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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 9, 1961)
5 A SUNDAY, APRIL 9. 1961 MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, ORE. '$& History CmiftoDiniedl Dim AAiuiseyinni Kooinn. X , - , v ' . I , , i r - -jr t II' ' " ' V -X i i l"L:- J ttt " ! j . M , J -Ij"" 1 Gun Collection in Jacksonville Is Fascinating Display CIVIL WAR GUNS Included in the col- ville is this collection of Civil War period lection of gun at the muieum in Jackson- weapons.' .- . , - ; ; Jr.tCCCIIOIf PISTOL Thli Derringer lar to the pistol used to assassinate Presl .percussion pistol wai owned by C.,C. Beek- dent Lincoln.: " - man. early Jacksonville banker, it 11 simi- . ! . . ' . . . - 'fc . J t ,::.: I T.--TIi lf!7!f!w3i "lnifraa j 1'- --1 11 iiiir..TMit tNAkRW -i r-- '--I r f Hf " -rr 1 1--- f ------ .Trf -m-Yr-rf -Tir"TfnTiTi minn-nii'ii 1 mir mri linn 11)1111111 iniiinJ By ART CHIPMAN Mail Tribune Contributor The television screens . of the ' Rogue valley regularly portray quasi-historical expe riences of early westerners. To the believing eyes of the young and unfortunately, many of the adults, too; the TV antics of Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt Earp, Annie Oakley and so on, represent authen tic history. - The facts are, Hickok was an effeminent phoney , whose heroic killings turn out to be considerably less than cour ageous. Wyatt ' Earp was a fugitive from justice for a year and would probably be arrested for white slavery if he were' operating in Dodge City today..- Annie Oakley, most likely, never knowingly saw a live rustler or outlaw in her life. History, as it is portrayed on the TV screen; by and large, merely represents the fertile imagination of Holly wood writers. Room Full of History At the Jacksonville museum there is a room full of history which, if it could speak, would reveal volumes of true experi ences far more exciting than the soiled heroics of Earp or Hickok. It is a room full of guns, powder horns, - swords, dag gers and so forth. Antique flintlocks from the late 1600's,- percussion weapons of the 1800's to the present metallic cartridge guns, representative weapons are to be found in the fascinating; gun collection at the museum. The history that has touch ed some of the guns is known to a limited degree. For ex ample, there is an unusual muzzle-loading percussion ri fle, engraved and presented to N. C. Dean of the 1st Louisiana Volunteers and used in the Mexican War of 1846-1848. This beautiful rifle was car ried through the war ' and eventually arrived tn the Rogue valley with the' Dean family, early settlers to this area..i , . . ; Courageous Pioneer; ') ' And, for sheer heroics, little can surpass the story of Mrs. Mary Ann Harris, a coura geous pioneer mother ; who fought off a band of attacking Rogue River Indians who had killed her husband. Although knowing little of the use of guns she managed to keep shooting frequently and accu rately enough to save herself and her wounded daughter. : One of the muzzle-loading guns she used Is on permanent display at the museum. Fit tingly enough, the intrepid Mrs. Harris granddaughter, Miss Mary Hanley, is the cu ator of the museum. . . Another significant symbol of the virility and lusty days of the old west and southern Oregon is emphasized by the Deringcr, once owned by CYC. . MUZZLE-LOADERS This Is-a portion of muzzle-loading percussion Plains rifles and the display In the Jacksonville museum of ' Kentucky rifles with accessories. J f Group's Program To Be About Blood The way blood is used to treat patients, the need for It, how the American Red Cross supplies the need, and the importance of local sdo rs Of blood will be among 1he subjects discussed on the half-hour television program concerning the blood bank on KBES-TV this afternoon. - The - bi-weekly program is sponsored by the Jackson County. Tuberculosis and Health association and by the Jackson County Medical So ciety. Vlewlne Mn ' ;30 O'clock this afternoon. t Moderator of the program will be Mrs. John Boe, Grants Pas's, who is substituting' dur ing the next ,tayt onthi tor the association's program di rector, Mrs. C. Ivan Burton, who If convalescing from sur gery at Rogue Valley hospi tal. ,. N ... ...... . . '. Others appearing on the panel will be Dr. Robert H. Buck, pathologist, Dr. James W. Quinn, chest surgeon, and Dr. Elmo Stevenson, president of the Jackson county chapter Red Cross. In addition, Mrs. M. O. Grove, a 'member of the association's board of di rectors, 4 and her daughter, Mrs. J. E. Hasler, will demon strate the procedures used In obtaining blood from donors who visit the Red Cross mo bile blood unit, v The program Is being pre sented at this time because of the week - long visit of the bloodmobllo In the Jackson county area during the com ing week and because of the need for blood at this Ime. Gold Hill Woman files Damage Suit in Court . Joan Williams, Gold' Hill is seeking ; $30,000 . general damages, and $750 special damages from Earl Dudley Scrlptcr, Medford, as a result of an auto accident near the Industrial Air Products com pany on Highway 99. ,' The complaint charges that Mrs. Williams was severely Injured as a result of the acci dent. She charges that Scrlp tcr failed to yield the right of way, did not keep a look out, remain In his single lane and failed to keep his car un der control. Beekman, the pioneer banker of Jacksonville.- : ' This Deringer is the, same type1 of pistol : used: by : John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President. Lincoln.. Mr. .Beek man is supposed to have kept it. close, at hand during bank ing hours to. 'forestall 1 any quick money making schemes dreamed up by the local resi dents. ;. . a ; !; , May Have Carried It Possibly this same Deringer was also carried by Mr. Beek man on his lonely '. courier trips over tne Slsklyous. Who knows the comforting reassur ance Mr. "Beekman perhaps obtained by occasionally pat ting the handle of his Derin ger as he rode along ; some dark,- lonely trail with- thou sands of dollars in gold dust in his saddle bags. Many tales could be' un wound from the muzzle-load ing combination rifle-shotgun made in St; Louis by the fa mous early gunsmith : Horace Dimick, sold to some hopeful westward-moving pioneer, lat er a possession of the unfortu nate Modoc ' Indian' Captain Jack and eventually to the harids of an early prospector who was shot and killed near Jump Off Joe Creek' when he went beserk. - - Each year many people vis It the Oregon Caves and pick up snatches of information about their discovery, but in the gun collection at the mu seum one can see the muzzle loading rifle actually carried by Elijah Davidson at the time he discovered the caves.-- -Horns of a Deer 1 And, even more,-the horns of the deer assisting- in the discovery are mounted and displayed in the museum's gun room. Perhaps not as ex citing an event as the "gun fight at the O K Corral," but nevertheless an interesting little sidelight 1 of ' southern Oregon history.- ,;. Flintlock pistols,, matched dueling pistols, early . Colt's pistols, suicide specials, Win chesters, Kentucky rifles, plains rifles, -each probably with. buried tales of ,"derring do," are displayed on the walls. -There Is another .wall filled with guns from th'e Civil War; a Smith Carbine, a Burn- side Carbine, two unique and early breech-loading weapons. ..The Burnslde Carbine was invented by the famous .Un ion' General, who is also' re sponsible for . a well-known expression of Americana in the matter of. hair cuts, i.e., "burnsldes." ; Repeating Rifle And, of course, . Spencers, the earliest - truly successful repeating rifle and a favorite of Abraham Lincoln. -' The in ventor of this rifle was un able to convince the 'Union Generals during the Civil War of the practicality of using repeating rifles as the generals felt too much ammunition LV'.'V-. ' OUTSTANDING RIFLES Three of the outstanding rifles by Captain Jack, a presentation muzzle;loading nfle used at the Jacksonville museum are shwn here. From top in the Mexican War by N. C Dean, and a presentation .they are a combination rifle-shotgun, reputedly once owned .Henry rifle used in the Civil War by J. iuippei. . 1 :ia FOREIGN PISTOLS Among the i firearms at the Jack-: a 17th Century Italian flintlock pistol, and an early Bel sonville museum are these two foreign pistols. They are; gian precussion pepperbox pistol. would be wasted. The' enter prising young Inventor paid a cail on President Lincoln, in those days when an average citizen could get In to see the President, and after seeing a quick demonstration, Lincoln ordered 10,000 Spencer rifles on the spot. - ; There are also a number of the famous Sharps rifles, some of which are Civil War -vintage, others of the - buffalo hunting era.. - . , , : ; In the display of Winchester rifles is a magnificent presen tation Henry . rifle.. This was the forerunner of the subse quently famous "Winchester '73'." This particular Henry rifle Is engraved "Death to Traitors" on one side and on the other "J. Klippel, . Co. I, 7th 111. Vet. 'Vols. Res'd St. Joseph, , Buchanan Co., Mo." and was used through the. Civ il War by Jacob KliDDel. It is a beautiful and rare weapon There is a room full of liv- - . -. v;r.v' i '"''iWi" ; v "assist ,k';v 0 '" : -i. .. . '.y-, am a tN A , ( . .A v ) . . v 4 1 . s - ! !"' :::(:; Mrs. Boe pointed out that more : blood is used in t h e Jackson county area than Is contributed by local donors. ANTIQUE PISTOLS Shown in this Jacksonville museum case Is part of the an'ique pistol collection. , : j h h ' lng virile, history,- stretching1 from the elaborate brass deco rated, flintlock pistol labori ously hand made by an Italian craftsman more than 2S0 years ago, to the -muzzle-loading ri fles hand made in Jackson ville by - old John Miller al most 100 years ago, to the modern German Luger, all symbolic of some wonderful adventure. - ;' The excited "Oh: Daddy, look at all the old guns" of the youngsters who each day pass through the Jacksonville museum: give vivid testimony that the love and fascination of old guns and the lusty days of adventure they stand for is not lost. The far away look that comes into some oldster's eyes as he stands looking at an old muzzle-loader murmer ing "just like I shot when I was a kid, ' I wonder what ever happened to Dad's old gun.", ".' ' ' The proud father explaining to a small child that these were the - guns used , by our ancestors who shot buffalo, grizzly bears, and Indians. An cestors who didn't have to worry about automobiles, elec tric lights, telephones, income tax, the. Congo, situation or what was on TV that night. But, these ancestors - did leave . a living history with their . weapons that our de scendants will have the op portunity to enjoy for many generations. Collection Grows' The guncollection at the mu seum is constantly growing larger, according to Miss Han ley, curator, as many people like to see their cherished his torical items on display for others to also enjoy. This is one of the finest public display of weapons on the west coast, and it is the museum's objective to con tinually enlarge the collection and display it in such a way that it covers all phases of weapons from the very an tique to the modern, giving a comprehensive picture of the development of firearms. And, even more important, giving our residents and-visitors a first hand picture of the historical aspects of the early west which is so closely associated with the use of guns. - :' ' : The early west may have had its phoney heros like Earp and Hickok, but it also had honest adventuresome citizens like the Applegate brothers, Joseph Lane, Col. John Ross and many .others . who made solid, proud history in south ern Oregon. . ' i ; ; r r ,, , Much of this early history of - southern Oregon is pre-. .served; personalized and dis played at the Jacksonville mu seum, one of the finest small museums in the entire west. POISON OAK BOTHER YOU? WORRY NO : 1 ' - ' MORE - ' Use B & H Poison Oak Lotion. Satisfaction Guar anteed, at your favorite Jrug store. f- 1 . Dignified '.Ji Reverent Sincere THE SECRET OF Without habit-forming drugs A new technique combines hundreds of tiny beads of medication In a capsule. Half of these dissolve to induce sleep quickly. 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