Item 55: Hell's Revolver

Item 55: Modified Saunders Æther V, aka Hell's Revolver.

Collection Item 55 was discovered early in our Hawkins Strongbox explorations, but required careful handling and restoration before becoming available for exhibition at the Victorian Mechanical Museum and subsequently here at our online showcase.  It was designated as Hell's Revolver by Museum researchers, the origin of said epithet to be explained later in this missive.

The path to Item 55 originated in Lot 7, from which we have previously exhibited Collection Item 31: The Deakin Bro's Trade Card.  That group of items relates specifically to the 1882 disappearance of Jack Deakin and the efforts of his brother Timothy to find him and bring him home.  According to a narrative recorded by Timothy Deakin in a small bound journal (Collection Item 29), Jack Deakin was taken prisoner by criminal underlings working for Dr. Enoch Cyncad.  He had been searching for one of Cyncad's rumored subterranean outposts deep below the city of London.

Timothy Deakin enlisted the aid of underground explorer Matthew Hardy and newspaper reporter Adler Fanshaw in locating and recovering his brother.  After a heated battle with a number of Cyncad's clockhead automatons, the trio rescued Jack and managed a strategic retreat back to the relative safety of London's surface streets.  In the process, they confiscated a firearm used by one of Cyncad's higher ranking subordinates.

In his notes, Timothy Deakin identified the weapon as a heavily modified Saunders Æther V prototype, manufactured by Saunders and Sons in 1880.  He observed ". . . that numerous ventilation ports had been added to reduce the combustibility risks," and "exterior mechanics were used to synchronise particle beam rotation through the multiple barrels."
According to Devon Gillroy, Firearms Curator for the Victorian Mechanical Museum, Saunders and Sons abandoned the Æther V design in early 1881.  As noted here previously, Kenyon Saunders was tragically killed in 1882 while developing the company's Æther VI model.

Gillroy notes there is evidence that Cyncad was just then beginning to tinker with æther-based weaponry. That tinkering apparently involved numerous flawed designs absconded from Saunders laboratories. The modified Æther V was likely one of Cyncad's earliest experiments.  Timothy Deakin examined the piece extensively and concluded " . . . it is a thoroughly volatile and dangerous modification of an exceptionally flawed concept. "  He added, "I hope to God Almighty that it is the only one of its kind."  He then neutered it by removing its æther battery core and secured it in a lead-lined box within a second lead-lined box.  At some later date it was placed within the Hawkins Strongbox.

In July 1949, the pulp magazine Startling Stories published Adler Fanshaw's short story "The Battle Below," a thinly veiled albeit exaggerated fictional recounting of the rescue of Jack Deakin.  At the story's climax, the heroes are confronted by an adversary who was "brandishing a revolver forged in the firey pits of hell itself."  Museum researchers were inspired by Fanshaw's prose and Collection Item 55 became known as Hell's Revolver.

Correction: The Vanderzee-Deakin Æther III

Devon Gillroy, Firearms Curator at the Victorian Mechanical Museum has contacted us about our recent post that featured Item 254 (Geoffrey Hawkins cabinet card):

My congratulations on the launch of the online exhibition.  I applaud the efforts of both yourself and my colleague Archer Bowens.  I just wanted to pass on a correction to your post dated 20 January.  You noted that Hawkins was holding a Saunders Æther Pistol. That is in fact not true, but it is a very understandable mistake on your part.  Hawkins himself and a number of his colleagues perpetuated that very misconception whenever possible.

(Curator's note:  Indeed, we identified the firearm based on an inscription Hawkins wrote on the back side of the cabinet card:  Dearest, I stand ready to embark with new coat and "Saunders" latest pistol.  - J.)

Gillroy continues:

Æther-related weapons technology was almost exclusively in the possession of a select few individuals during the Victorian era, Hawkins being among them.  These scientist-inventors manufactured various æther firearms for their own personal uses and pleasures but adamantly refused to share them with the public at large.   Only one gunsmithery attempted to produce an æther firearm for public consumption and that was the London-based Saunders and Sons.  The accidental death of Kenyon Saunders in 1882 abruptly put an end to their efforts.

Although Hawkins and his associates wished to keep æther weaponry a secret, they were often careless in exposing such items in very public arenas.  To deflect the resulting inquiries, they would simply identify the pieces as Saunders models manufactured prior to the tragic 1882 accident.

The pistol Hawkins is holding in the photograph is a Vanderzee-Deakin Æther III or some variation thereof.  As the photograph was taken at the Deakin Brothers studio, it is likely that Timothy Deakin provided the pistol as a prop for the occasion.

Only three of the Vanderzee-Æther III are known to have survived into the 21st century.  Two are in private collections, the third is displayed here at the Victorian Mechanical Museum.  (I have attached a copy of the file photo record should you wish to use it for online display.)

Again, my sincerest congratulations on the the launch of the online exhibition.