Derringer

[Wesley Harris]

(07-31-2018 06:31 AM)Wild Bill Wrote:  How about Booth only had one pistol? It was given to him in Montgomery, Alabama, by a friend, Philip Henson, for self defense when he was threatened with mob action for questioning secession. At least that was the claim (excuse me for using a dirty name) of the late Rick Stelnick in his unpublished manuscript, Dixie Reckoning, p. 69, in the version I have. I believe that one can get a copy as a PDF, but that may no longer be true.

He provides no source for that information that can be independently verified.

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(07-31-2018 07:56 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(07-31-2018 06:31 AM)Wild Bill Wrote:  How about Booth only had one pistol? It was given to him in Montgomery, Alabama, by a friend, Philip Henson, for self defense when he was threatened with mob action for questioning secession. At least that was the claim (excuse me for using a dirty name) of the late Rick Stelnick in his unpublished manuscript, Dixie Reckoning, p. 69, in the version I have. I believe that one can get a copy as a PDF, but that may no longer be true.

(07-31-2018 07:36 AM)Gene C Wrote:  It's still available.
https://www.amazon.com/DIXIE-RECKONING-R...k+stelnick

I've read and reviewed this book about Phillip Henson
http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...ght=henson

I do not have the book, but I was able to find this in the Kindle version on Amazon:

Henson says: "John Wilkes, you may march to a different drummer, but you can’t expect other folks to march with you too. If I were you, I would carry a gun like this on your person, just in case something like tonight comes up. It’s a single shot pocket pistol made by Henry Deringer of Philadelphia. Only weighs eight ounces and is six inches long with a two and a half inch barrel. Fires a .41 caliber lead ball. They’re sold in matching pairs. I have another just like it. Here, take it, its yours."

Information given in a lengthy quote like that when neither Henson nor Booth were around to verify it is pretty suspect to me. Booth purchased a whole trunk of weapons in NYC. He could have gotten the Deringer anywhere. And even if Henson did give him a pistol, no guarantee it was the same one found at Ford's Theatre.