Interesting Parker Research Based on Parker Pages
Not long ago I bought a CHE with 31" Titanic barrels which had obviously been made for target shooting. Straight full stock, high comb, double beads, reversed barrel chokes, no safety etc. Oddly it had a trigger plate assembly from a low grade Parker. Other than that it was all original. The letter showed it had been ordered Feb 6, 1904 by the Walter G Clark Co. Of Omaha NE. It as shipped at their request to The Chamberlain Cartridge and Target Co. in Cleveland to the attention of "Morrie".
This left a lot of questions, such as "Who was Morrie", "Who was the original owner, and "Why was it shipped to Chamberlain". I couldn't find any info except general info about the companies involved.
Then the Winter Parker Pages arrived and in the "Parkers in Pulp" section, I found a reprint on page 16 of a reprint from The Sportsman's Review dated Oct 15, 1904.
It concerned "A popular sportsman" of Seneca KS. He had written to Chamberlain regarding the merits of the Fulford Single Trigger. He stated that he had used their trigger on both his Smith and Parker guns for a over a year and considered them the best addition to any gun and that he would choose having the trigger over having ejectors. It was signed: Yours Truly, A. L. L. Scoville.
This immediately triggered my curiosity, and I did some research. I found that the trigger was invented by a famous Trapshooter E. D. Fulford who won a famous live bird contest between himself and Captain Jack Brewer for $3000. In the 3-100 bird races he shot one string of 205 straight birds. They repeated the match for $1000 and Fulford won again. Brewer then offered to repeat the match for the World Championship Cup which he held, along with a prize of $5000 or $10000. Fulford also won the GAH for Live Birds in 1898.
He invented quite a few shooting items including a trap throwing device in the late 1800's. This was marketed through Chamberlin starting about that date. In Feb of 1903 he applied for a single trigger design patent and the patent was issued on July 8 1903. Apparently due to his relationship with Chamberlain they marketed and installed the new trigger. It was a mechanical design not requiring recoil and that would shoot right first, left first or both at once! By Fall 1903 Chamberlain was heavily advertising the trigger in the sporting press and WD Townsend from Omaha was writing glowing reports about the trigger. Fulford died suddenly of pneumonia on Oct 15 1904.
I next looked into the writer of the note Reprinted in Parker Pages. He was born in 1849 as Albertus L. L. Scoville. He moved to Seneca Kansas in 1870 and a few years later opened a hardware dealership at 509 Main St. A 1904 picture shows the store with a sign of:
A. L. L. Scoville
Hardware Machinery Wagons
Harness Buggies Implements Bicycles
The year after he opened the hardware, he became Vice President of a bank of which his brother CKK Scoville was the President. The buildings still stand and I have a picture of them. The hardware is now an antique store.
To tie this all together, I checked and Seneca is just below the northern Kansas line and is only around 100 miles from Omaha. Kansas City is a little farther away than Omaha but to the south. Clark was a hardware, gun and merchandise dealer in the upper midwest area who had a gunsmith on site and likely supplied a lot of small hardware dealers in the geographic area. Scoville was the long time owner only 100 miles away and likely used a larger distributer as a supplier for their inventory. He was also a trapshooter and had heard glowing reports from the better known shooters of the area who had submitted good reviews of the trigger in his home town paper.
He very well may have used Clark and knew they were a Parker dealer.
Based on everything I have found, I would bet money with good odds that A. L. L. Scoville was the owner of the CHE I purchased. The relevant timeline and locations are too close to make them unlikely.
July 8 1903
Fulford patents a trigger that he markets through Chamberlain Cartridge and Target due to the fact that they already marketed his target throwing equipment.
Fall 1903
Chamberlain ads are published in the local Seneca paper extolling the trigger, it's quick turnaround and glowing reports by a nationally famous trapshooter who Scoville may have shot against and seen the trigger.
I suspect Scoville around this time had his LC Smith modified and liked it.
Feb 6, 1904
WG Clark orders the CHE I own to be drop shipped to "Morrie" at Chamberlain in Cleveland. The only reason I can see to do this would be that the single trigger was installed.
March 19, 1904
The gun was shipped to Chamberlain
Oct 14, 1904
Fulford dies, likely ending production of the trigger. I could find no mention of the trigger after the 1903-1905 period.
Oct 15, 1904
Scoville writes to Chamberlain with his positive review of the trigger on both his guns.
I can't see any way that this is not a gun Scoville ordered and used. There were only three guns made in C grade with these particular barrels. The fact is that it was a very specific build for targets and that Scoville, a trapshooter, owned a hardware supply business 100 miles from Clark who reasonably was one of his suppliers. That he wrote the letter to Chamberlain makes it almost an impossibility that it was not his gun.
It would also answer all the questions I had. The name of the owner would be known. Morrie would likely be the gunsmith that installed the trigger at Chamberlain and the whole scenario would point to the reason the gun had a replacement trigger group. The trigger is extremely rare. I had never heard of it. I suspect it was only sold for 2-3 years due to Fulford's death. At some point in it's history, the trigger likely caused a problem and due to a lack of part's or service it was backfitted with double triggers. Either the initial conversion made a back conversion impossible or the ease of swapping in an existing trigger group was cheaper or easier.
The last is all conjecture but I suspect it may be close to the fact.
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12-29-2024, 09:39 PM
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