Southern Derringers of the Mississippi Valley

By TURNER KIRKLAND Union City, Tennessee 38261
{cover image} F. H. Clark See #217
This booklet is not intended to be the last word on Southern Derringers. I suspect that it is merely intended to be a guide for someone who has more patience than I to do the research work that is required on a complete story.
I am listing 29 different makers all of which are authenticated. This story does not include pocket pistols, which are of a slightly different shape nor does it include overcoat pistols or duelling pistols. I think these are of an entirely different category even if these same makers produced them.
You may debate the excluding of the following:
G. Erichson, Houston E. Schmidt, Houston Schmidt & Kosse, Houston H. Trotter, Cameron, Texas Joseph Labadie, Galveston J. H. Happoldt, Charleston, South Carolina M. Dickson, Louisville Hodgkins & Son, Macon, Georgia Wolff and Durringer, Louisville, Kentucky
Because I live in the Mississippi Valley, the guns that I am describing are of special interest to me and the others that can be called southern guns do not fit into my scheme of things.
Thus I have narrowed down geographically this story of the derringers of the Mississippi Valley to an exclusive group. It is sad that so little research work has been done in this direction in the past. Careful study of other books shows that only six or eight of these twenty-nine names and authenticated guns are spoken of in limited terms.
Since I got my first muzzleloading gun when I was 12 years old, I guess you could say I have been collecting guns for 38 years. In that length of time I have met many wonderful people and made numerous everlasting friends. Among these people are Hume Parks, Hal Swann, Cecil Godman, Dr. Bill Huckaba, Dr. D. R. Moore, Leon Jackson, Robin Hale, Harry G. King and Charles Elias all of which ably assisted me with this booklet and without those efforts, it would not have been possible.
{Trophy Shelf}