What gun did Abe Slaney use in Adventure of the Dancing Men?

By Michael W.




In Adventure of the Dancing Men, I contend that Abe Slaney used a semi-automatic handgun, and not a revolver. I started to explain my observations and conclusions during the meeting, and continue here. After some observations below, I offer two choices for the make and model of gun Slaney used.

1. Elementary observations about handguns: A revolver has a cylinder which holds multiple rounds of ammunition. Think of the typical side arm of a cowboy, with a spinning cylinder. The cylinder revolves when the trigger is pulled (hence the name “revolver”), bringing the next bullet into the line of fire to be ready for the next shot. The spent casings (the back portion which holds the gunpowder used to expel the projectile) remain in the cylinder until the gun is opened to expose the cylinder for emptying out the spent casings and reloading with fresh cartridges.

In contrast to a revolver, a semi-automatic handgun does not have a round, revolving cylinder, but instead uses a clip or a magazine to store bullets, and a spring mechanism to push each successive bullet into the line of fire. In a typical semi-automatic gun, after firing a bullet, the projectile portion shoots out the barrel of the gun, and the spent casing is ejected automatically and immediately. It was such an ejected spent casing that Holmes finds outside in the grass.


2. Holmes finds the “little brazen cylinder,” i.e. brass bullet casing, outside in the grass. Slaney reportedly took only one shot from his gun, and the casing was ejected, so Holmes concluded Slaney was using a weapon that ejected the casing upon firing each round.

Holmes exclaims “…the revolver had an ejector…” Watson is well known to not understand firearms, in spite of his frequent use of his army revolver. (An aside: the only thing I can recall Watson actually shot in the entire Canon was the unfortunate dog Carlo in Adventure of the Copper Beeches). Watson often refers to various guns by incorrect terminology. He tells us that Hilton Cubitt’s pistol was found in the room, “two barrels of which had been emptied.” In Hound of the Baskervilles, he tells us that Holmes fired “barrel after barrel” into the hound. He mentions shooting off many “barrels” from a revolver, when what he probably means is that a multi-chamber revolver fired off many rounds from the cylinder. We can forgive Watson calling the chambers of a revolver’s cylinder “barrels.” But he should know better, after his military service. Perhaps if he had known a little more about weapons he could have avoided getting wounded in Afghanistan?


3. Historically, there have been revolvers which had ejectors for the spent cartridges, but most of them would eject all the spent casings from the cylinder at the same time, after all the rounds had been fired and it was time to reload the cylinder. For a weapon to eject a single cartridge, in 1898, it is far more likely to have been a semi-automatic handgun than some very unusual type of revolver. I have not been able to find a single picture of any revolver that could eject a single spent casing automatically after each shot.




4. Abe Slaney was a gangster from Chicago. He ran with a rough crowd, and he probably was always armed with a gun. (A few slang terms for a gun: heater, rod, gat, equalizer, iron, piece, Roscoe. If you think of more, please post them!) In 1898, there were semi-automatic rifles which ejected the spent casings after each shot, but for Slaney’s purposes, a handgun which could be concealed was better than a large, long gun, such as a rifle or shotgun.


5. In 1898, there were two likely semi-automatic handguns available, and I contend that Abe Slaney had one of these in the gun fight at the Hilton Cubitt farm:

Browning Model FN-M1900

This is a photo of the Browning FN-M1900 which was owned by President Theodore Roosevelt, and which he kept in his bedroom nightstand. The website where I found this photo said TR’s gun was made in the year 1900.

John Browning, an American gun inventor, designed a small, semi-automatic pistol in 1896 which was manufactured, starting in 1898, by the Belgian company Fabrique Nationale de Herstal. Abe Slaney could have owned one of Browning’s prototypes, made between 1896 and 1898. Or he may have purchased a commercial version beginning in 1898.

This gun is small: under 7 inches long, and 22 ounces. In the roughly 11 years this model gun was manufactured, they sold over 700,000 of them. It uses .32 Caliber rounds, which were not typical in 1898. The 32 Cal. round was more powerful than most other popular handguns of the time, but today would be considered underpowered. Still, the .32 bullet became a very popular size for half of the 20th Century, thanks in no small part to the design of the M1900 by Browning. The iconic James Bond Walther PPK was a .32 Cal, which is about the same size bullet as the European designation of “7.65mm.” Lightweight, small, easy to conceal, easy to aim, relatively quiet for the power it has, the M1900 was a good gun for an assassin, or a gangster from Chicago.


Mauser Model C96


The German gun maker Mauser started producing the semi-automatic Model C96 in 1896, and continued to make them until 1937. The handle, with its rounded bottom, looks like a broom handle, which gave this gun its nickname: the “Broomhandle.”

Mauser sold a wooden holster (shown it the photo) with a shoulder strap for carrying. The wood holster could be attached to the handle of the pistol to create a shoulder stock, converting the pistol into a carbine (a short rifle), for greater stability and accuracy in shooting. This made the C96 a good gun for officers to carry in wartime. It was used by both sides of the Boer War (1899 to 1902), and was a favourite of Winston Churchill, from his wartime service in South Africa. The literary agent Arthur Conan Doyle also served in the Boer War, and would have been exposed to the C96 being carried about by officers.

The C96 used a 7.63 cartridge with more fire power than most handguns of the time. It weighs 2.5 pounds, and is 12.3 inches long, so it is larger and harder to conceal than the Browning M1900 above. But the power, range, and accuracy make it a good choice for an assassin’s weapon, well suited for Abe Slaney, described as “the most dangerous crook in Chicago.”

The C96 was an original look, with the broomhandle grip, long barrel, and magazine storing the bullets located in front of the trigger guard. Parts of the design were copied by other gun manufacturers. Some feel the look of the C96 inspired the design for the laser gun used by Flash Gordon, and the Blaster used by Han Solo in Star Wars.


Conclusion:

For anyone who has read this far, a small reward: here are links to two videos on YouTube, showing live demonstrations of each of these handguns being fired. If you watch closely, you can see the spent casings being ejected after each round is fired, being tossed into the grass for a detective to find. You may need to endure a short ad to view these videos on YouTube:

C96 Broomhandle Mauser

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bC7Vrutcm6c


Browning FN-M1900

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=drjtaEIoSY8#


Question: between the Mauser C96 and the Browning FN-M1900, which one do you think Abe Slaney used? Post your answer in the Comments section by clicking below.


Post Script:

My observations may not be entirely original, because in the distant past I am sure I’ve read one or more essays about guns in the Canon. I did not research those essays, or look at any of the traditional Writings on the Writings, for today’s meeting on Dancing Men. If I publish my thoughts anywhere permanent, I will first research and check to see if I need to add some citations to prior articles, to avoid being accused of plagiarism. In this little posting, any duplication of observations by others in prior publications is entirely accidental and unintentional.