|
|
|
|
Coltautos.com Gun of the Month - June 2014
|
|
A very interesting and unusual cased set of two Colt Pocket Hammerless Pistols, one Colt 1908 Pocket Hammerless .380 ACP sn 18279 fitted with recessed medallion ivory stocks and Colt 1908 Vest Pocket .25 ACP serial number 123591 also fitted with recessed medallion ivory stocks. The 1908 Pocket Hammerless .380 ACP was shipped to Von Lengerke & Antoine in Chicago, Illinois on May 22, 1914 in a five gun shipment.
1908 Vest Pocket .25 was was shipped with blued finish and ivory stocks to Iver Johnson Sporting Goods Company in Boston, Massachusetts on January 15, 1915 in a one gun shipment.
There are two names that are legible on this case. The first is Charles Michelson and the second is Lt. Col. Carroll E.B. Peeke. It appears that there was something else inscribed inside the long upper flap of the case (below), but whatever was written there is now illegible.
Colt Special Order Record - Factory order number 984/1 indicating shipment to "Iver" for Iver Johnson #2449 1/15/15, Model N-25-Blue Ivory.
Both Michelson and Peeke were acquaintances and it's likely, given the differences in age and the fact that Peeke's name is so legible on the case that this set was either sold or gifted by Charles Michelson to Carroll E.B. Peeke. This article documents their participation in an annual congressional hunting trip in December, 1940:
WASHINGTON HUNTERS END VISIT TO ORANGE, Special to the Port Arthur News, ORANGE, Dec 2, 1940. -- The following guests of W.E. Lea, who annually come to Orange for a hunt at this time of the year, departed for Washington Sunday: Charles Michelson, director of publicity for the national democratic committee; Patrick J. Boland, democratic "whip" of the house; James M. Barnes, Illinois congressman, and Carroll Peeke, of the Washington Times. The visitors accompanied by the former mayor spent a week hunting as guests of M.W. Walker of Alexandria, La., who entertained at the Louisiana Coastal club, of E.W. Brown, Jr., at his ranch in Louisiana, and of Judge G.C. Jackson and C.C. Bellar of Anahuac.
Both pistols have been cased together for quite some time as is evidenced by the staining of the case lining on the ivory grips.
Charles Michelson (1869 - 1948)
Inside the other flap is written "C.E.B. Peeke, 3604 Morrison St. N.W., Washington, D.C., Lieutenant Colonel, A.U.S." Also written on the bottom of the case is "Carroll E.B. Peeke, O-204846, Lieutenant Colonel, A.U.S." Col. C. E. B. Peeke (b. Seattle, 1898) is the
grandson of Émile Beauchamp Wishar, who, settling in San
Jose shortly after the Civil War, became associated with the
San Jose Mercury. To the colonel's own journalistic credit
are ten years (1922-32) on the editorial staff of the San
Francisco Call-Bulletin and another decade (1932-41) as city
editor of the Washington, D.C., Times-Herald. After this
came service in the U. S. army, which took him to South
America on military missions and to Italy with the Fifth
Army, his work winning decorations. Since leaving the army,
Colonel Peeke has been director of public information for
the U.S. Veterans Administration on this coast. His free
time is given to research on the life of the
Rt. Rev. William Ingraham Kip, first Episcopal bishop of
California, whose great-granddaughter is the colonel's wife.
Carroll E.B. Peeke (October 30, 1898 - June 15, 1991) Carroll Earl Beauchamp Peeke (Class of 1917) - A memorial service was held Wednesday for Colonel Carroll Peeke, a World War II veteran and newspaperman who died Saturday in San Francisco at the age of 92. Colonel Peeke was a native of Seattle and a graduate of Oakland High School and the University of California at Berkeley. He joined the San Francisco Call-Bulletin newspaper in 1922, and he later worked as city and diplomatic editor at the Times Herald in Washington, D.C.
Carroll E.B. Peeke (fourth from right) of the San Francisco Call-Bulletin in photograph with other members of the press and Charles Lindbergh (fifth from left). This was taken during Charles Lindbergh's visit to Monterey, California. [California Heritage Collection, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley; BANC PIC 1985.054:8--AX]
Carroll E.B. Peeke (center) in photograph with other members of the press and Charles Lindbergh (second from left). This was taken during Charles Lindbergh's visit to Monterey, California. [California Heritage Collection, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley]
Carroll E.B. Peeke (top tor, far right) in photograph with other members of the press and Charles Lindbergh (second row, center). This was taken during Charles Lindbergh's visit to Monterey, California. [California Heritage Collection, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley] In 1941, he turned from newspaperman man to soldier, entering the military service as managing editor of the War Department Bureau of Public Relations. Later, he served on Army general staff duty in Washington, D.C., and with the U.S. Military Missions and the Fifth Army in Ecuador, Brazil, North Africa and Italy. He earned the Order of the Palms and Croix de Guerre. In 1950, he was elected commander of the San Francisco chapter of the Military Order of World Wars. In the 1970s, he became historian of the Episcopal Diocese of California and wrote extensively about his wife Mary's great grandfather, William Ingraham Kip, the first Episcopal bishop of California. Colonel Peeke is survived by his wife.
Carroll Earl Peeke's WWI Draft Registration Card, September 12, 1918.
|
|
Gun of the Month |
|
|
|
|
|
MICHELSON,
CHARLES (1869–1948), U.S. editor, journalist, and
political publicist. Michelson, who was born in Virginia
City, Nevada, ran away from home at the age of 13. He worked
as a sheepherder, miner, and teamster, before going to work
for the Virginia City Chronicle as a reporter. He
subsequently worked for San Francisco newspapers, before
going to Cuba as a correspondent for Hearst's New York
Journal in 1896. Soon after his arrival Michelson was
imprisoned briefly in Morro Castle, but was released in time
to cover the Spanish-American War. After the war, Michelson
worked for several other newspapers. From 1917 to 1929 he
was chief of the Washington bureau of the New York World. In
1929 the Democratic National Committee hired Michelson as
the first full-time publicity director, the first ever
employed by a political party. Within two years of his
appointment, Michelson was the ghostwriter of hundreds of
press releases attacking the Hoover administration. After
Roosevelt's election, Michelson also did publicity work for
the Treasury Department and the Civilian Conservation Corps
and was public relations director of the National Recovery
Administration (NRA). His weekly column, "Dispelling the
Fog," was distributed free to newspapers throughout the
country. The Republican Party considered Michelson a key
factor in the electoral successes of the Democratic Party.
Michelson retired in 1942, returning briefly as associate
director of publicity in 1944. He wrote his memoirs, The
Ghost Talks (1944). [Source:
