Powell's revolver

[Wesley Harris]

Sorry for my late arrival to the discussion. I've been swamped at work this summer and have to rely on Roger to alert me to a thread I might want to join.

I wrote a lengthy article on this revolver for the Surratt Courier last year so I won't repeat most of my conclusions here. But the statement that the pistol has no firing pin is correct. Pistols that use a "centerfire" cartridge have a firing pin to strike the primer embedded in the base of the cartridge. Percussion pistols like Powell's Whitney simply had a hammer that fell on the percussion cap to explode it.

I don't know if Powell attempted to shoot Frederick Seward or not. The record is rather vague. Frederick's statement that the gun must have misfired came many years after the attack and seems to be a presumption on his part. So I don't know if Powell used the pistol as a club simply because they were in close quarters or because he had attempted to fire it and it didn't work. A misfire can be due to wet powder, a defective percussion cap, and other problems.

Powell's gun did break but it was at the loading ram underneath the barrel. This occurred when he hit Seward over the head. I don't know how many times he hit Frederick Seward but enough to break his skull into several pieces. It was a nearly fatal attack. When the loading ram broke, the whole loading assembly fell off. That's what holds the cylinder in place. The gun literally fell to pieces on the floor.