Antedating of "shotgun house" 1903

[Sam Clements]

The term "shotgun house(s) is cited in DARE from 1936, OED from 1938, and M-W from 1940. 

>From Newspaperarchive
30 August 1903,  _Atlanta Constitution_   16/4

(a classified ad)

<<Two 3-room houses near the railroad yards at Simpson st. crossing, rent $12 a month to good tenants who pay in advance; price $1,200 on terms or $100 cash, balance $15 a month; a combination of investment and savings bank:  these are not shacks, but good shot-gun houses in good repair.>>

A further question--were these cheap, usually straight houses truly called that because a shot fired through the front door would go out the rear door?  That is suggested in a 1941 DARE cite.  

Sam Clements