July 1, 1880.J 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



437 



§k§¥t- 



— Address all communications to "Forest <nil Stream 

 Publishing Company, New York.'' 



THE IRISH-AMERICAN MATCH. 



THE fourtli of the series of Irish-American contests 

 with the rifle was fought at Dollymount rftnge near 

 Dublin, on the 29th alt., and for the fourth time Hie 

 Irishmen were compelled to admit that the Americans 

 were the better marksmen. 



The Americans since their arrival in Ireland have been 

 compelled to lead a pretty active life on account Of many 

 festivities, but they are not much given to such , ■ 



and Mr. Frank J. Donaldson, the Secretary of %kn i 



ican National Rifle Association : Captain Jackson, of 

 Boston, whose bronzed face and manly figure attracted 

 much attention; Rockwell, the Boston stationer. National 

 Guardsman and member of the State Legislature, and 

 Mr. Laird, the Government clerk from Washinj 

 had to sustain most of the " lionizing." Colonel Bodine 

 has had a very emphatic way of leading his men ftwuy 

 early from evening fetes, so that they should get plenty 

 of sleep and keep the clear eye and cool head souei 

 to an expert riflemau. The members of the team have 

 been if anything rather overconfident — not in conversa- 

 tion, for a more modest set of men it would bo difficult 

 to lind — but there was rather an individual testing of tie- 

 range than a display of team discipline such as < 

 peeled, it was not until Saturday last that tl . 

 really did take a " long, strong pull " together. The men 

 were all of them very anxious about the weather. The 

 Irishmen wished for just enough of that Irish b ■ 

 ness and changeableness to upset the Amerierns — " just 

 a little twist of weather," as one of the Irish team ex- 

 pressed it. The visitors, on the other hand, want L an 

 American day imported for their use. Theywoul tglad 

 have had the mercury high up in the thermometer, anil 

 a wind from whatever quarter it caredto blow, A 

 tail " wind might reduce the score somewhat 

 Americans felt confident that they were as 

 shoot with this most troublesome of all bn 

 Irishmen. The day really was a cross belwe, 

 extremes. The weather during the opening 

 threatening, but no rain fell. 



At 11 o'clock the crowd began to assemble ,_ 

 sand bank opposte Dollymount. Tramway and j 

 cars had been well patronized all the morning, and dis- 

 charged their visitors at the end of the long, narrow 

 bridge which connects the North Bull with the mainland. 

 It was the same ground upon which the victory of Col. 

 Gildersleeve and his team was won in IS 75. There were 

 four targets, with a gap between the two pairs. The 

 North Bull is a long sand bank opposite the pretty little 

 village of Dollymount, from which it is separated" by an 

 inlet varying in depth and width according to the fides. 

 The range is a mere hill of low drift sand, on which stilt; 

 grass is growing, Compared with Creedmoor it is bleak 

 and uninviting. In the rear of the targets in place of the 

 green sodded bank of the American range there is an open 

 space, and the sea is seen as a thin, gray streak, beyond 

 which appear houses, of course out of range. On a fine 

 day the view from the range is striking and attractive. 

 It is bounded to the north by the distant dusky outlines 

 of Latnbay and Ireland's Eye, and b)*- the broad" slopes, of 

 the Hill of Howth, which in clear weather appear check- 

 ered with varying tints of green and purple, amid which 

 are seen masses of blue, gray and brown rock. To the left 

 are thickly- wooded uplands stretching far inland, with 

 intervals of undulating meadows, contrasting prettily 

 with the sombre green of the foliage above them. Here 

 are the cottages and villas of the suburbs of Clontai £ an 

 Dollymount. Turning to the right the spectator obtains 

 a splendid view of the bay and its southern bou 

 Westward from Killiney his eye follows the dimoul ] 

 the Dublin and Wicklow huts, with clusters of eh; 

 residences in the middle distance. Right in ] 

 rear, of the firing points is the dusky citv. la- 

 slender spires and tall factory and br 



but thl 

 ell able U 

 JZOS as th< 



i the long 



idar 



mg 

 ie I torn the 

 tling with 

 himncys and 



overhung by a murky canopy of smoke." There is a bit 

 of a hut or house on the range, into which the members 

 Of the Dublin Rifle Club hurry when an unusually heavy 

 shower interrupts their practice. There are few 'or none. 

 of the conveniences of the American rifle range. There 

 are no pits for the markers, as it would be impossible to 

 dig them in this low sandbank, but beside eal 

 is a mantlet behind which the marker stands sim -, 

 thrusting out the disk from theside. Although the t in . 

 was closed by its owner, Sir Henry Yernor.sooii after the 

 last match, live years ago, and although it was nut re- 

 opened for rifle practice until the 3d of Jun. fcb 

 scarcely any change noticed. A great convenience was 

 given by the erection of a series of wires by which con- 

 nection by telephone was established between the firing 

 points and the markers' shelter. 



For two days before the match day the weather has 

 been stormy, and the Americans were somewhat afraid 

 that the contest was going to be a sort of " save who 

 can" match, in which even hitting the target would br 

 looked upon as a piece of luck, but the weather in the 

 morning hours was good enough to suit ev.-u the most 

 exacting rifleman. The wind was a " G o'clock " one — 

 straight down the range, making easy shooting so long 

 as it held steady both as to direction and force. It was 

 a wind, however, that was apt to veer to the right or 

 left and become a i( fishtail " breeze. The day was warm 

 and pleasant and just such a one as would tempt a great 

 crowd out. The plan of procedure laid down by the 

 ever busy Major Leech was to have the shooting at the 

 800 yard point begin about noon ; that at 000 yards about 

 2 o'clock, after luncheon, and then at: 1 o'clock, after the 

 people had been driven back from the 900 yard Doiut, to 

 begin the 1,000 yard shooting. By 10:30 the American 

 team had started from their hotel. The rifles carefully 

 wrapped up in their cases, boxes of cartridges, which the 

 team seemed very unwilling to let out of their posses- 

 sion for a moment ; teier-'-opu ea-, ■ and I L&C I 

 spreading on the ground, made up a very goo 

 load of baggage. Along the road to the range many at- 

 tempts had been made at ornamentation; "the Ameri- 

 can and Irish flags were intertwined over many a porch, 

 while green boughs across the road were t, i ■■ 

 intervals on the tramway along the bordi i 



Rathbone. W. M. Fi 

 other in thai orde 



S. I. Scott and Homer Fi: 

 esented Washi 



There were mottoes, too, Buch as "is 

 "Welcome to Clontarf Plains:" and -'Our D - 

 various points. Thelrisb team was firsl round 



but the Americans, having once arrived, soon Moil 



down to business and op-n--ii 'no .--i-:- : i-; 'i'. 



Utensils and examined carefully their rifles, 1 1 ' 

 Frnier sights. 

 Major Leech offered to toss up for en off 

 but Col Bodine said he would be perfectly sa, i 

 the targets upon which the Americans had been practic- 

 ing since their arrival. The men as Sana 



target No. 1, John Rigby, William Bigby I 



tier ', at the next target were George 1'Vntou, J, Lui ! 

 Jnynt and S. S. Young, who shot in the avXic named. 

 Targets 5 and 6 were Bet apart for the Americans. !■'. 

 unl F, II. Brown Eol il-oacli 

 large! No. 5, y hi' 1 "- on the fie; 

 3 in order were H. 

 her. Mr. I.aiid. who., with Dr 

 the American "■ n 

 was the coach at target No. 0, while Secretary Donald- 

 son filled the same post for the squad he 

 bone. 



A number of American travelers were present on the 

 range. Col. Bodine exercised general supervi- i 

 ing 'to it that his team was not interfered with in any 



way and keeping back the crowd that Closed til al if 



It was 13:30 When the firing began, John Rigby dis- 

 charging the first shot and bringing out the " magpie " 

 disk for "an " inner." L'athbone, who led off for the 



Americans, scored a bullseye, as did Fein : n i 



.side in opening for the other squad. Clark on target 

 No. 6 got only a " center. The openina round left tie- 

 teams equal, though live of the Irishmen had 

 with bullseyes, while two of the Americans Is; 1 '-i: id 

 into the center ring about the bullseyes. Young, who 

 is an Irishman, living in England, uses a Farquharson- 

 Metford rifle, but all the other members of trie home 

 team have the new Rigby breech-leader. Scott, of the 

 American team, shoots with a Remington rifle. Farrow 

 has the long range Ballard, and all the othei Americans 

 use the Borchardt model of Sharp rifle. Having started 

 in and reached a tie, each of the marksmen carefully ad- 

 justed his sights for the second shot and a dozen bullseyes 

 all along the line was signalled by the markers. In the 

 next round Rathbone made a center, while all the Other 

 Americans followed the Irishmen's example and n tl 

 bullseyes ; the Irishmen thus got their first advantage in 

 the match. In the next round Kalhbone dropped a_-aie. 

 as did John Rigby, the veteran of the Irish team. All 

 the men had discovered that it was a day for high ^c,v^, 

 and Major Leech, so far as he was able, was putting in 

 practice a sort of team discipline. Wm. Rigby was as 

 slow and considerate as ever, while the Americans, too, 

 shot very slowly. More care in the fifth round by the 

 Americans and a " nipper " by young Joynt, of the Irish 

 team, put the teams on on even footing, but Rathbone 

 was unlucky again in the sixth round and in his first six 

 shots scored only three bullseyes. A little freshening up 

 of the wind in the seventh shot caught Clark and gave 

 him a center, but all the other members of the team were 

 warned in time and got bullseyes, as usual. The teams 

 were now shooting very evenly, and except the opening 

 inner of John Rigby every shot had landed within the 

 radius of twenty-seven inches which bounds the center. 

 In the ninth and tenth rounds the same care was kept up. 

 John Rigby had on the first score a center, a .in I W illiani 

 Rigby followed with a similar shot in the next round. 

 The Irish manager felt that his men were falling behind, 

 but at such an early stage in the match no great anxiety 

 was felt. In the eleventh round Win, Rigby hit the 

 " magpie " section of the target. His cousin John be- 

 came flustered at seeing the " old reliable " mak g • 

 misshots, and he, too, made an inner. In the last three 

 rounds of this distance the Irishmen made a great t'.i'oi t, 

 the Americans had closed their work and had put on 

 record a total of 436 or but fourteen points sftorl 

 fection in the highest {possible. This the Irishmen 

 could tie or possibly pass. On the thirteenth round tl ley 

 had reached 370, and two bullseyes all around wotdd 

 bring a tie. The word was passed along, ami \ taking 

 plenty of time and extra care that result was accom- 

 plished and a great cheer went up when the line double 

 score was announced. 



It will be seen from the scores that at the 800 yards 

 range, of the ninety shots fired by the American squad, 

 twelve were centers, one was an inner, while seventy- 

 seven were in the bullseye. On the Irish team th 

 tires were eight centers", three inners and seventy-nine 

 bullseyes — the three inners were made by the Rule s. 



The" wind had been very steady during tkemgrning, 

 and the Americans were anxious" to be on with their 

 work, so, hastily disposing of lunch, at 2:30 they were 

 again at the firing points ready to open The 900 yard 

 stage. The cooling of the guiis by the half hour' rest 

 bad upset the calculations as to elevations, arid the open- 

 ing at 000 yards brought only twenty-seven in a poBi ill. 

 thirty to each of the teams, maintaining th , . 

 firing at this range was fully up to the. average of bin 

 .son yard distance/ Clark wa's doing far better than at 

 the 'lower distance, and the really fine weather Cor 

 shooting led the Americans to stand ready to drop to 

 the filing points with the utmost readiness aft ■ ;■ : 



shot, in order that nothing mi] 

 weather. Rathbone, of the A 

 consecutive bullseyes right tl 



k to 1,000 



■ed to 





tie 



ade 



• lost by change oi 



, was putting in 

 i..... rant - - h 

 w ith a seoi 

 ng pur. in s ,■- 

 : range with 14s 

 iO had been very 

 some anxiety to 

 at the 900 yards range 

 m the American u e, 

 lg was very even, and 

 ne. Thee had dropj d 

 roin that reach ,i -o 

 holding up i.. . in .... 

 .ge.. vvillijm i ' , 

 bile John Rjgby and Joynt had 



;, Milner and Fonton. I 

 id their scores to. I 

 h shooter who did w.u. 

 this range. Once during this range there was a fli m 

 loul ii of Brown's shots, but an examination ,.i i 1 1 ■ - 



iweditto be a center in plan.- (A ,< | , ■ -, 



though for a time it looked like a miss to tin 



the firing point, The analysts of the shooting at this. 



latel 

 143 in a possible 15 

 feet 000 yard bcot« 



points in the same 

 ill the day before, 

 Bodine. His score 

 was the poorest B 1 

 Amongfttbe Irishm 

 would have been d 

 eight points in the 

 :-'00 yards, while tli 

 total, had that mud 

 had scored an inner, -» 

 been equally indiscree 

 centers each, had reduc 

 Young was the only 111 



:■ A 11 



d extra, 6 

 KB total 



el c 



itlid range showed that in ninety shots the Americans 



'. '■ : ' ■ - ■: li.l V.- 



innera f, aw i making On the 



i here were seven ■ .--. - tie bn lit res, si: een c« n 

 i. ; I'm i |w e inru rsr— the I svo Klgbys and Joynt being 

 the inner mal 



S lini ati, ntiiitsiasm excited by the match 



n tint will 



'i of any th 



in the entire sltoofite. 



: i ii ..-Hi 



'. ■ i oh Lhc groun 

 Lord Lieiiti-i 'i' I I 

 the i 

 was i 

 their 



a ■ i- -i I j the ab- 



i .-eon an -'outer " 



and 000 yard ranges. 



irowd was equally distributed to 



I a number of Bi ■'' bl il i«3 tt ho now 

 1, among them IFrl Fowper. the 

 eland, and Edmund Dwyer Gray, 

 Dublin. The popular excitement 

 ghOut, and the spectators never lost 

 proceedings. Ranged upon three 



i i!i , : u- space within which the con- 



bants were grouped Hi crowd craned their necks 

 i'toi ■ r\ shot, and burst into storms of applause when- 

 ever a special bullseye or display of skill excited then- ad- 

 ,iio ; jojji 

 Tlmre was no delay in gelling back to the I 000 



n s, and , I k-3 i lb firing for the final distance opened. 



Thesfcy was tflouding up, mere wind was coming on and 



in, id .imminent. The crowd held on, however, 

 for with a margin of less than two bullseyes, the interest 

 ran high. The opening at the 1,000 yards struck the 



.oy-note (if s 



eyes, while Milui 

 ■ ■ | -i ; • - 1 ■ eat 

 Irish team and 

 The Irishmen wc 



I , and bavin 



hlmseh ■ - 



eaeii of (he Irish 

 bullseye, unluck 



the Am 



th an imie 

 idea vcrvsa 

 ased the le 



i,n L;,-iuei 



efficient te 

 ilessly 



and on tl 



Ft. 



lol 



put in six bulls- 

 I the two Rigbys 

 ed opening for the 

 for the Americans, 

 to see defeat before 

 system to fall back 

 tied. Each man for 

 second round, when 



Mi'ksmen had steadied himself for a 

 Milner sent a bullet no one knows 

 t and only miss of the day was put on 

 io, was beginning' to waver, and shot 

 irtcoming became known to the 



siderii 

 rifle i 

 had 



off, 



that they had a suae tiling of 



eles 

 ' pas 



si, the 



but 

 li 



1, slight '-pull 



mil the hopet 



is were dashed to the gr< 



- blue eyes very w i, I ' 



ith an inner, the only o 



id not so exact as they 

 ting been closer. The 

 leartened. and thev fol- 

 gain and again. There 

 twice the Irishmen put 

 the odds against them 

 tere was a ray of hope, 

 the day, 

 ot he re- 



•ak 



the part 



if the 

 opened 

 i self re- 

 warded 

 scored 

 of the 



?F. 



was fired from ■ 

 footed up the fi; 

 victor by twelve point 



Net 



oVloi 

 inter) 



3 k 



dime 

 thw 

 ;t Came within 



n the last shot 

 ready pencils 

 lenca was the 

 ider, individu- 

 if Bruce, 



Irish ringof the f 



?s and declared tha 

 lark was tl 

 , 1 a total as the fan 

 tennial match, but Bruee's was better 

 ill holds the lead. Dollymount had 

 shooting. Major Leech said he 

 iled to defeat by the fine scores put up. 

 he match was finished. 

 of the shooting and shortly before 6 

 ■ -.-.citing incident intervened to 



beg 



■ bet wee 



1,1 



-of the dry, 



which 1 



lad been set 



pipe sip 



oker on the 







,,- i o'i • , 



fifteen 



ninutes t he 



l-'a.rn 



-, ', eli 



-, . ■; I.I 



Col. Bq 



Iseye. after 



F;ij. [, 



This 



on Ttier 



n brief is t 



day last. T 





THE a: 





H. 



1 , :,■'.". 





BOU 



-i 5 ?. 



MM 



3 5-6 



to rise 

 i the firing 

 nsiderabie, 

 ones across the 

 led. 



was due to the 

 at to the range, 

 if some careless 

 t ground. The 

 I. ■!;';. of about 



by Col, Bodine 



Shuln. Tulal. 



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Till; lltlSH TEAM SCiiHES. 



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Shot*. 



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