Broke and in need of money, Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, has decided to auction off 8,000 artifacts, most of which hearken back to the Old West.

 

The collection includes gloves that (maybe) belonged to Buffalo Bill; a Jesse James “dead or alive” wanted poster; gunfighter Doc Holliday’s dentist chair; a tomahawk that may have belonged to Crazy Horse; a horse’s hoof left over from the battle of the Little Big Horn; and a table Wyatt Earp once used to play poker.

 

Also for sale is a more contemporary “vampire-killing kit” that comes with a pistol, stake, mirrors, crosses and a jar of garlic.

 

Using government funds, the artifacts were collected by Stephen Reed, who served as Harrisburg’s mayor for 28 years. Reed had intended to establish a series of museums to attract tourists, but the plan never came to fruition.

 

The city got into financial trouble as a result of a poorly conceived plan to upgrade a highly toxic trash incinerator that was too dangerous to meet federal standards. The company the city hired for the project went bankrupt and Harrisburg was left with unsupportable debt brought on by a bond that was supposed to pay for the project. In 2007 and 2008 the city auctioned off some of Reed’s artifacts, but the $1.66 million they raised didn’t do the trick.

 

The Harrisburg City Council, overruling Mayor Linda Thompson on a 4-3 vote, filed for bankruptcy on October 12. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett has ordered the state Department of Community and Economic Development to take over the city’s finances.

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Bankrupt Harrisburg Holds Wild West Auction (by Paul Adams, BBC News)

Doc Holliday’s Dentist Chair Up for Sale in Bankrupt Harrisburg (by Romy Varghese, Bloomberg)