PIGEON-SHOOTING. 



301 



I next shot against Abraham Kleinman. John 

 Thomson, a stockman of Elkhart, made the match 

 on my part. It was fox $200 a side, fifty birds 

 each from a spring-trap. There was a dispute 

 about the quantity of shot to be used, he con- 

 tending that it was to be limited to an ounce. 

 We made a sort of compromise, by which I was 

 to pull my own trap, while he was allowed a 

 man to pull for him. The match was trap and 

 handle for each other. He had an old trapper 

 named Farnsworth to do this on his part, while 

 my man, as afterwards appeared, did not know 

 an old bird from a young one. Before we began 

 I offered to bet that I killed forty-six out of 

 fifty. This wager was eagerly accepted by 

 Farnsworth, who wanted to bet a larger sum 

 on the point. Kleinman killed forty-nine and 

 I killed forty-six. I told Kleinman that I 

 could and would beat him before long, and went 

 home to practise in the field. I challenged him 

 for the championship of Illinois, and we shot 

 for $200 a side, at fifty single birds and twenty- 

 five pairs of double birds each — the single 

 birds ground-trap, the doubles plunge-traps. Of 

 the single birds 1 killed forty-three to Klein- 

 man's forty-two. At the doubles we killed forty- 



