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Posted by D Sherman [72.47.9.228] on Tuesday, November 08, 2011 at 01:30:02 :
In Reply to: Re: Interesting posted by Jerry in Idaho [69.59.83.175] on Tuesday, November 08, 2011 at 01:01:04 :
Your guess is as good as anyone's about the rifle. If you ever come to Wallace, I'll show it to you. It's in the back of the Mine Tour office. I think it's a falling block .45-70, not sure of the make. The barrel got rather twisted by the excavator when they were tearing the wall apart. No, I don't think it was put in there as re-bar, especially since it was the only steel in the wall. Not too long ago a human skeleton was found in an unused chimney in an old downtown Wallace building -- also a mystery, though probably not related. My guess about the rifle is that it dates from the time of the labor troubles, which included a day-long running gun battle around the Frisco mill between union miners and Pinkerton guards. A lot of hot lead was flung back and forth, with only light casualties on both sides. I recall reading there was a cache of rifles that someone had previously brought into the area that were handed out to the strikers at the time, but I don't recall what kind they were.
Someone may not have been sure if he had or had not fired one of the shots that hit its mark but decided that discretion was the better part of valor, saw the wet concrete, and decided to make any potential ballistic comparisons difficult. A .45-70 rifle would be an odd choice for your ordinary garden-variety murder.
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