GUNS Magazine August 1955

has been on the job tracking down desperate outlaws.Dick had the distinction of being among the first cartooncharacters ever to fire a gm-the first being a robber inGould's story whom Tracy swore he would track down.Gould has been too busy to learn much about the historyor details of firearms, but he likes guns and has all themakings " of a fine shooter. His work schedule leaves himtoo little time to indulge more than casually in the sport.He has owned a variety of guns, including a "B" modelHigh Standard .22 pistol and several shotguns. At presenthiscollection contains a .22 Remington rifle, two antiquedouble-barreled shotguns of French and German make, aSpringfield Model 1873 45-70 rifle, and a US. Model 1842Aston holster pistol. But he owns two other guns whichdo not exactly rate as "collectors items," for they are bothkept loaded.One is a Colt Target Woodsman .22 automatic. Theother is one of the new Colt "Cobra" .38 Special hideawayrevolvers, such as Dick Tracy often carries. Living - in asecluded area of the country, he likes to keep a house gunhandy. Mrs. Gould is somewhat reluctant to handle thesetwo loaded guns. Yet every day she lightly dusts aroundthem, then picks them up and dusts beneath. Apparentlytimid, there was one night she was far from being scaredby guns.Gould raises cattle-his farm is partly his hobby now.One rainy night a cattle buyer arrived late at Gould'shome to pay for some stock he had bought earlier thatday. A large sum of money was involved, but ChesterGould unconcernedly walked out into the rain "for justPlinking at tin can, artist Gould aims High Standard"By' .22 automatic pistol with both eyes open.Tracy with hammerless .38 hidden in sling broughttrick of President McKinley's assassin to comics.a minute" to talk to the man in his car.One hour passed. Alone in the big house Mrs. Gouldpassed from worry to fright. Had someone jumped themfor the money? The Goulds laugh about it now, thinkingback. Then it was no laughing matter when Mrs. Gouldappeared at the barn door with a flashlight in one handand the loaded and cocked Colt in the other. Of course,Gould was perfectly safe; he and the buyer had gone intothe barn to look at some calves.Gould occasionally gets to use a gun when he is busy athis drawing board. On his 130-acre place northwest ofChicago, he finds plenty of crows to occupy his attention."They- hop - over the stone fence near the front door andmake a racket," says Gould. "I guess they're hunting forfield mice." Drafting his cartoon strips near the secondstory porch windows, Gould is never too busy to drop hispen and pick up his .22 Remington rifle. Cautiously openingthe porch door, he pokes the barrel of the rifle throughthe crack and takes aim. The distance is about 150 feet.At last report, the crows are still alive.Pen-and-ink guns in the hands of Dick Tracy have beenGould's own personal gun battle with crime. In the process,Gould has also risen to the status of one of America's topcomic strip artists. Now read by more than 100,000,000Americans in 500 newspapers, Dick Tracy was the expressionof Gould's own revulsion at the open crime ofthe 20's. "I didn't like the way things were run," he explained."The courts were fixed and redhanded killerswould be out on bail the next day. Their cases would bedismissed on technicalities within the week."Against such a background, young Gould worked as acommercial artist. Drawing shapeless ladies' garments ororiental rugs for "This Saturday Only" advertising wasGould's six-day life. And like (Continued on page 54)