Old School Classroom Management Part 2

I don't know why I didn't do this earlier, but I e-mailed my cousin to verify the veracity of the ".45 in the classroom story". She is a teacher also who has been teaching 30+ years and is the family keeper of all the oral traditions on my mother's side of the family. Here is what she said:

"Yes, that story is a true story told by my Dad many times. The man they hired as a last ditch chance had been a banker and lived across the river. He came to school on horseback, and took his saddle bag into the school house. As he unpacked his saddlebag, the last thing he pulled out was the 45. Dad quoted him as saying, "Now I've heard you young people have had some trouble here. Well, we're not going to have any trouble. We are going to hold school." And Dad said, "That teacher did hold school with not bit of trouble the rest of the year!" That was in Courney Flatt, and Dad was a small child. It was a one room school house with grades 1-8. Eighth graders might be 16 or 18 years old if they had been pulled from school to help with the crops."

I wonder if his actions damaged the sensitive children's self-esteem?