HARBOUR GRACE, N.L. — The Conception Bay Museum hopes the public can help police locate antique firearms stolen from the building earlier this year.
According to a news release from Harbour Grace RCMP, a break-in at the museum in Harbour Grace was first reported in March, but it wasn’t until last month that people associated with the museum realized the 19th-century weapons were missing.
The missing items include two dueling pistols, which were manufactured between 1813-1860, a Colt revolver, manufactured in 1855, and a WWI vintage flare gun.
The flare gun, according to the release, was once owned by Edward Oke of Harbour Grace, who had loaned it to pioneering Canadian aviator Erroll Boyd. Boyd subsequently became the first Canadian to fly across the Atlantic Ocean to England, leaving from Harbour Grace Oct. 9, 1930.
Boyd engraved the flare gun and sent it back to Oke with the following inscription: “This very pistol was loaned to us by E.L OKE of Harbour Grace and was carried on the first Canadian flight from Canada to England, October, 1930, on the airplane Columbia by Captain Boyd and Lieutenant Connors.”
If you have any information on this incident, please contact Harbour Grace RCMP at 709-596-5014. To remain anonymous you can contact Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (TIPS is 8477), by Secure Web Tips at www.nlcrimestoppers.com, or by downloading our free and secure mobile app. Search your App Store for "P3 Tips". Electronic tips submitted to Crime Stoppers are encrypted, entirely confidential and completely anonymous.
