Transport Boot similar to Oregon Boot

Hello- New to the forum and looking for some help. We are going through my father in law's estate, and he has an item that he's tagged as "Transport Boot" with no other information. It is similar in function to an Oregon Boot, but its makeup is different: It looks like a combat boot with a really thick sole and has an attachment at the heel for a chain. It also has a strap across the top. It weighs about 20 pounds. I haven't been able to find any information about this item in particular. Hoping that someone here can point me at more info on this so we can understand what to do with it. Thanks in advance!

That is an odd item.
I have not seen nor heard of such a thing.
The thing that puzzles me is that there is no strap or other means to prevent the untying the shoe from one's foot to remove it unless the hands were restrained as well.
This might would work well with McKenzie Mitts.

"This might would work well with McKenzie Mitts." ----- Ha Ha. Give it a try Mark. I'm sure you could do it!

Is it actually weighted or just heavy??
At first glance it looks like an orthotic shoe for a person with one short leg. If attached to Forrest Gump's leg braces it would not look out of place.
I have no idea. Is the thing at the back screwed or nailed on? I think I see screw heads.

Mark Lyons O--O Cuffs wrote: ↑

Jul 04, 2022

That is an odd item.
I have not seen nor heard of such a thing.
The thing that puzzles me is that there is no strap or other means to prevent the untying the shoe from one's foot to remove it unless the hands were restrained as well.
This might would work well with McKenzie Mitts.

Agreed, I would think that the hands would have to be restrained as well. Perhaps with a waist chain or some such? Not sure how the strap on the back comes into play, either, but I suspect that it would be secured to something else, maybe leg irons?

PaulJDavies wrote: ↑

Jul 04, 2022

"This might would work well with McKenzie Mitts." ----- Ha Ha. Give it a try Mark. I'm sure you could do it!

Is it actually weighted or just heavy??
At first glance it looks like an orthotic shoe for a person with one short leg. If attached to Forrest Gump's leg braces it would not look out of place.
I have no idea. Is the thing at the back screwed or nailed on? I think I see screw heads.

It's definitely weighted, at about 20 lbs. I can see what you're saying about the orthotic appearance, but I wouldn't expect it to be weighted. Looks to me like the thing on the back is riveted. It's metal and wrapped in leather.

I did come across a reference to Montana State Prison, where they experimented with cement shoes with a similar configuration. It didn't look like they fully adopted it, but it made me wonder if this wasn't some prototype of that.

My thoughts. If this were a transport boot of some type, it would have had to have been used with a way to secure the prisoners hands to keep them from reaching it and untying the laces, removing the boot, etc. What if the transport vehicle had a metal ring or a metal bar, just behind the heel of this device? Lead the prisoner into the transport vehicle, sit them down and chain the one boot to whatever they used to secure it to. Keeping the prisoner immobile for the ride. The chain used on this, shows in was made after the 1920s, since it has machine welding clearly visible. But, this may not have been the original chain used on it, either? It may have been replaced at some point? The fact the boot was so thick, would deff make it hard to run wearing only one of these, with a major height difference. The 20lb. of extra weight would slow you down as well. It is an interesting piece. If used with other means to secure the hands, I could see how it may have been used.
-Richard Knip-

Definitely an interesting piece with some age to it.  Hard to say actually what it was used for or how.  Was it just used as single one and the other was a regular shoe?  So many questions to answer.

If you are interested in selling it someday I would be interested

@Philcheck There's an actual Oregon boot that kept this with it, along with a ball & chain. I imagine it served the same purpose and was used along with a regular shoe. Looks like this one was used very little because the sole has very few scratches on it. He used to collect old prison artifacts and at one time had quite a collection of restraints as part of that. We still have some left. As far as selling it, I wouldn't even know what kind of value to place on it.