There may be no honor among thieves but we expect more from other professions. Like blacksmiths. But larceny lurks every which way and always has. An incident in Lampasas back in the mid-1800s when the area was still very much a part of the western frontier serves here as a case in point.

The arrival of settlers in Central Texas tended to put the Comanches in a murderous mood. The odds tilted in the Comanches’ favor when many of the men of Lampasas County left to fight for the South in the Civil War.

Col. Isaac M. Brown, commander of the Second Regiment, 27th Brigade, TST, was stationed in Lampasas in 1862 to help protect settlers from Comanche attacks, such as the one that claimed the life and scalp of a boy named James Gracy.

Gracy carried a bridle with him as he left his house one day to look for a missing horse. He stopped and chatted for a while with a family friend named John Stockton. That was the last time young Gracy was seen alive. His body was found a short distance away not long after his visit with Stockton. The boy had been shot twice and scalped. His hat and bridle were by his side.

According to an entry in the “Lampasas County: Its history and its people” by Jeff Jackson, one of Col. Brown’s reports included an account of a steel-pointed bullet invented by a local blacksmith, William Alford Freeman.

Freeman’s original intention in making the bullet was to penetrate the Comanche’ war shields, but it occurred to him that the bullet could also be used to penetrate Yankee armor. Born of a practical concern, his invention showed some real commercial potential.

Another local blacksmith, J.C. Weaver, learned from Freeman how to make the bullet. He urged Freeman not to write a patent just yet because someone might steal the patent from him.

Apparently, Weaver knew what he was talking about.

Not long after the two men began making the steel-pointed bullets, the Houston Tri-Weekly Telegraph newspaper reported that B.F. Standifer and John Weaver had invented a steel-pointed bullet and were apparently quite proud of themselves for doing so.

Not long after that, though, Maj. Brown attempted to give proper credit where it was due. The July 7, 1862 edition of the Telegraph carried this item:

“Sometime ago we published a letter from a Mr. Standifer of Lampasas, giving a description of a new steel-pointed bullet that had been invented, and claiming Jno. Weaver as the inventor.

“We are just now in receipt of a communication from Isaac M. Brown, of Lampasas, who assures us that the invention belongs to Mr. Alfred Freeman, and he is entitled to the name of the ball.

“This bullet is remarkable for its penetrating qualities. At ten paces it was shot through a ¼ inch slab iron, the ball penetrating one inch into the wood.

“At fifty-five steps, one of these balls penetrated seasoned burr oak 5 ½ inches. It is believed it will pass through the steel breast plates used by the enemy without difficulty. It is a great invention. Any one can make it.”

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Someone may know whom history credits with inventing the steel-pointed bullet, arguably the first armor-piercing bullet. But the information, if it exists, is hard to come by. The tips of today’s controversial armor-piercing bullets are made of a dense material, such as depleted uranium.

If things had broken a little differently, Alfred Freeman might have taken his place alongside Samuel Colt, who gets credit for inventing the revolver even though other prototypes based on the same idea existed before Colt’s breakthrough.

While Freeman was a humble but practical blacksmith, Colt was a showman. One of his first forays into commerce was a tour of Ohio and Mississippi river towns demonstrating the delirious wonders of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas.

Marketing his Colt revolver was fraught with rejection until Captain Samuel Walker wrote Colt that his revolvers gave the Rangers such confidence that they were willing to “engage four times their number.”

In the book “Made in U.S.A.” author Phil Patton argues that it can be more truly said that the cartridge, rather than the Colt revolver, won the West. Beginning in 1873, the ammunition for Colt’s revolver and the Winchester 73 rifle were interchangeable.

The revolver and the metal cartridge were technological breakthroughs of their day. Weaver’s invention lacked a marketing campaign and probably a propensity for promotion that would have made him and his invention a household name.

Besides, as that long ago newspaper article noted, Weaver’s steel-pointed bullet was easy to make. “Any one can make it,” the story said and we assume that a lot of people did just that.

ccoppedge@temple-telegram.com