Siblings battle for ownership of historic guns in court

Josey1

Siblings battle for ownership of historic guns in courtNovember 24, 2001, 8:09 AMDETROIT (AP) -- A missing antique rifle -- once owned by a legendary sharpshooter -- is at the center of a nasty estate battle among the six children of a gun dealer who left a hoard of cash, jewelry and firearms when he died in 1998. The gun is worth between $200,000 and $350,000, according to court documents. It once belonged to Annie Oakley, who toured with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show in the late 1800s. Clarence Johns' children have taken their fight over the missing weapon to court, the Detroit Free Press reported in a Saturday story. "Kevin's got that gun and all of the other stuff that belonged to our family," Felice Siefert of Monroe County said this week after a hearing in Wayne County Probate Court, where she has accused her brother, Kevin Johns, of looting her father's estate. Johns, a New Boston handyman, denies the accusation. Although he declined to comment to the Free Press, he told Chief Probate Judge Milton Mack Jr. in a trial last year that he did not have the rifle. Mack did not believe him and ordered Johns to return the gun along with cash, jewelry and other valuables. Although Johns has given back numerous items, the Annie Oakley rifle is still missing, prompting a new round of court hearings that will determine whether an insurance company will be forced to reimburse the estate for the weapon. Lawyers involved in the dispute said it is a good example of what can happen when a parent dies without leaving a will and a trusted advisor to divide up an estate. The dispute began shortly after Clarence Johns died Feb. 22, 1998. He ran Don's Gun Shop, a firearms and antique store in Brownstown Township, for 45 years and died without a will. Siefert said Kevin Johns made it clear from the outset that he wanted the Annie Oakley rifle. When she protested, she said they got into an argument. The siblings filed personal protection orders against each other. And Johns petitioned probate court to put him in charge of his father's estate. As time passed, Siefert said she staked out the property and watched Johns remove 200 Civil War rifles and other valuables. Convinced that he was looting the estate, Siefert went to court to have Johns replaced as personal representative of the estate and ordered to return the valuables. During last year's trial, Johns denied that he had taken the items. He said his father gave him several of the items before he died, and he denied having the Annie Oakley rifle. But Paul Lechner, owner of Sundance Auction Co. of Monroe, which auctioned some of the estate items, testified that Johns had told him he had the rifle and several other valuables that he was considering having Lechner auction for him. Judge Mack said that Johns "used his position to advance his own personal interests to the detriment of that of the beneficiaries, his own brothers and sisters." Paul Fees, former senior curator of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyo., said in court documents that prices for Annie Oakley's guns have jumped sharply in the last 10 years. Oakley grew up poor in west-central Ohio and began hunting as a child to help feed her family. She defeated sharpshooter Frank Butler in a shooting match and eventually married him. In 1884, they both joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show and stayed for 16 years. She died in 1926. http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw45225_20011124.htm