MEDICINE HAT, AB – A trip down to the basement of the Heartwood Cafe last month turned into a remarkable discovery for owner Meghan Bidinger.
While running an ethernet cable through a crawlspace in the Heartwood basement on July 2, Bidinger said she stumbled upon a tin can standing up against one of the walls.
“I turned to the left and then I saw this tin,” said Bidinger. “It felt a little heavy and I was really super excited about it. But my husband Lee, he was like, ‘Whatever, it’s nothing.’”
However, the pair were shocked when they opened the can up.
“We struggled to get it open and then there’s just wax paper,” she said. “So, I pulled the wax paper off and there’s this gun, and we started freaking out.”
The gun in question was a .32 calibre Howard Arms Co. pistol estimated to originate from the Chicago area from between 1905 and 1918.
Six bullets were also found wrapped inside a 1936 newspaper from Shellbrook, Saskatchewan.
After taking photos and deciding what to do with the antiques, Bidinger notified Medicine Hat Police about the weapon.
Insp. Joe West said they were just as surprised when they arrived on July 10 to pick up the gun and ammunition.
“The way that this one was found is certainly very rare, I don’t recall in my 20-odd years that we’ve had a find like this,” said West.
Police are now holding onto the gun for further analysis and will determine the eventual destination of the antique. However, West confirmed the weapon will be preserved.
“It’s not going to be destroyed and we’ll certainly try to ascertain rightful ownership to the pistol,” he said. “And if we can’t ascertain any ownership, we’ll have it decommissioned and donated to a museum.”
The Esplanade Museum is aware of the find and have had conversations about potentially bringing the exhibit on board.
Museum assistant Tim McShane said there’s very little information on the gun however, which makes the identification process much more difficult.
“We like to collect objects that give answers rather than questions,” said McShane. “So, we would be collecting it more as a curiosity piece, rather than as a piece that we can actually use to interpret the history of Medicine Hat.”
The origins of the gun are still a mystery, but Bidinger said she’s heard rumblings of illegal gambling at the Heartwood location back in the day.
“That’s kind of the rumour and then we found the gun, we kind of figured that maybe had something to do with it,” she said.
That has yet to be confirmed by either the Esplanade or Medicine Hat Police, while McShane said there’s very little documentation to confirm those suspicions.
“It’s not the kind of thing that’s well documented of course because it’s illegal,” he said. “The point of that is to keep it clandestine and to not talk about it, so that the people can enjoy it in the moment.”
The Esplanade does have a variety of older firearms currently on display, ranging from guns used by the North West Mounted Police to those exploring the land.
As for Bidinger, she’s glad to see such a positive reaction from the community and happy to uncover a piece of the city’s back story.
“I think it’s really cool just to contribute to the local history of North Railway, being that it was one of the first developments in Medicine Hat, it’s really cool.”
There’s no timeline for when a final decision on the gun’s final home will be made, as police will need to decommission the weapon before then.
