672 
FOREST AND STREAM 
then permit an examination of the target. If the marking 
as signalled Vie found to be correct the sum is forfeited to 
the Association, if not there ia no forfeit and the marks¬ 
man gets Ids exact justice in t he matter. The sooner the 
N. R. A. managers prepare and establish such a modifica¬ 
tion of the present inelastic rule, the better. 
h The old range, if one may use such a term in describing 
an institution not yet in "its teens, never looked better 
for work. The camping arrangements carried on by Gen. 
Wylie were excellent, and ample accommodation was 
furnished to all of the troop visiting the range. The 
camping however, will not be complete until the “Mem¬ 
ber's Lines " are established, a section of the camp where 
a member not connected with the National Guard, or in 
auy way associated with the military, may find a tempor¬ 
ary home in a tent. There is no reason why the Creed- 
moor week shouldn’t be made one of out-door enjoyment 
as well ns hard work before the target. It is set in a de¬ 
lightful period of the year, and wldle CreedmOor offers no 
outside attractions to t he campers as a settlement at New¬ 
port or any watering place might, still it could bo made 
for a week a place of rare attractiveness. It anight even 
pay. were the Association to take the initiative and offerto 
members from a distance an opportunity to secure a 
breezy, pleasant tent, sufficiently furnished, at a moderate 
rate, instead of us now compelling the few visitors who 
may be accommodated to find shelter in the surrounding 
hotels. The regulars had made for themselves quite an 
establishment in the center of the. best lawn and gave 
illustrations of a well kept camp. At the shooting points 
there was no complaint, and the squadding gave each 
and every mau equal opportunity to gain one of the many 
prizes. 
The meeting was one of surprises in many respects. The 
favorites, or those for whom the'.first places were in popu¬ 
lar opinion reserved, did not fill them, and the big scores 
which were expected from others of the marksmen did 
not come on the score tickets. The representation of 
marksmen was a wide one. The State prize drew teams 
from t wenty commands in the State, and every section was 
seen in delegates from its local guard. The Regular 
Arrnv had all the representation it could well have, while 
of private clubs all wore to be seen in some form ; teams 
in many cases, and in others by single members; and 
while on this topic- of the general meeting, it might be 
well for the N. R. A. in its record of individual as well as 
team shooting to designate the club of which the marks¬ 
man is a member. 
The arrangement of the matches wassuch as to enable 
each man to know to a certainty just when and where he 
was to present himself before the targets. There was no 
waste of tune in waiting for this or that match to come 
on, aud military teams were enabled to put their scores 
on record and get away without the least unnecessary 
delay. In this'respect" Col. Cowperthwait has shown 
good executive ability. The statistical department is one 
of hard work ; it is the one of all others which should be 
placed in charge of competent paid help. It is not fair 
to the gentlemen of the press, who in daily and weekly 
issues have done so much to build up the Association, to 
be treated as a gang of intruders when they endeavor to 
get at the results of the meeting, nor to have a mass of 
erroneous results flung at them. It is not a department to 
be .riven over to the manipulation of boys nor to be sad¬ 
dled upon an officer of the Association to grind away m 
a minor clerical capacity, footing up scores.aud generally 
making the best of the meagre accommodation provided. 
And Creedmoor will not be a desirable place for the gen¬ 
eral public to visit, until that general public can bo prop¬ 
erly mid deceutly fed during its stay on the range. No 
such accommodations now exist, and the menu, habits 
and service of a cheap restaurant are not such as to at¬ 
tract any one to a second visit to the range. 
The firing opened on Tuesday morning 16tli mst. with 
the otf-haml matches, the popular Judd match leading 
the list. In this there were 226 entries, and military rifles 
V.lazed away all along the line. The day was excellent, a 
gray skv toning down the light to a desirable shooting 
point while the wind blew, when at all, in a lazy ineffee- 
fve manner. That it was a good day for shooting is 
shown in the general high degree of excellence all along 
the list of enmes. In 1675, J. Mason the Canadian shot 
carried off the prize with 30 points, while now after 30 
prize places have been taken, a 30 score man is left out 
without a place. The winning score was the same as 
that of the past two years, 33 in a possible 3.j, which 
means very close work with an open-sighted, heavy trig¬ 
ger pull, low charged military arm. The winner was an 
out-of-town man, and throughout the meeting the suc¬ 
cesses of men other than those accustomed to know 
Creedmoor as a regular practice ground, must have led 
to the conviction that come who may, they are certain of 
fair play, while the impartiality of the range indicated 
that there is no trick of the grounds, or acquaintance 
with peculiarities tb give an advantage to Creedmoor 
men, as the beaten foreign teams in previous interna¬ 
tional matches wei'e so ready in assenmg. 
Following close upon the Judd match came the Short 
Range match, where any rifle is admissible. As was the 
case last year, a military rifle in the hands of a non-Creed- 
moor mail was the successful one ; and by the same score 
as an 1mm or two before had taken the Judd prize, ilmso 
facts should serve aB evidence against the absurd practice 
of handicapping rifles instead of men, in rifle shooting. 
It is the man’s record which affords the only true basis of 
comparison, and to handicap the weapons seems to go 
o-i the untenable basis that the rifle will do the woik be 
the skill of the rifleman behind it what it may. ihe 
Laibn ■: Han.I match at 200 and 500 yards, also with rnil- 
Hnrv rifles was taken by very nearly a highest possible, 
R Ripe of (he Regulars, putting in OS in the possible 70 : 
while the oil .-it- two medals in this series went to members 
of provincial military regiments. During the afternoon of 
the first day. too, the Directors conducted their clutter 
match though Col, Cowperthwait found time to slip in a 
wanner. The interest of this first day culminated m the 
team matches for the Gatling gun, and for the Army and 
Navn Journal cup. Both of these matches were estab¬ 
lished at the first annual meeting in 1678, and have given 
occasion for a great amount of team effort, the cup 
wen t first to the Twenty-second Regiment; then to the 
Seventh N. Y, In 1875 to the Second Regiment ot Connec¬ 
ticut. The year following it went again to the Seventh; 
and in 1877, ‘traveled up to Oswego with the Forty-eighth 
Regiment team. The Regulars took a leatong hand last 
year, and for a time it rested with the Engineer Battalion, 
fo ri, a, Tips year it goes to the Twentieth Separate 
Company of Binghamton. This victory and the subse¬ 
quent ones of this meeting, which have given the Bing¬ 
hamton hoys a full measure of glory, go to show that for 
the securing of a strong team, the selection from a great 
regiment is not necessary. The strongest teams on the 
range wore in many cases those from small bodies of 
men, The Twentieth Company, with a muster roll of 
perhaps seventy-five names, is able, by its position in re¬ 
lation to the ranges of its personnel to make up a dozen 
shooters which the Seventh and Ninth Regiment’s organ¬ 
izations, a thousand strong, cannot complete with. 
The Gatling Gun match was shot immediately after, 
and went with the cup to the Twentieth Separate Com¬ 
pany, It became then-private property, too, by thissecond 
winning, and ceases to be a challenge object any more. 
The following table shows the ups and downs of the 
several regiments competing for this cup. In 1873 and 
1874, the possible team total was on the old target, 336, 
since that time it has been 420;— 
Ttogi. 1873. 
70th.inn 
121U. 171) 
1.7th .. 
22(1... 
2srh .. 
141h .. 
null 
8lsl . . . 
14th . . 
lath.. 
UOth . 
54 th .. 
Will . 
51st... 
will . 
atth.. 
Hoth... 
fii'ilh . 
13th... 
1875. 1878. 1877. 1878. 1879. 
* Regiment. + Separate company. 
This exhibit shows in a compact form the history 
of the Gatling gun, and the performances of the National 
Guard in connection with it. The Remington State Arm 
has been used always by all tbe men. 
The second day of the meeting brought a new style of 
weather. The wind from being dull and listless was now 
entirely over active, and was sufficiently strong to make 
the tent-flies flop with a violent motion, while “holding 
for wind ” became a sort of wholesale job. It was a team 
day entirely. Tlie Twentieth Separate Company came in for 
a leading place on the State team, followed by three other 
teams made of “ hands," as the local boys delighted to 
call them; but they found that the steady hands and 
clear eyes won, wliile our crack city regiment was com¬ 
pelled to go without even a place on tlie prize list. The 
division and cavalry matches went where everybody ex¬ 
pected they would : but the short-range team match was 
a close struggle to the finish. None of the teams were 
satisfied with their scores. Each and every team has 
done better work, but all tilings considered tbe arrange¬ 
ment was a very fate one. It would have been somewhat 
of a surprise had tlie N. Y. club teams failed to receive a 
leading place among themselves, and the close push 
which the Zettler’s gave them shows that there is little to 
choose between these two excellent off-hand clubs. 
The second day had been a sharp cross wind; but 
Thursday, the 18th, saw the wind spinning down the 
range from the 6 o’clock quarter. This was the day of the 
meeting. On it the regulars and militia teams came to¬ 
gether before the butts, while the Inter-State matches 
were fought out. The one distinguishing feature of the 
day was the marked improvement shown by the teams 
from the regular army. In place of the two teams from 
the Atlantic and Missouri Departments only, the Pacific 
was this year represented as well. The meiVhave been in 
camp on the ground for weeks, and have become thor¬ 
oughly familiar with the range. They were officered by 
men full of entliusiam and determined to win ; but they 
were outmatched in rifles aud in system. The Bockard 
military gave its best work in the hands of the N. Y. 
team, while it is manifest from other scores made at the 
same meeting that the Springfield rifle was not manipu¬ 
lated to the best advantage in this match. Odd as the 
assertion may seem, rifle practice is an innovation in the 
army, and neither men nor officers are yet able to get the 
best work out of their weapons. Tlie scores, however, 
showed such a great advance over those of last year that 
it is evident that the anomaly of an army valueless as a 
shooting corps is gradually being wiped out. The men 
should receive more assistance from the officers. It is 
one thing issuing an order to have so much rifle practice 
performed, and it is quite another to see that such prac¬ 
tice is rightly and economically conducted. The army 
may rest' assured that they will receive fate play, and win 
or lose on their merits at "Creedmoor. If it be that they 
are able to defeat the civilian soldiers in this form of con¬ 
test, let them show it; if not, let them shift about for a 
very good excuse. If they are not aimed properly, let 
that fact be known and tlie error rectified, If it be that 
the fault lies in the conduot of army affairs, let that fact 
be shown, aud the men. who make of the army a com¬ 
pany of helpless armed men be held to account. As it is 
now, until the army comes up to better form at Creed¬ 
moor, the public will bo very apt to look with distrust on. 
their pretensions to be considered as effective protectors 
of the Commonwealth. To show the advance made by 
the army since last year, the scores of the first contest a 
year ago are given :— 
200 yds. 500 COO yd*. Total. 
.. 315 370 839 1,044 
State of New Toils. 
Slate of Connecticut. . 8*» 
Military Division of the Atlantic.... 312 
State of New Jersey. 328 — 
Military Division of the Missouri. ... 303 270 234 8(13 
The State match went again to New York, but by a 
very close margin indeed ; and New Jersey may be con¬ 
gratulated on being shoulder to shoulder with the Empire 
State in rifle practice, and who so says that Brinton aud 
Columbia and Stockton are not to be considered as effec¬ 
tive establishments, fails to read the record alike; and 
Governor McClellan is to be congratulated on the position 
he has enabled the soldiers of his State to take in this 
trial, 
Turning again to the record, the figures on this match 
stand for previous years :— 
1875— * 2V*. Y. 
200 yurts..........418 
500 yards. 418 
Totals............_ ... 884 
1878—200 yards. 434 
. 500 yards. 383 
Totals.,,,..., . . 818 
1877- 200 yards .*80 
500 yards. ... 4S7 
Totals ... , .087 
1878— 200 yards. 488 
500 yards. . 431 
Totals .. . 074 
The Military Championship for individual work again 
brought tho out-of-town men to the front. • 
The 19th saw another twist with fickle Creedmoor 
wind, which came up the range from the butts in true 
12 o’clock stylo; except when it became fish-taily and 
fanned one cheek and the other in irregular alternation. 
The long range men found hard work to keep on the tar¬ 
get, and the “magpie’’and “red-eye” came up far too 
often. There were five long range teams in the Inter- 
State match. For a time it was doubtful whether the 
old Amateurs would have a team or not. That such a 
question should have been started in this club, seems to 
show that something is wrong there, The Jersey men 
came in strong with a couple of old Amateur men. The 
Washington team had lost Partollo very unexpectedly, 
and the Creedmoor record stands robbed of some of those 
wonderful strings of bull’s-eyes which everybody looked 
for aud none saw, because two days before M. P. bad 
taken occasion to vacate the ranch, 4 saving behind him 
much indignation and some damaging rumors. Yet the 
Washingtonians received the highest individual total of 
the day. The Massachusetts team simply and flatly went 
to pieces. Had any one asserted that such a thing was 
probable, he had been scoffed at for a fool; but with a 
miss at 300 yards the team went floundering about, and- 
got a place somewhere down the list where the Walnut 
Hill men did not care. Enough for them to know that 
it was not first. The Champions’ match was more in 
order ; and when it went to Sumner nobody was sur¬ 
prised in the least. The Military Championship, second 
stage, was well contested ; and, while excellent Borchard 
rifles were used, it remained with an army officer, Lieut. 
Geo. N. Whistler, of the Fifth Artillery, stationed at 
Atlanta, Georgia, to take the championship by an excel¬ 
lent record. He redeemed the team’s defeats, and showed 
his fellow-officers and the men that the Springfield rifle 
is capable of the finest work. 
The wind-up on Saturday last was with a single matoh 
—that for the Wimbledon Cup. The long-rangers’ plague 
—a fish-tail headwind—was about again, and scores ran 
poor; for out of a possible 150 the cup went with 137 
made by Laird of Washington, while next to him stood 
another Washington man, Dr. S. I. Scott, late of Balti¬ 
more. The New Yorkers went down, while the Bosto¬ 
nians were even further in the rear. If the Directors take 
the liintandmake the Creedmoor Fall Meeting assume the 
character of a gathering of the champions of the whole 
country, the meetings wifi he affairs worthy of record. 
If this course he nottollowed, the Prize Meetings will fall 
to the working level of the ordinary monthly matches. 
Saturday evening at tlie State Arsenal witnessed a 
general distribution of the prizes, with some speech- 
making not quite up to bull’s-eye standard. 
The 'following will be found the record of the meeting, 
each match given in its conditions, with the winning 
scores in detail: — 
Conn. Cal. N.J. Mim.R 1 
Dibeoturs’ ” Match.—T wo hundred yards ; open 
only to Directors and Honorary Directors oi the N.R.A.; 
rounds, live; position, standing; weapon, any rifle. 
Prize, the Directors' Championship Gold Badge, shot for 
annually, and held by the winner during the year :— 
•T. n. Cowperthwait..4 5 4 4 5—23 I G. W. Wingate.4 3 3 4 4—17 
E. H. Sanford.5 4 4 4 4r-81 WAV. Judd.233 4 t—Hi 
J. G. Story.,,..3445 5—211 G.S.Sohermorhornjr.3 243 4—18 
Col. Litchfield..5 3144-20 i J. Holland.$3488-1$ 
H. Fulton.53444—20 I M. Morris.43238—15 
D.D. Wylie.58244—IS | J. H. Jones. 04243—12 
Geo. D. Scutt.4 3 3 4 3—17 I 
“Judd" Match.—O ffered annually, tinder resolution 
of Board of Directors, to commemorate the services ren¬ 
dered by Hon. David W. Judd in seeming the passage of 
the law by which tbe Association was enabled to secure 
its range". Open to all comers ; weapon, any military 
rifle ; distance, 200 yards ; position, standing ; rounds, 
seven; entrance fee, $1. First prize, a Billiard mid¬ 
range rifle, offered by Messrs. Schoverling, Daly & Gales, 
No. 84 Chatham street. New Y'ork. value, $65 ; second 
prize, a life membership N. R. A. (transferable under the 
rules), value, $25, and cash, $15, total value, $40 ; tilted 
prize, a Sharps military rifle, model of 1378, offered by 
Sharp's Rifle Co., Bridgeport, Conn., value, $22.50; 
fourth prize, cash, $15: fifth prize, cash, $10; sixth, 
seventh, eighth and ninth prizes, each, cash, $5 ; tenth, 
eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth 
prizes, each, cash $3 ; sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth,, 
nineteenth and twentieth prizes, each, cash, $2 ; twe’nty- 
lirst to thirtieth prizes, the return of entrance fee 
Name. 
Jas. Lamed. 
J. II. Holland. 
Georgia While. 
F. A. Wright. 
t\ H. Eagle . 
W. M. Furrow. 
G. Kelsey. 
W. H. Cochrane. 
It.’f. Farrell. 
C. Van Ordeu. 
T. J. Clay. 
J. W. Mangam. 
H. Lloyd. 
William 8. Phillips.. 
j. II. Joey. 
H.T. Lockwood.... 
E. Gridin. 
D. II. Ogden. 
E. W. Griffith. 
G. T. Stlllson. 
C. w. Talladay. 
II. Nichols. 
J, 11. Teucltle. 
E. H. Sanford. 
Thomus Carroll_ 
W. Robertson. 
J. Cavuuugh. 
Il.A. Menken. 
A. J. Hewlett. 
J. Daly. 
J. MoC’iirtln, 30, 
Hijle. 
..Sharps. 4 
. .Remington. 4 
.Bochurd. 4 
..Sharps. 5 
,. Remington.4 
. .Springfield.5 
..Springfield. 4 
. .Lteiniiigton. 4 
..Remington. 4 
..Sharps. 4 
. Springfield. 4 
..Sharps. 4 
. Springfield... * 
..Springfield. 4 
. Springfield. .. 4 
. .Remington.4 
. Spring field. 4 
. .BoeUurd.4 
...Sharps. 4 
.. Remington.4 
. Sharps.4 
.. Slumps.4 
...Sharps. 4 
. ..Remington.4 
... Springfield..4 
...Sharps. * 
...Springfield. 5 
... Remington.4 
. .Sharps.3 
. .Springfield. 5 
4 5 4 5 5 
5 4 
5 
5-33 
5-32 
5-33 
5-33 
5-32 
—33 
5 G 5—31 
4 5 ft—31 
4 5 5-31 
5 4 r. -:;i 
5 4 5-31 
4 4 5-31 
5 4 4-31 
5 4 ‘4-31 
4 4 4— 31 
5 4 5—31 
5 3 5-31 
5 4 5—30 
4 5 4-30 
4 5 4—30 
5 4 4-30 
5 4 4-30 
5 4 4^-30 
5 4 5-00 
5 4 5—30 
5 4 5—30 
4 4 5-30 
6 3 6-30 
5 5 4—30 
4' 4 1-30 
