be sold today in a large firearm sale at the Burley Auction Gallery in New Braunfels, Texas.
Online bidding opportunities have been extended until 9 a.m. today on the gallery’s website, www.burleyauction.com, according to gallery owner and auctioneer Robb Burley. The live auction will begin at 10 a.m., he said.
In order to participate in the online bidding process, potential bidders must provide a credit card number to verify identity and “prove that they are a serious bidder,” Burley said, noting that credit card will not be charged.
Photos of the pistol as well as images of two letters of provenance verifying the gun’s identity as the one used by Temple in the historic saloon fight can be viewed on the gallery website.
There has been a lot of interest in the gun, Burley said, noting that he has gotten “a lot of calls on it” from media all over the nation.
“Historical pieces like this generally generate a lot of interest,” he said.
Certainly it has generated a lot of interest for Swart and the Plains Indians and Pioneers Museum.
“If there was one artifact that would be the artifact for Woodward, this would be it,” Swart said, noting that “everyone knows of Temple Houston and everyone knows about the gun fight.”
The curator is hopeful that a thoughtful patron might consider bidding on the historic firearm and donate it to the museum.
“It would probably be the coolest artifact in the museum,” he said.
