Hobble/shackle; hand-forged iron hinged and riveted; file marks on triangular notches on either side of cut on one half of specimen; length: 16.4 cm. Hand-forged iron with iron rivets.
Donor:
R. W. Hanna
Collection place:
Modoc County, California
Culture or time period:
United States Historic
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Shackles
Function:
1.7 Fighting, Warfare, and Social Control
Accession date:
1929
Department:
Native California (archaeology and ethnology)
Comment:
Possibly #14 from Acc. 643 "ankle shackle used in holding Captain Jack prisoner". If so from Modoc War of 1872-1873. In Keith Murray's book, the Modocs and Their War, the author states (p. 303) "As each man prepared to climb the ladder [to the scaffold], the blacksmith removed the shackles from his ankles." Captain Jack was hung on October 3, 1873. File marks on this specimen would indicate that it was not removed by blacksmith who would, instead, punch out the rivet. May have come from an escaped prisoner.