Fake Pistol

The prisoner covered the "pistol" with foil from cigarette packages to make it appear more realistic. Other carved features include cross-hatching on the grip, and bullets in the cylinder.

The "pistol" was donated to the Kansas Museum of History by a descendant of Joseph B. Tomlinson, who was warden at the time it was confiscated. Tomlinson was an Ottawa County attorney before accepting the warden's post at Lansing in 1899.

The donor has suggested the "pistol" might have been used during a mutiny at the prison in 1901, Tomlinson's final year as warden. Early that year, over 280 convicts employed in the penitentiary's coal mines went on strike. They subdued their unarmed guards using picks, shovels, and other mining tools. The strikers demanded three square meals a day, better quality of food, and a reduction in daily work quotas.

The revolt was quelled by Tomlinson and a group of guards, who entered the mine late one night. The prisoners, having only mining tools, were quickly overcome by the guards with firearms. Two prisoners were wounded in the fray.

The local press lauded Tomlinson for having successfully subdued the mutineers. He resigned from the warden's post shortly thereafter, and returned to the legal profession.

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