The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-03
..LET FER co GALLAGHER's~ BIRTH
Capt. Joe White says IL started In
savannah Insfead Of Chicago.

savannah Instead Of Chicago
Capt. Joe White, the weI-known gun
smith, differs with the Morning News in
IT'S explanation OF the origin Of the slang
expression Let 'er 60. Gallagher" In
z an editorial In the Morning News several
days ago the birthplace OF the expression
was located as Chicago. and IL was said
20 have grown out Of the fight made by Al
derman Peeyy, recently deceased, upon
a gang Of blacklegs and gamblers head
ed BY one Gallagher. capt White says
that the expression is native 10 Savannah.
and that the facts can be easily establish
ed
When came 10 Savannah in 1861"
said capt White. "the expression was
common here. / paid no particular at
lentlon 70 II az the time. There was a DIT.
sailaser here then. a well know dentist.
was working for X. c. Stevens, the old
6uusnltn' and one day Dr. Gallager
walked into the shop. When he went out
again Mr.. Stevens remarked. There goes
old Let er 90 Gallager.' ] inquired what
ne meant by that and he proceeded 10 give
me the history Of the expression. The first
breechloading guns had just been invent
cd, and In fact were hardly perfected.
About three years before this time that /
aluue 70 1lr. Gallager had invented
oreechloading rife. The invention eXcit-
81 a great deal Of interest and when one
or the weapons was perfected 10 was re-
garded as a great curiosity. A day was
set on which the gun was to be given
trlal ana Dr ffallager went out into the
woods Tor the purpose, accompanied by
number Of his friends. An
open space was found and one Of the
a target to a tree. This gentleman was
Of rather excitable turn Of mind, 1t
seems. Immediately on fixing his target,
ne jumped back behind the tree, and,
'er go, Gallager' The incident excited
the laughter Of the crowd and was told
IN the city on their return as "a good joke.
The interest taken in the new gun caused
the joke to spread rapidly. and in a
little while tho expression had been ac-
eepted into the local slang vocabulary.
This Is the story that was told to me and
am SATISFIED that 1t is true, because the
expression was current in Savannah then,
and has since become known all over the
world The Incident related in the Morn
ing News is of comparatively recent oc-
CuTrehce ana consequently could not have
Deen the true origin of the expression.
Mr. Henry Gallager, the druggist is a son
or the DR.. Gallager Of the story and
Will confirm what / have told YOU"
II IS true that the expression Let 'er
go, Gallager.' has become pretty ancient,
which is additional proof OF the truth of
Capt. Whites story. 1t should be OBJ
served that name Is spelled "Gallager."
and not Gallagher" as it is commonly
seen.
II any additional proof is needed, Capt.
White has one of the rifles of the make
invented by DIR. Galager and for aught
that may be known to the contrary the
very gun which oficiated at the birth of
the famous expression, which, by the
way, became much more famous than the
gun. The gun is itself a curiosity
Breechloading weapons We're I'm the exper-
mental stage then, and the idea Of max
ing rim shells had not occurred to the
inventors. perfectly smooth brass shell
was used and was made to fit half into
the breech and half into the barrel, shell
eNtractors being unknown. Instead of
breech block or a break, the barrel was
slld forward by lever the cartridge in
serted and the barrel slid back.
Ut. Gallager never won either fame or
wealth by his invention, probably because
better weapons of the same class were
put on the market about this time