Police aren’t sure of the gun’s age or history.
Photo provided
By Ron Hayes
A little before 10 a.m. on Nov. 10, a maintenance worker helping to usher in a sparkling new future at Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club stumbled on a rusty piece of the past.
A mystery novelist could spin a dozen delightfully sinister histories for that rusty old Smith & Wesson, but the truth is probably more mundane.
“It was really close to Federal Highway, almost in the swale,” said Eric Pierce, the maintenance worker who called police after finding the gun. “Anyone driving by could have tossed it out a car window.”
Officer Phillip Torsiello, who responded to Pierce’s call, collected the rusty revolver and six .38-caliber bullets and carried them back to the station, where a check of the serial number with both the state and federal Crime Information Center databases yielded no information. The gun was not wanted in a crime.
Pierce’s Facebook post did bring one intriguing result.
“I got one reply from a retired police officer from Deerfield Beach who said his service revolver had been stolen back in the ’80s,” he said. But the gun wasn’t his.
“I love my job,” Pierce said. “They’re doing a $2 million renovation to the golf maintenance facility for us. It’s been there since 1959 when the course was erected, but now we’re getting a restroom, a bathroom, eating facilities.”
Pierce is a mower and wrencher at the club, one of 23 employees who keep the golf course playable. On the Thursday morning, while preparing the ground around the new facility for new sod, he spotted something peeking from a mound of dirt.
“You couldn’t even tell what it was,” he remembered. “Just the butt end was sticking out.”
Pierce investigated and found a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver. Loaded.
“After we cleaned it up, it reminded me of a service revolver,” he said. “It was so frozen with rust you couldn’t have opened it or fired it.”
While Pierce waited for police to arrive, he snapped a picture with his phone and posted it to Facebook.
“Anyone recognize this gun?” he asked.
Is it yours?
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