NYSP Picture from 1920

[aikido kid]

My sister dug this up from an old box of family pictures we haven't seen in years. This is a picture of my great grandfather Rudy Karanth. He was a New York State Trooper way back when in Angola NY. This picture is of him in 1920.




Can anyone shed some light on what it was like back then? He road horse back in the middle of nowhere.

Thanks. Just thought it was worth posting.

[e-man]

Awesome pic, post more if you can.
I really wasnt around back then so I cant really answer, but to speculate, the law, er I mean THE LAW was just that THE LAW. THE MAN. Shoot first, ask questions later.
As far as that rope or string, its probably an early HOLSTER. By that I mean a tether from gun to his shirt or something so someone couldnt just pull it off him. It looks like its 'tethered' on to him.

[ISPCAPT]

The "rope" is a pistol lanyard. There is a ring on the butt of the revolver where one end of the lanyard is afixed. The other end of the lanyard often went over the shoulder or may have been looped over the gun belt.
Go to the NYSP website for a bit on their history. You might want to contact them to see if they'd be interested in a copy of your picture along with your family history of him.

[aikido kid]

The "rope" is a pistol lanyard. There is a ring on the butt of the revolver where one end of the lanyard is afixed. The other end of the lanyard often went over the shoulder or may have been looped over the gun belt.

that's what I thought, cuz I have seen older pistols with the ring attached to the butt of the gun. He did ride horse back too and I would hate to drop my gun from the back of a horse.

This is the only picture I have of him "on the job", however I have seen other pictures of him and his horse. They where in a local news paper a while back. They belonged to the town historian or something.

[redbird07]

Rope is probably to keep his gun from getting lost if it falls out of his holster. Have no idea what is was like back then.

[aikido kid]

yeah i know no one on here was probably alive back then...

i just thought maybe some trooper had some stories about what he heard it was like. Or if anyone else had pictures of their relatives from way back when they where on the job.

[ISPCAPT]

I've got several of our old boys but none were relatives of mine.
Here's a Sgt on his "steed." Believe this was from the early 1930s.

[Jarhead1302]

If your into NYSP history, check out “The Troopers Are Coming”. Pretty good info about how things were way back when.

[SgtCHP]

From the NYSP website:

In 1913, a construction foreman named Sam Howell was murdered during a payroll robbery in Westchester County. Because Westchester County was a very rural area then, there was no local police department and Mr. Howell's murderers escaped, even though he identified them before he died.


This vicious crime spurred Mr. Howell's employer, Moyca Newell (left) and her friend, Katherine Mayo (right), to initiate a movement to form a State Police department to provide police protection to rural areas.

As a result of their efforts, the State Legislature established the New York State Police as a full service police agency on April 11, 1917.

Since the first 237 men rode out of their training camp on horseback to begin patrolling rural areas, troopers have been there to fulfill the law enforcement needs of the people of New York State with the highest degree of fairness, professionalism and integrity.

http://www.troopers.state.ny.us/Introduction/History/

[SlowDownThere]

You stole my Thunder CHP. Nicely done though.


Aikido: do you know if your great-grandfather was one of the original Troops from 1917? Nice pic, thanks for sharing it.

Also, do you ever get to Albany? There is a small museam in the SP Academy. I think you would enjoy it, and I'm sure they would like a copy of that picture.

[Florida Smokey]

I would definitely check out "The Troopers Are Coming", by Albert S. Kurek. It's a great book about the NYSP from 1917-1943. It's full of pictures, news articles, and copies of old reports.
The early NY Troopers were probably some of the toughest men on the face of the earth. Their nickname is the Gray Riders, because in the early days, they rode horses. They would leave the barracks on horseback , and be gone for up to a month, even in the winter with temperatures well below freezing.
I remember going to my fathers barracks when I was younger (late 70's. early 80's). I remember some of the retirees stopping in to talk with the Troopers. They were big, they were tough, and they were kind of scary (in a good way). I don't know how the State Police found those guys. They were all really huge and had hands like big hams.
I think it would have been awesome to be a Trooper back then. I'm sure alot of police officers from back then would roll over in their graves if they saw what law enforcement is today.

[GrayPatriot]

I remember going to my fathers barracks when I was younger (late 70's. early 80's). I remember some of the retirees stopping in to talk with the Troopers. They were big, they were tough, and they were kind of scary (in a good way). I don't know how the State Police found those guys. They were all really huge and had hands like big hams.
.

I have noticed it with all the guys with around 20+yrs on. They are all 6'4" and bigger and weight 250+...

[SlowDownThere]

I have noticed it with all the guys with around 20+yrs on. They are all 6'4" and bigger and weight 250+...

I'm 5'10 and have the same gunbelt that I was issued at the academy all those years ago.

[Sleuth]

It's hard to tell from the picture, but early in their history the NYSP were issued large frame double action revolvers in .45 COLT. If I had to guess, this one looks like a round butt, perhaps the Colt "Alaskan".

[aikido kid]

ya i dont know. but it's a pretty cool piece of family history.