[MSN] Burglar makes off with historical artifacts from Fort Davis museum

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04/30/2006 
Burglar makes off with historical artifacts from Fort Davis museum  
Ryan Myers
Staff Writer
Midland Reporter-Telegram  

By Ryan Myers 
Staff Writer 

In the middle of the night two weeks ago in far West Texas someone
burglarized the Fort Davis National Historic Site and stole seven historic
weapons valued at, depending on who you ask, $60,000 to $100,000. 

The initial investigation by the local sheriff's office was immediate. But
due to some confusion about jurisdiction and misunderstandings between law
enforcers, further efforts to solve a crime that has riled and saddened the
local population have stalled. 

"We found out about the break in within just a few minutes. They set the
motion detectors off, but by the time we responded, they were gone,"
explained John R. Heiner, chief of interpretation with the Fort Davis
National Historic Site, a cavalry fort active from 1854 to 1891 that is
regarded by many historians as the best surviving example of a southwestern
frontier U.S. military post. 

"Early in the morning of April the 12th, they gained access by breaking in
through a window above one of the doors," Heiner said. "Five exhibit cases
were broken into, big glass-front museum cases. Seven handguns or revolvers
were stolen, along with approximately $100 in cash out of a donation box" 
Located three hours west of Midland and nestled in the Davis Mountains, the
fort lies in Jeff Davis County at the edge of the town of Fort Davis, an
international tourist destination with a year-round population of less than
2,000. 

"People are concerned. We don't have this kind of activity here on a regular
basis, thank goodness," said Jeff Davis County Attorney Bart E. Medley. "And
of course, with it being historical items, stealing our history is something
that people around here take very seriously." 
The stolen guns were never actually in use at the fort, but were
representative of the time period and displayed in the historical site's
museum as examples of the rapid developments in firearm technology during
the 19th century. 
"From the 1840s to 1870s technology changed from a percussion muzzle
loading, single shot weapon to the model 1873 Colt, which was basically the
standard six shooter of the day. So you had huge changes in technology, from
a paper cartridge and a multiple step loading process to a metallic
cartridge like we think of today," said Heiner. 

Though it is not known if the two crimes are related, several historical
firearms and artifacts were burglarized within a few days of the Fort Davis
break-in from the Hallie Stilwell Museum, seven miles north of the north
entrance to Big Bend National Park. 

"I'd like to prosecute them here, right now," said Wid McCutcheon, Jeff
Davis County sheriff from 1972 to 1984, a period gun collector, and a member
of the Fort Davis Historical Society, which held a meeting at the fort
several hours before the burglary. 

"To come into our community and do something like that -- We have a lot of
people who are period gun collectors in this community, but we all know each
other and we all know what we've got and what the other guy has got and
there's not a burglar in the bunch," said the former sheriff, whose family
has lived in the area since the days when the fort still protected travelers
and mail routes from Apache and Comanche American Indians. 

"The people here just don't like the idea of somebody coming in here and
disturbing what isn't theirs," offered Judge Fred Granado, the county's
justice of the peace. 

"We're proud of our fort; real proud of our area," he said. "People are just
kind of ticked off and of course everybody hopes that they get caught." 


Working the case 

The Jeff Davis County Sheriff's Office was the first law enforcement agency
to investigate the burglary. 

"We went out and made the initial investigation and then the (National) Park
Service says 'well, let's call in the FBI,' and we said 'OK,'" said current
Jeff Davis County Sheriff Tom Roberts Sr. April 23. "It's been handed over
to feds now." 

However, Bill Vanderland, resident agent in charge of the Midland FBI
office, whose jurisdiction includes the Fort Davis National Historical site,
said Monday his office had been contacted by local authorities there and,
"We determined that the Jeff Davis Sheriff's Office and the Park Service
were doing everything that needed to be done so we're monitoring it and if
something develops we may do something, but right now we don't have an open
investigation." 

The senior member of the National Park Service at the fort, Superintendent
Todd Brindle, who was the first person to learn of the break in, left the
fort for unrelated reasons the week after the burglary for work in the Big
Thicket National Preserve. Heiner said Monday he too was under the
impression the case was in the hands of the local sheriff's office. 

Assistant United States Attorney John Klassen, in Midland, said it doesn't
matter who investigates the case, but as a theft from federal property, the
burglary would be prosecuted in federal court, by federal prosecutors in the
U.S. Attorney's Alpine office. 

On Friday, after queries from the Reporter-Telegram to the U.S. Attorney's
Office in San Antonio prompted a request from that office for Klassen to
look into who was on the case, Klassen said he believed the case was under
investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

"My understanding is that ATF has taken the lead now and they're hoping to
see if these guns might show up in commerce, at a gun show or something of
that nature. That's really ATF's bailiwick" 

But Deborah Dassler, resident agent in charge of the ATF's El Paso office
said otherwise. 
"At this point ATF is not working the Fort Davis case; there is no ATF
interest at this point," she said. "The firearms do not fall into the
classification where we would be working it." 
The confusion is no surprise to former sheriff McCutcheon. 

"Well, I can understand that because in your federal properties like this,
your federal parks, all of the law enforcement is supposedly ceded to the
federal government but you're left with overlapping jurisdictions," he said.


"But there's the fact that if the guns move out of state, local hands are
sort of tied. And local law enforcement is bound by the counties." 

Moving forward 

"I talked to the sheriff about it this afternoon, which is really the first
time I talked to him since the initial report when they told us they had
everything under control," Vanderland with the FBI said Friday of Sheriff
Roberts, who on Monday said his office had handed off the case. 


"We're not investigating it," Vanderland said. "He's still hunting leads and
developed some things but now the ball is in ATF's court as far as the next
steps." 

Roberts could not be reached for comment late Friday. 

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