Little But Lethal

Here, actual size, is shown the Remington .41 caliber rimfire "double Derringer," first model of which was made in 1866. Last model, shown here, was produced in limited quantity as late as 1937. It is last of the deringers made in U.S.

Mr. John Oakhurst, gentleman by nature and gambler by trade, pressed the muzzle of the small pistol to his breast and pulled the trigger . . . "And pulseless and cold, with a Derringer by his side and a bullet in his heart, though still calm as in life, beneath the snow lay he who was at once the strongest and yet the weakest of the outcasts of Poker Flat."

So ends Bret Harte's classic tale of the California Gold Rush period. Specific naming of the suicide weapon in The Outcasts of Poker Flat, as well as mention of "derringer" in The Luck of Roaring Camp and other of Harte's stories and poems about Argonaut days, is significant for several inter-esting reasons.

One is that it reveals this type of firearm established with an identity of its own-not an arm referred to merely as a pistol. Another has to do with the word itself. In detailing the exiled Oakhurst's death the author wrote it "Derringer." In an earlier story it appeared as "derringer." The spelling with a double r was current usage, though not cor-rect. But derringer the word finally became as the only example in our language of an American gunsmith's name (in slightly altered form) becoming a common noun: Webster "der'rinjer, n. (after Henry Deringer, Amer. inventor) A short-barreled pocket pistol of large caliber." For our purposes here we shall adhere to the pure single r spelling.

There is another point to regard in Bret Harte's references to the Deringer. The fiction chronicler of the Gold Rush came to the locale in 1854, published his first writings of the setting three years later. The Luck of Roaring Camp and the Poker Flat narrative, two of his best known, were supposed to be laid in 1850. They did not make their appearances in print until 1868 and 1869, in The Overland Monthly, of which he was first editor.

Actually the diminutive Deringer was rare in 1850 and had not begun to achieve its grim notoriety until about two years previous to Harte's arrival on the Far Western scene. In eye-witness accounts of the first hectic discovery years from 1848 to 1850, writers made no mention of the little gun. Later commentators referred frequently to it, much impressed by this colorful item of the period's sights and sounds. Bret Harte had plenty of time to become aware of the dramatic possibilities of the Deringer even before his initial stories were published. The little weapon that was to assume an important niche in history already had blazed a considerable reputation in the gold country.

The pocket pistol originated by Henry Deringer and made by hand in his Philadelphia gunshop probably reached the Far West more commonly by way of fortune seekers from Southern states. For it was in this region the weapon had its greatest distribution just before the stampede for gold.

Popularity of the single-shot, muzzle-loading percussion pocket Deringer grew steadily after 1852 on the Pacific Coast and flourished for the remainder of that decade, attaining its zenith about 1860 when counterfeits and less faithful copies were plentiful. Then it rapidly gave way to the many pocket-size breech-loading variations firing one or more shots and using the new metallic rimfire cartridges.

Certainly "the day of the Deringer" was most spectacularlarly centered in the California gold diggings and in Sacramento and San Francisco-the latter in particular. There gun dealers aplenty advertised and featured the novel little pistol, attesting to its great vogue. One of the more promi-nent of these retailers, the first to handle the Deringer inSan Francisco, is worthy of special note, as is a gunsmith-dealer who finally was sued by Henry Deringer for facsimileuse of the inventor's name and markings on spurious gunspurporting to be those of the Philadelphia originator.

The first man in San Francisco to sell Henry Deringer'sproduct commercially was one Andrew J. Taylor, whoseestablishment was at 209 Clay Street. Taylor, who operatedwith a partner named Brown under the firm name of A. J.Taylor & Co., came to be known as "Dr. Natchez." He hadcome in 1850 from Natchez on the Mississippi River,accounting for at least the last part of the name that becameattached to him.

Because the Deringer was an individually handmadeweapon with a wide range of calibers and a bore seldomaccurate for any of them, it was difficult for an owner toload the gun properly. Taylor was quick to take good advantage of this and soon found himself with a lively business ofloading and repairing Deringers. He also maintained ashooting gallery on the store premises. These activities inevitably involved him as a witness in a number of prominenttrials growing out of murders, dueling fatalities and othershootings featuring the Deringers he had loaded.

Ironically, he was instantly killed in 1858 by one ofhis own guns, discharged accidentally by a customer at point-blank range across a showcase in his store.

Notorious killings of that time in which the Deringerwas the pistolet fatal, as well as other then sensational homicides elsewhere in the country, did much to fix identity ofthe diminutive gun and its name in the public mind. Mostnotable of these, of course, was the climaxing assassinationof Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth in the Ford Theatre, Washington.

Unique combination of two highly desirable characteristics accounted for the Deringer's great favor with malefactor and law-abiding citizen alike. One was extreme smallsize resulting in light weight and concealability. The other,killing power at close range. Together they provided aweapon ideally suited to the time and place.

This was a period when homicide and general lawlessness were rife among a motley collection of humans fromall over the world. Even the Vigilance Committee action of1851 and its revival in 1856 engendered their own violencebetween factions. Under such conditions the classic littleDeringer could hardly have failed to please both those whowrested gold from the ground by toil, and others who livedby taking it from them by one means or another, murderincluded.

The Deringer was small enough (as short as 34 inches)to be inconspicuously secreted in boot, pantaloons pocket,coattail, waistcoat or other readily accessible spot. Predators In this group top two and bottom two are genuine Deringers, products of Henry Deringer, Philadelphia. Center is a copy.

Who could operate better without apparent firearms found it an ally of great strategic value. And for anyone as an ace in the cuff to fall back upon when large pistol or Bowie knife had failed, the deadly Deringer often proved a decisive surprise. As time went on, deringer use as a hold-out or “sneak” gun was common throughout the West. Even today some peace officers carry the modern Remington “Double Derringer” .41 as insurance in emergencies.

Large caliber-up to as big as .51-gave the early pocket arm its lethal effect. Obviously, because of the short barrel, accuracy was limited to somewhere within eight feet. Delivered at that distance and propelled by explosion of a heavy powder charge, the ball was as effective as any fired from rifles or large hand guns of the day. Actually the little pistol at close quarters had the stopping power lacking in the smaller-calibered pocket model Colt revolver and Allen pepperbox favored in the area before advent of the Deringer.

It seems more than reasonable that some women of those earlier days, and later, carried and used the compact Deringer. The comparatively dainty weapon might have looked like a “ladies’ gun” to the uninitiated. But the recoil, blast and effect on the victim were not to be compared with the low-powered little pistols and revolvers found in milady's handbag later in the century. Be these things as they may, present-day movie Westerns are fond of depicting either chaste heroine or dancehall girl producing a shiny nickel-plated deringer (usually the familiar double-barreled type) from a purse, garter or some provocative repository unrevealed by a selfish censor.

Modern fiction of whatever form also tends to equip its protagonists with two guns-twin Colt six-shooters, that is-for the situation effects involved, and a nice balance pleasing to the eye. Controversy over whether this kind of two-gun toting was ever common practice will probably go on indefinitely.

There is no question, however, in the case of the Deringer in its heyday. Not only was carrying of two of them ordinary, but it was not unusual for some individual to have three or four concealed on his person. Advantages of this sort of preparedness have already been indicated. It was natural to start with two Deringers, because that was the way they were sold-in pairs.

Henry Deringer stated in 1866 that he had sold 5,280 pairs during the previous ten years, at an average profit per pair of $7. His price to agents and dealers was consistently $22.50 a pair. Going price to the eventual first buyer at the height of Deringer fashion in California in the late '50's was from $30 to $40 for pairs. Special gold inlay and plating, extra engraving or other embellishments increased the cost proportionately.

By the beginning of the Civil War the average market price per pair had declined to about $25. It was shortly after this that Tiffany & Co. became the exclusive agency for the Deringer in New York and New England. In 1883 the catalog of a large dealer offered a supply of apparently genuine Deringers at $5.50 the pair, or $3 each. Today few of the surviving pocket pistols made by Henry Deringer or any of his contemporary and subsequent imitators are in the hands of any except collectors and other individuals who enthusiastically prize this American firearm of which John E. Parsons has said “. . . there is no arm, not even a Colt, with a more indigenous origin.” The originator of the prototype deringer was born in 1786 in Easton, Pennsylvania, third child and eldest son of

Henry Deringer, gunsmith and German settler who had lived in Richmond, Virginia. Henry junior moved to Philadelphia and made guns thereon from 1806. His earliest product consisted of flintlock pistols and muskets for the Army in the War of 1812. In 1845 Deringer produced percussion pistols for the Navy, being together with Samuel Colt one of the first firearms makers in America to use the percussion cap ignition system for muzzle-loading arms.

However, long before he conceived and began to manufacture the novel pistol that would perpetuate his name, the Philadelphia gunmaker was already well and favorably known in the East and South for his excellent dueling pistols . . . almost the standard firearm for affaires d'honneur. Thus, when Deringer brought out his pocket arm in the late '40's, his standing as a customs gun craftsman was well established. Communication and transportation being what they were about midway in the nineteenth century, it was not surprising that Henry Deringer in Philadelphia was for a long time unaware that imitations of his new pocket pistol were being sold in remote California. When the intelligence finally did reach him, the aging gunmaker did not at first suspect that former workmen from his own shop were turn-ning out some of the spurious guns right under his nose in Philadelphia.

It was at length established that Adolphus J. Plate, an agent of Deringer's in San Francisco, had procured and sold as genuine Deringers a supply of pistols made by individuals who had left Deringer's employ and were repro-ducing his guns without consent or knowledge of the originator. Although the barrels of the copies were steel instead of the wrought iron of the originals, every effort had been made to faithfully simulate the genuine Deringer, even to exact copying of the trademark DERINGER PHILADELA in two lines, on the lockplate and top of the breechplug.

During 1862 and the year following Henry Deringer had representatives purchase samples of the copies in San Francisco. With these exhibits and other well-documented evidence he entered suit against Plate in the District Court of San Francisco for $15,000 on the basis of trademark infringement.

Until recently the details of this litigation and its final outcome in favor of Henry Deringer after his death in February of 1868 were obscure and unsupported. It remained for firearms authority John E. Parsons to clarify this history, as well as many other theretofore almost legendary fragments of Deringer lore, with his discovery of the court record of Deringer v. Plate in the California State Archives in Sacramento. Parsons' subsequent work¹ was therefore not only the authentic history of Henry Deringer's pocket pistol but a delineation of all contemporary and successive examples of the popular deringer.As late as 1937 the Remington Arms Company of Ilion, New York, which had produced its first deringers in 1866, made the last few of the familiar "Double Derringer" that so long had kept the type alive. With its passing went the final survivor of the species deringer in America.