The Sunday Oregonian., February 13, 1921, Magazine Section, Image 77

VOL. XL.
PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 13, 1921
NO. 7
Dead
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Weapons lsecf fey Arabs 400 Years Ago and Modern
Firearms Find Place in Local Arsenal
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B5f DeWITT HARRY.
(Copyrisht, 1920.)
NO COUNTRY In the world's
history had its development
so wrapped in the use of fire
arms as the United States. From the
tima the . first settlers came to
America and found that their very
existence depended on their ability
to hit the mark, a race of marks
men was founded that to this date
have found no peer among the other
peoples of the world. Not only was
It essential that our forefathers be
able to shoot accurately in order to
Set their food, but they were forced
to defend themselves from Indians
and others, and as the development
cf the country progressed and the
migrating colonies took their way
ever the face of the continent they
found it increasingly necessary to
use firearms. The rifle was the
great force in the conquering of the
wilderness, but behind every shot
was the keen, accurate eye of the
fearless pioneer. We of the west
owe more to the rifle than those of
any other section of the country, for
after the Pilgrims had established
their colonies in the east it was the
fearless spirits from there who came
to the Oregon country in search of
the empire that lay in the setting sun.
Not only is the history of the
United States wrapped up in the
development of the firearm, but that
of the world can be told in the same
manner. Edwin D. Whitney, presi
dent of the Portland Rifle club, can
show the development of nations by
means of a collection of firearms
which he has spent nearly half a
century in gathering. The Whitney
arsenal comprises some 200 pieces,
some of them dating back four cen
turies, others made but last year.
The story of nearly every war of the
last 200 years or more, of nations
bent on aggression and of peoples
fighting for preservation, of the
wilderness conquered, of brave deeds
and bad, are all hidden in the cold,
hard but eloquent forms of the rifles
and pistols that Whitney owns.
Sfcelk'a Favorite on Display.
Some of the pieces in the Whitney
collection are graceful and innocent
in appearance, others are ugly and
sinister. Some of the pieces stand
out with more prominence than
others, but it is difficult to select
many favorites. One of the oldest
ef the rifles is an ornate, short
stocked affair that was formerly the
property of some Arab, possibly one :
of the prowlers who preyed on the
caravans as they crossed the deserts.
Nearly all of us are familiar with the
accepted photographs of the Arab
horseman on his blooded steed, lean
ing from the saddle and firing his
slender rifle at his pursuers. It(is
just this gun that Whitney has, the
stock is short so ttjat the owner can
use it from the saddle, resting the
olivewood butt against the forearm.
Try the position yourself, or better
yet. get in touch with Whitney and
cultivate him for an opportunity to
visit and see the collection of fire
arms. He ia a mighty interesting
fellow and crammed with information
about each article in his collection.
Rifles in the Whitney arsenal tell
the tale of the development of fire
arms from the day of the ancient
Arabian piece, which was fired by
means of a slow fuse that ignited the
powder charge, to the day of the
modern automatic. Among the early
American guns is a splendid example
of the old Kentucky rifle, a heavy
piece of tremendous length that was
one of the necessities for the early
American. While the Germans and
others were developing the rifle for
years prior to the entry of America
into the game the changes that took
place in this country were by far the
most important .and revolutionary.
The first guns sent here came about
1683 and were short, heavy rifles
with a bore of about an inch. Shoot
ing conditions were found vastly dif
ferent here from those in Europe and
the settlers began the development
of an arm that suited their purpose.
In Europe the rifle had been used
mostly for war and now it was to
be used in peace. Here it was of
great importance that the marksman
not lose any shots and that he be
able to handle his weapon rapidly and
not have too cumbersome a load to
carry.
Kentucky Rifle Appears.
This caused the manufacture of the
small-bore rifle, sometimes calAd a
pea gun. It was this type of rifle
that was used by Davy Crockett,
Daniel Boone and other, fearless ad
venturers, frontiersmen and scouts.
and it is a simile of this first gun
that Whitney has. In the matter of
rifles he has fully half a hundred,
all of them teeming with interest. In
revolutionary rifles of the type used
by the Minutemen in their famed
stand when they fired only as they
"saw the whites of their eyes," Whit
ney has his only shortage, though he j
has the pistols used at that period
and the gun that the invading hire
ling Hessians employed.
There are, though, many examples
of rifles used during the civil war,
for it was found that it was during
times when peoples fought each other
that most of the inventive minds
turned to the' development of fire
arms and that it was during wars
that the greatest strides were made.
It was about this time that the
breech loader was first invented and
the old cap and ball system aban
doned. A fine Spencer carbine of the
first magazine type, in which the re
serve ammunition was kept in a tube
in the butt, is in the collection, as
well as a British Snider," made in
1SS0 and the pioneer of the breech
loaders. There Is also a freak rifle
that, with fixed bayonet, has a length
over all of more than six feet. This
freak arm, used during the civil war,
when it was necessary for the men
to take what they could get, is a
tape-lock and also could be fired by
means of a reel of caps in a little
magazine, in somewhat similar style
to the repeating cap pistol the boys
have today.
Katlon Bows to Rifle.
In the Franco-Prussian war the
Germans owed a great deal of their
success to the needle- gun which they
employed, doing away with the cap
and ball and fuse systems of ignition.
This arm was ignited by friction gen
erated as the rough needle passed
through the base of the cartridge.
One of the real freaks and essentially
a home product is an Oregon shot
gun made by some old pioneer in this
state from a section of piping that
is-well set on a suitable stock and
fitted for cap and ball.
It was way back in the '70s that
Whitney started bis hobby when his
grandfather gave him the handsome
set of duelling pistols that are shown
with this article. These pistols at
this time had been in the Whitney
family for. over a century, kept for
use when necessary in the defense of
the Whitney honor. Just a glance
at them is enough to awaken specu
lation as to their possible use in the
past. Though Whitney will not tell
of any specific instances of duels in
which these pistols figured, one can
conjure up a realistic idea of the two
gentlemen, accompanied by their sec
onds, arriving at the field of honor.
One of the seconds carries under his
arm the mahogany case with the
pistols and as the principals divest
themselves of their - outer garments
the seconds take the pieces from the
A Edwin D. Whitney Inspecting his treasures. B Pistols of varied
barrels I (1) Seventy-five years ago thin double-barreled pistol was Jut the
thing. 2) In 1837 came the revolving pocket arm with six barrels. (3) Will
lam W. Slanton made this triple-barreled gun during the civil war. 4 In
1859 the four-barreled Sharpe's gunwas the Intent. C I'nique pUtolai
(1) Bronze pistol made in Japan a decade ago. (S) French bronxe weapon
with queer cannon muzzle. (3) Naval boarding pistol alniilar to those pirates
wore in their sashes. (4) For the pocket. Some gun. Made by Merwln 4
Hulbert In 1S75 and fires 44-callber rifle ammunition. (5) Latest high-class
French automatic target pistol. (6) The smallest gun, a "bnby" 23-caliber
pocket revolver with folding trigger. (7) My Friend," seven-shot revolver
and "knuckle-duster" combined. (8) Chased Belgian bronze pin-fire platol,
very old and rare. D Rifles dating from 400 years to todays (1) Marble
game getter, folding shotgun, rifle and pistol. (2) Spencer carbine of the
civil war period, used by Union army. (3) British Snider rifle, single-shot, -breech-loader,
the pioneer of that type. () V. S. army cap-and-ball rifle
of civil war period. (7) German needle-gun, the arm that won the Franco
Prussan war. (8) Heavy, accurate Kentucky rifle, similar to that used by
Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. '(9) Oregon homemade shotgun, vintage
unknown. K A noted duelling aet, sighted to a hair and ready for use. F
A trio of real notables: (1) Derringer of the same type that killed President
Abraham Lincoln. (2) The gun that made America famous, the noted fron
tier Colts, 45-callber and single action. The gunmen "fanned" the trigger
with their left hand. (3) "Protector," invention of a Chicago man, of which
but aome 3500 were made, fires seven shots, looks innocent and Is easily
hidden.
case, place in the chamber the powder
charge, over this they put a wadding
of newspaper and then ram down
the lead' bullet All of their deliber
ations are carried out with the nicest
regard for the properties and they
are punctilious in their exchange of
remarks. Finishing with the loading,
the seconds exchange pistols and
approaching, measure off the ground
and then tell their principals of the
rules that have been agreed on. In
the background there is the doctor,
ready to render first aid in vtew of
the certainty of one of the marksmen
being successful, and the two prin
cipals, firm in their antagonism, ap
proach, stand back to back and at an
agreed signal begin deliberately pac
ing 20 steps, and at reaching that
distance, pause, then whirl about, on
a signal, take deliberate aim and fire.
Dueling Hai Advocate,
At the sound of the report one of
the pistols whirls through the air,
knocked from the hand of the duelist
by. a clever shot, but here the story
must cease, for there is no sign or
any scar on either of the pistols
that will confirm thia-story, so we
must be guided by Whitney's version
that he was one of the few actual
users of the weapons when he took
one of them out and brought a
squirrel down from a lofty tree with
a single shot. The pistols are mar
vels of balance and might be a joy
to use and one late admirer was a
firm advocate of a return to duel
ing, saying that too many men today
neglected their honor and were care
less of speaking ill of their neigh
bors, also that there was a wrong
idea that a verbal duel satisfied the
offended parties.
That the Unitea States has not lost
sight of the value of having a capa
ble reserve of men in the country
skilled in the handling of firearms
Is well demonstrated by the National
Rifle association, of which the Port
land and Sellwood Rifle clubs are
members. The repeating . rifle and
many of the greatest advancements
in ,the history of firearms came from
this country, and for ' years the
marksmen of America have been able
to master the best shots of the world.
Tet there has been a woeful neglect
of the training of the modern citizen
to handle a rifle so as to bring re
sults, to shoot to hU the mark in
time of need.
The government is now furnishing
rifles and ammunition and even
ranges for the clubs Jn an effort to
hold her place as the foremost nation
of riflemen in the world. It is even
possible, by belonging to one of the
local clubs, to get the best kind of
a rifle from Uncle Sam -t cost, with
a revolver also if necessary and the
accompanying ammunition at much
less than it costs to manufacture.
All these inducements are made for
the purpose of getting men to take
up rifle shooting so that there will
be a suitable reserve of well trained
sharpshooters in case of need. Ten
well trained rifle experts with plenty
of ammunition are much more valu
able than ten times their number
who are unskilled when it comes to
a matter of repelling an enemy and
defending their country.
Historical Weapons Displayed.
In the Whitney collection are a
great number of pistols of designs
altogether strange to the ordinary in
dividual. Some of them are marvels
of mechanical Ingenuity and things
of beauty. Others are crude and not
very prepossessing, their value lying
mainly in their rarity. From huge
weapons destined to mangle and kill
to tiny ones designed for concealment
about the person the styles run and
they come from every section of the
world and from nearly every age.
While by no means a rarity one of
the most notable individual pieces Is
a single-action frontier Colts, ths
type of gun that was carried by the
hardy men who lived the hard life
of the west and plains in the days
of their development, not so many
years ago. This gun, usually of 45
caliber, was designed for accuracy
and generally delivered the goods. In
Texas the style of operation, to get
the maximum efficiency, that is the
most shots In the shortest time, was
by "fanning." This practice was orig
inated to overcome the single action
of the Colt and the marksman pulled
his gun. cocking it as it came from
the holster with the thumb of his
right hand, fired the first shot from
the hip and then continued firing as
fast as he could rub the trig-hammer
back with his right hand, all the
time holding the gun on the mark
with the left hand.
In the rifle collection is a gun sim
ilar to that used by President Theo
dore Roosevelt In his big game hunt
ing trips, and in the piHtol collection
is a tiny Derringer of the same type
as the gun that was used In killing
(Concluded on Page 3.)