No Answers in Stolen Civil War Pistols Case

Authorities are still puzzled over how four Civil War-era pistols displayed at the Ordnance Room at Jefferson Barracks could have been stolen.

St. Louis County Police are investigating the thefts, which went unnoticed until the Civil War in the West exhibit closed last week.

The pistols were on loan from two different collectors, said J.D. Magurany, the museum's site manager.

The guns were stolen sometime in the last three weeks, and the building is secured at night with steel plates over the door and an alarm, police told KMOV. There were no signs of forced entry or an activated alarm in the last three weeks.

Just as puzzling as how the guns were stolen is why someone would take four civil war pistols. They aren't efficient enough to rob a bank or commit some other crime, said Gary Stevens, communications director for the Missouri Civil War Museum, according to Fox2Now.

The pistols could be worth thousands of dollars, depending on how old they are, how they were made and whether they can be tied to specific civil war soldiers, Stevens told Fox2Now.

But now that the guns—and their serial numbers—have been plastered all over Facebook, they'd be very difficult to sell.

“It’s a shame," Stevens told Fox2Now. "This is a piece of American history now that’s been found and now it’s gone missing. Someone took it."

The stolen guns include:

• Navy Colt pocket model 1851, serial # 197044
• Army Colt model 1860, serial # 19272
• Remington, serial # 48038
• LaMotte pistol   

Anyone with information on the crime is asked to call the St. Louis County Police Department at (314) 889-2341.