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HISTORIC RIFLE TRAVELS TO LITTLE ROCK FOR EXHIBIT
March 9, 2009
LITTLE ROCK--A history museum exhibit about crime, law enforcement, and prisons cannot help but showcase very interesting artifacts. When the Old State House Museum in Little Rock opens its latest exhibit, Badges, Bandits, and Bars: Arkansas Law & Justice, next month, one of the objects to be included will be a famous 1873 model, 38-caliber Winchester rifle provided on loan from the William J. Myers family and the Boone County Heritage Museum in Harrison. The 1873 model Winchester rifle was one of the most popular general-purpose rifles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and became known as “the gun that tamed the West.”
The rifle was used to shoot the famous outlaw Henry Starr when he and his gang attempted to rob the People’s Bank of Harrison on February 18, 1921. William J. Myers, the retired former president of the bank, was visiting with employees when Starr and two accomplices entered the bank and ordered everyone into the bank’s vault. Years before, Myers had placed the rifle inside the vault for such a situation. When ordered into the vault Myers retrieved the gun and shot Starr. The two accomplices escaped, but Starr was not so lucky. He died from his gunshot wounds four days later.
Henry Starr was one of the most successful and feared bank robbers of his era. He began his career as an outlaw in 1891; his life of crime lasted nearly 30 years. Starr robbed as many as 21 banks, and the Harrison bank robbery is thought to be one of the first in which an automobile was used. His grandfather, Tom Starr, and his aunt by marriage, the infamous Belle Starr, were also well-known outlaws in Oklahoma’s Indian Territory during the 1870s and 1880s.
The Badges, Bandits, and Bars exhibit opens April 24, 2009, and continues through 2011. Using historic objects, photos, and documents from its own collections as well as those loaned from other individuals and institutions, the exhibit will share the history of crime, law enforcement, and prisons in Arkansas from pre-territorial days to the 1980s.
ABOUT THE OLD STATE HOUSE MUSEUM
The Old State House Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Guided tours are available seven days a week; please call in advance for group tour reservations at (501) 324-9865. Admission to the museum is free.
The Old State House Museum is a museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and shares the goal of all seven Department of Arkansas Heritage agencies, that of preserving and enhancing the heritage of the state of Arkansas. The other agencies are the Arkansas Arts Council, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Delta Cultural Center, and Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.
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