Terms, Five Dollars a Year. | 

 Ten Cents a Copy. j 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, OCT. 16, 1873. 



. ( Volume I, Number lO, 

 j 103 Ful ton Street. 



PICTURED AUTUMN LEAVES. 



. * :_ 



Gay autumn' leaves! we have seen you blending 



Your irised pennons in shadowy vale, 

 And gather new glory upward wending, 

 In the savage north- wind's trail, 

 From the mountain's base 

 To its crested space, 

 Where the burning hues preval ! 



O, green and yellow and crimson and gold, 

 Out of the loom of the Infinite rolled, 

 In wild luxuriance, fold upon fold! 



We are lost in half tearful wonder 

 That the wintry wind, which is blatant and bold, 

 Your blushes should deepen, your life infold, 

 Till, chilled to the heart by a love that is cold, 

 You shrivel and die in russet mould, 



And are buried the deep snows under! 



Fair autumn leaves! Can we wake rejoicing 

 To loveliness doomed of its birth to pale? 

 Can we echo the melody of your voicing, 

 Not moved by its latent wail, 

 That sighs for aye 

 Through the bright array 

 Grim Death must countervail? 



Yet, crimson and gold and yellow and green, 

 Hush your low murmurs! for I have seen 

 A power that is snbtle and strong and keen 



To bear youacros Time's river, 

 Where ashen garments never demean 

 The radiant form of autumn's queen, 

 But on through the ages of aureate sheen, 

 Bating no jot of her royal mien, 



She gorgeously glows forever. 



Glad autumn leaves! this benison lingers 

 (Lifting you over life's wintry wave) 

 In the heaven born touch of the artist's fingers, 

 Whose passionate soul can save, 

 By the wondrous skill 

 Of a master's will, 

 Fair forms from a waiting grave. 



So, green and yellow and crimson and gold! 

 Your emerald, topaz and ruby unfold, 

 Dreading no robber king withered and old 



Shall bid you your grace bnrrender. 

 Nay— flames that the wind and the sunshine hold, 

 Till they joyously spread over wood and wold 

 (In diaphanous haze of a wealth untold), 

 Blaze on in your beauty, by naught controlled, 



For art's seal is set on your splendor! 

 — October Galaxy.'] MaryB. Dodge. 



-<M>. 



CBEEDMOOR PRIZE CONTEST. 



MATCH OF THE NATIONAL RIFLE AS- 

 SOCIATION. 



HISTORY OF THE RANGE — SCORE OF THE 

 MATCHES— NAMES OF THE VICTORS— ANAL- 

 YSIS. 



THERE lias just been completed at Creedmoor the 

 first annual Prize Meeting of the National Rifle As- 

 sociation, twelve competitions having taken place, the full 

 and correct statements of which will he found at the con- 

 clusion of this article. Though Creedmoor may he now 

 well known to our National Guard and riflemen in the city 

 and vicinity, still a thorough description of the same, its 

 plan of organization, and the ohject to he obtained by hav- 

 ing such a range for rifle practice in our midst, with full 

 details of methods of shooting, &c. , may be of interest to 

 many outside of the city, and may help to develop more 

 thoroughly a taste for rifle shooting in the United States. 

 The initial movement for the organization of a National 

 Rifle Association dates from November 24th, 1871, when a 

 Board of Directors were elected with the following officers: 

 President, A. E. Burnside; Vice-President, Col. Wm. C. 

 Church; Secretary, Capt. G. W. Wingate; Corresponding 

 Secretary, F. M. Peck-, Treasurer, J. B. Woodward. This 

 same organization held office until July 22d, 1872, when 

 General Burnside having resigned, Colonel Church was 

 elected president, with General Alex. Shaler as vice-presi- 

 dent. Now the real labors of the Association commenced. 



such as the choice of a proper sight for a range and the de- 

 tails necessary to get members of the National Guard to 

 take an interest in what to them was a novel enterprise. It 

 was soon evident that the high price of land within any 

 available distance of New York, would render any pur- 

 chase impossible without State assistance. A bill was in- 

 troduced into the Legislature, which was passed in May 

 1872, which provided that whenever the Association should 

 raise $5,000 the State would contribute $25,000 for the 

 purpose of purchasing and fitting up such a range, the 

 State also agreeing to provide division and State prizes for 

 skillful markmanship. To this amount was added $5,000 

 from the Supervisors of New York and Brooklyn, with 

 $5,000 more from the Supervisors of New York. 



The work of selecting the grounds of a sufficient extent 

 for a range, which should be at once reasonable as to price 

 of land, safe and convenient of access, was a difficult 

 task. Finally a most wise purchase was made of a tract of 

 seventy acres, situated on the Central Railroad of Long 

 Island. This land was bought of Mr. J. Creed for $26,250, 

 and named Creedmoor. These grounds are admirably 

 adapted for the purpose for which they have been selected. 

 As level as a billiard table, they afford room for twenty 

 separate ranges, each of which can be used from one hun- 

 dred to a thousand yards and without the use of elevated 

 firing-stands, found necessary upon most European 

 ranges. There was only one slight objection to the range, 

 and that was that it would become necessary to build an 

 embankment of twenty feet high and five hundred and sev- 

 enty feet long, to place back of the buts, which would re- 

 quire some 27,000 cubic yards of earth. The Association 

 very wisely sent Messrs. Rockafellar, "Wingate, and Church 

 to Wimbledon and Hythe, who made a thorough inspec- 

 tion of the rifle practice as carried on there, and who se- 

 lected all the latest improvements. 



THE MATCH. 



The first annual meeting of the National Rifle Associa- 

 tion, which took place on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 

 and Saturday of last week, marks an important era. It 

 may be considered as the dividing line in the progress of 

 the National Rifle Association, and the success that was at- 

 tained renders the future prospects of the Association no 

 longer doubtful. 



The practice of marksmanship is one that appeals strong- 

 ly to our young men. It is free from all those demorali- 

 zing influences which are associated with many other manly 

 sports, and it requires, above all things, a clear eye and a 

 steady hand and consequently a liie free from dissipation. 

 To members of the National Guard it affords a gratifying 

 change from the everlasting "fours right" and the "manual 

 of arms," which make their drills so tedious, and by afford- 

 ing a chance for a display of individual skill, puts each 

 man upon his metal. 



At first the Association experienced no little difficulty in 

 inducing the National Guard to interest themselves in the 

 subject of rifle practice. A few of the leading officers, 

 prominent among whom were the Adjutant General of the 

 State, and Major Generals Shaler and Woodward, have 

 done all in their power to induce them to take hold of the 

 matter, but many of the other officers have displayed an 

 astonishing apathy. 



The liberal action of the Association in throwing open 

 their range for the gratuitous use of the National Guard 

 during the past summer resulted in most of the regiments 

 going there for a day's praetice, and after a single visit it 

 soon became popular. "Teams" were formed from al- 

 most every regiment, and the practicing has been incessant, 

 so that during September alone the range was used by 

 nearly 4,000 men. Emulation has been excited, and all are 

 striving to excel. 



The shooting in the different matches of the last week 

 will do much to strengthen the popularity of the range, 

 and it shows the vast improvement that has resulted from 

 the better practice of the men, and thus puts all upon 

 their metal for the next contest. It is also very important as 

 bringing the Regulars and the National Guards in close 

 contact, in which certainly the latter have not suffered . 



Creedmoor, on the Central Railroad of Long Island, is 

 eleven miles from Hunter's Point, and a short distance from 

 Jamaica and Flushing. It is reached in one hour from 

 James Slip, and three quarters of an hour from Thirty- 

 fourth street. On alighting from the cars a walk of 200 

 yards up a broad avenue brings you to the southern extrem- 

 ity of the range. From this point it extends eleven hun- 

 dred yards, a perfectly level field, interspersed here and 

 there with large trees, and altogether containing seventy 

 acres. Across the northern boundary an embankment 

 twenty-five feet high has been erected, at the base of which 

 twenty targets are placed, each being thirty feet from cen- 

 tre to centre. They are all available for simultaneous use up 

 to 500 yards, and the majority of them up to 1000 yards. 

 The targets themselves are composed of heavy slabs, of 

 cast-iron, two feet wide by six high, which are bolted to- 

 gether to form the required size ; two slabs making the tar- 

 get used up to 300 yards, three that used up to 600 yards, 

 and six that used over that distance. Each target has a 

 square black bull's eye painted upon it surrounded by a 

 line indicating the "centre," the remainder of the target 

 constituting the " outer," the size being as follows: 







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Third Class. Second Class. 



Third class used up to 300 yards, (in off-hand firing); tar- 

 get 6 feet by 2; bull's eye, eight inches square; centre 2 feet. 



Second class used from 300 to 600 yards, any position; 

 target 6 feet square; bull's eye 2 feet square; centre, 4 feet. 



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First Class. 



First class used over 600 j^ards ; any position ; target 6 feet 

 high, by 12 wide; bull's eye, 4 feet square; centre, 6 feet. 



In all cases shots striking the bull's eye count four ; cen- 

 tres three, outers two. Scores are counted the same all 

 ranges, so that when we read that a marksman made, in 

 five shots, 19 out of a possible 20, he must have made four 

 bull's eyes, or sixteen, and one centre, three more, which 

 would score 19. For instance, General Hawley, in the 

 Press match, made 36 in a possible 40 in ten shots, which 

 was made up as follows: of six bull's eyes and four centres, 

 24 and 12. 



The marking is upon two systems. In the ' ' Hill " or side 

 butt, the marker is placed in a shot-proof hut and marks from 

 a slit cut in the side; in the "Scoble" or sunken butt, he is 

 placed in a trench dug in front of the target, and marks 

 through a trap in the roof. 



The latter plan is found by far the best, and the Associa- 

 ation are converting all their targets into that mode as fast 

 as possible. It admits of a supervision being kept over the 

 markers, lessens the danger of accident, and removes the 

 annoyance of the target being overshadowed, the latter 

 being a serious draw-back which, in the morning and even- 

 ing prevented a number of targets from being used during 

 the match. 



