133 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



meat, on I ; Corporal Hedges and Corporal Parker, on W 

 and K. Colonel Bodine, J. 8. Oonlin, K. C. Coleman, J. B. 

 slo and other reliable ones were on duty at the American 

 pnnls. whila fertile Britiaht3aro.Lisuten.aiifeA.daia of Oanacu 

 P. S. Crcenhill and Major Waller did the careful watching 

 and spotting. General llawley sat in a convenient central 

 position watching anil fanning. 



At 10:45 the long boom of the cannon in the middle of the 

 range warned the crowd away from the targets, as it called all 

 to the firing-points, and the team men slowly Unpacked their 

 Weapons, got out their ammunition, disposed of cleaning- 

 rods or ram rods, and waited for the 11 o'clock gun. M ■aii- 

 while the two captains met between the tiring-points, with 

 Judge Stanton, who, after a hearty good-morning, said : "Gen- 

 tlemen ami captains of the two teams, before entering upon 

 this match it is proper that I should announce that it is to lie 

 contested on conditions the same as those originally put FOr- 

 wnni to the riflemen of the world in 1 870 by our countrymen 

 and the directors of the National Riflo Association. I "only 

 hope that the same courtesy and show of kindness which has 

 existed since the arrival of the visitors on our shores will be 

 continued during the match and after it, and during the whole 

 time the representatives of Great Britain remain in this coun- 

 try. I eloee now by aunnouhclng the match formally opened, 

 and may the best man win," 



With this benediction in advance, the two team captains 

 took a cordial grasp and shake of the hand, and, as 8ir Henry 

 said, " I certainly hnpe and trust he will," the captains step- 

 ped each to his own place in the firing squads determined 

 to show tie.- world which of them was the "belter man." The 

 11 o'clock cannon had sounded, and now all was tip-toe ex- 

 citement to sec wdio should be the opening marksmen. The 

 ■wind had dropped to 8, and then to 7 and was verging on the 

 ticklish o'clock point, which it soon after reached. For a 

 long time, or what seemed such in the suspense, the team men 

 raised no end of noise by firing charges into the ground, but. 

 the wait was not really so long, for at 11:15 the American team 

 captain led oil on K, with a centre, and the red disk was tha 

 first to slip up. The target had been found, and the experi- 

 ence of this opening shot enabled Jackson, who fired next, to 

 receive a beautiful carton bull's-eye. Hyde, using a gun of 

 another make, opened independently with a centre. Mean- 

 time Weber, ou W, was in with a centre, while the first shot 

 on the British wing, fired by Rigby at target X, brought up a 

 good bull's-eye disk. 



The game was now fairly on, the. ball had been started, and 

 it required a sharp eye to keep accurate and prompt recur J of 

 the story which the disk told. At 11:35 all thought of a rainy 

 day was dissipated by the bursting out of the sun, and for the 

 re minder of the day no one compelled to grin and bear it 

 ou the opeu lawn failed to heap maledictions on Old Sol. The 

 wind went round to a direct south, to a plump 6 o'clock breeze 

 on the dial, and now the task lay in watching it sharply lest 

 in firing the marksman should findhirnself using for a '• right" 

 wind, when really the opposite should have been allowed for. 

 By 12:15 the wind had really touched the 5 o'clock point, and 

 for a moment or two it rested on the 4 o'clock point. But on 

 the whole the wind was lenient. Two or possibly three points 

 was the extreme area covered by the marksmen on their wind- 

 gauges, though with such rear wind much of the allowance 

 was provided for on the rear vernier sights. The cr.jwd in- 

 creased every moment, and was very orderly and quiet con- 

 sidering the most urgent inclination it had to cheer every good 

 suot made. American and Briiish teams were alike watched, 

 the crowd dividing its sympathies very evenly. 



Under the excellent supervision of Captain Price, of the 

 Seventh Regiment, little time was lost in recording, shot for 

 shot, on a huge blackboard the scores of the marksmen. It 

 was very evident before a half dozen shots had been fired that 

 the sc lie was to be a fine one. Kigby, who fired with most 

 deliberate precision, poured in ten bulls eyes before he slipped 

 o 1' mto a high inner, all his shooting snowed a tendency' to go 

 nigh. The oilier British openings were rather straggling, and 

 Humphry's actually began a match for his side with a clean 

 miss, under the target, but near enough to call out the experts 

 to take a look at the target-face to assure themselves that a 

 fair, square miss was ready on the British record. In the first 

 round, out; of the possible 4u, each of the teams secured §2 

 points. By the iourth round the Americans had shaken them- 

 selves into form, and then a brilliant run. of nearly forty bull's- 

 eyes consecutively kept the while disk blinking with wonder- 

 ful regularity over the face of the black bull's-eyes of targets 

 K and YV\ 'The running record will show how four rounds 

 of perfect seorrs were made each time. At 12:155, with the 

 wind at 5. the Americans closed their 800 yards work on a 

 score of 508 points — big enough to satisfy any one but a stick- 

 ler after infallibility, and as die team men stepped away to 

 the quiet of General Hakin's tent for rest and luncheon they 

 left the British men some rounds behind. The visitors shot 

 slowly, too much so for their own good, Wm. Kigby at times 

 wasting as much as fifteen minutes m a single shot. But they 

 were pulling up, and the last lew rounds at 800 yards were as 

 good as any reasonable team captain could desire. Barring 

 Humphry's miss the whole sixteen men had reached high fig- 

 ures. Seventy -four by Biydeuburuh was the best, but there 

 was a crowd close at his heels, and the s'.n ;le outer of Geo. 

 Fentoii was the only evidence of the least rash work by the 

 shoo era. Either of the totals reached by the teams was credit- 

 able on any range, but in the degrees of credit the Americans 

 had the advantage by ten points. At the ninth round the 

 home team hart a lead of eighteen points, but the Britons crept 

 up toward the close and left lead enough to feel proud over, 

 though not enough to feel any great confidence about. 



Then came the rush for luncheon, and while it was evident 

 that nothing that could help to add to the comfort and facili- 

 ties of the teams had been left undone by General Woodward 

 and his associates, the British team finding a neat luncheon 

 awaiting them in their tent, it seemed equally true that 

 nothing that could increase the discomfort and annoyance to 

 fi at throngs ol visitors had bt en omitted by those who 

 c inveyed the crowd to the range and undertook to feed it and 

 otherwise care for it while there. 



But by 1:15, when the gun sounded the recall to business 

 the croud came back hungry or otherwise, as luck in the grab 

 game of lunch rinding hart been, and the 900 yards range was 

 fcegun. A leading round of thirty-six for the British against 

 thirty-two for the Americans took somewhat from the old 

 lead. Dakin was leading on his squad, and through trepida- 

 tion or oi her wise, was not doing over well. But seven bull's- 

 eyes in fifteen shots was rather wild for so steady an old war- 

 horse. Hyde dropped into a lucky streak, and Weber, despite 

 the "fact that he was a more fit subject for a sick chamber than 

 f by a hard-fought rifle field, was away up with seventy-three 

 p iin;s, though to Bruce belongs the honor of this range, with 

 the best score on the field. * >n the British 11a ak of t he battle- 

 ground things were not brightening up. Fergusou, the eare- 

 , actually made an outer on the left wing of the 



target, which Colonel Benton balanced with one on the right 

 wing. But the most provoking mishap to the British team 

 during the day was when Sir Henry Halford forgot to drop a 

 bullet in his rifle before he shot, in the middle of his 900 yards 

 score. Sir Henry bad already shot six times, making a bull's 

 eye each time. He b*d been cool and collected all day, and 

 had done excellent work at both the 800 and 900 yard ranges. 

 Be lay down to make the seventh shot, and as the piece went 

 off he threw up his arms slightly and said, in the quiet under- 

 tone which is always maintained during the firing, " Oh ! 

 dear, I didn't have a ball in it," and some inveterate punster 

 in the crowd said, "The bullet out will spoil the bulletin." 

 The rash man was summarily ejected from the grounds. All 

 knew by the report of the rifle that it bad contained only a 

 blank charge. No one else spoke a word, and Sir Henry kept 

 perfect silence after his first ejaculation, and tried to dissem- 

 ble his vexation. Anyone who looked at htm closely, how- 

 ever, saw that his brow was firmly knitted with self-provoca 

 lion. B, came his turn to shoot again, and every one looked 

 ■mx-ionsly for the result. He had a ball iu that time "for 

 su-e," but, instead of following its six predecessors mto the 

 1 uTs-eye it bit far up in the left centre of the target, count 

 ingonly three. The accident seemed to affect others as well 

 as Sir Henry, as several very poor shots followed. But as 

 others got a little nervous, the cool and solemn Humphry 

 seem to get more calm and determined. He poured ball after 

 ball straight into the middle of the target, hardly making a 

 single failure after the accident. After his tenth shot, winch 

 was a poor one, Sir Henry took out Ins short pipe and sat down 

 for a smoke. This seemed to help him to regaiu his equilibri- 

 um, and his last three shots in that bout went straight to the 

 bull's-eye. The lead of ten which the Americans had gained 

 was not wiped away, but instead another ten was added to 

 it. At the 1 wenly-eighth round the red, white and blue cham- 

 pions were twenty -three points ahead, but with their usual 

 early-closing habits the Americans left the other team free to 

 lire the last few shots of their 900 yards stage alone, and. as 

 before, they crept up and reduced the margin by a few points. 

 This may be seen by a further reference to the running 

 record. 



Twenty points to wipe away ere they could hope for victory 

 was a big task, but it was one the Britishers essayed as they 

 fell back to 1,000 yards. It did not take long for the work- 

 men to bring back tents, camp-stools, ropes', benches, teles- 

 copes, etc., etc., after a dozen horsemen of the Washington 

 Grey Troop, under Lieutenant Decker, had assisted the police 

 in driving the mob to the right about face for a distance of 300 

 feet. The opening at the longest range was most carefully 

 made. It was getting late— after 4 o'clock— and the Ameri- 

 cans, at any rate, Understood the importance of getting through 

 before the cooling air of evening compelled a change of eleva- 

 tion to guard against high shots. The crowd, gaining as train 

 after train left its load, was extended in a black fringe down 

 either side of the firing points, and far away toward the tar- 

 gets. From the first the firing points were kept clear of loaf- 

 ers and loungers, and those whom the police passed could not 

 hope to escape the sharp eyes and strong arm of Major Yale, 

 special guardian of the American team. The crowd, how- 

 ever, was growing demonstrative, especially a number of 

 foreign-born citizens at the rear of the British point, who 

 thought proper to honor Sir Henry Halford, or "Sir Harry," 

 as they proudly dubbed him, as he forged ahead through a 

 very fine score. But the British shooters, as a rule, were" not 

 doing over well, though not by any means poorly. Humphry 

 was in p.ior luck. Two straight misses were in his score at 

 this distance ; but the capping piece of misfortune was in the 

 second shot of Milner. An excellent one it was— a plump 

 bull— but on the wrong target, and it formed a fitting com- 

 panion-piece to Sir nenry Hal ford's no-bullet shot. Milner 

 had taken aim for his shot, but got up to wait for a little gust 

 of wind to pass over. On going down again he pointed at the 

 target on the right, and plsmted a ball almost in its centre. 

 Instead of allowing the mistake to vex him, he came to time 

 in the next round and renewed his score, of bull's-eyes on the 

 right target. These two mishaps doubtless put the British 

 team back ten points, and perhaps more, and worse still, while 

 all this was going on, the Britishers could not but see that the 

 Americans were doing splendid work from the vapidity with 

 which the two great white disks at their targets rose up" as the 

 balls followed one another into the bull's-eyes. It frequently 

 happened that two shots at the same instant resulted in send- 

 ing up these two white disks together, and at such times the 

 crowd cheered their countrymen. 



Not a single outer was recorded on the British target at this 

 range, but the three misses helped most materially to pull their 

 score down. In place of the lead they had hoped to find at 

 the extreme range the visitors only found themselves further 

 behind. The Americans were pulling well together. Bruce 

 opened with an outer, and, if he would only confess it, a lit- 

 tle unsteady holdiug in the "pull-off" would explain it. The 

 team worked harder al this range than at either of the others. 

 The slant light from the setting sun came from the rear right; 

 the air was growing endurable to the crowd of humanity, but 

 to the tender rifle-barrel a drop from ninety^ to seventy degrees 

 in temperature meant different shooting. There were no perfect 

 rounds here. Hyde, right in the middle of a brilliant run o* 

 bull's eyes, landed a miss— a drop it was — into the dirt far iu 

 front of the target, evidently from a short-filled cartridge, and ou 

 the eleventh shot Jackson got down so low as to get an angle 

 iron shot — that is, hitting the iron-bound sill upon which the 

 heavy target rests. This miss followed after an unsteady shot 

 by Dakin, at which he got a high inner. He counseled Jack- 

 son to come down in elevation, which he did, and got a miss. 

 Going hack to Ms old elevation when he next shot, Jackson 

 found the bull's-eye, proving that his leader had ruiguided 

 him. These, with the outer of Bruce, were the only losses at 

 this range; Blydenburgh and Jewell were making "big strides 

 for first place, the former ranking first with his seventy-two in 

 the possible seventy-five. The Americans were finished some 

 moments before the British shooters, and the total 1,655 was 

 known over the field. A little rapid figuring showed that the 

 English representatives could not possibly draw up abreast of 

 them, but all remained to see what total they would reach. 

 Sir Henry Halford must have been a bit Hurried' to get into an 

 inner on his last shot, hut the slow shooting of Bigby and his 

 followers drew the match out to 0:30, and the evening shades 

 were falling fast, and scores were correspondingly suffering. 



The cheering was not very heavy at the finish, though the 

 grand score of 1.055 for the Americans against 1,029 for the 

 British would have justified a good share of applause as they 

 stood out the best recorded match scores ever made. The 

 crowd scattered homeward, and as they did so the pi 

 verdict and the judgment of experts was that the first pottfcJB 

 of the international rifle match was a complete and tie 

 success, looked at. that is, from an American standpoint. The 

 members of the British team may not have shared in this 

 i but they certainly cannot complain of any lack of 



opportunity to show their ability as riflemen. Never before 

 in the history of firearms have eight men shooting tog 

 shown a record of marksmanship equal lo that made by the 

 American team. A score of 1,655 in a possible 1,800 is sim- 

 ply marvelous, and the. closer an examination is carried into 

 the scores the more remarkable, becomes the performance to 

 the appreciation of the non-shooting citizen. 

 The full scores of the day's work stood : 



TUB FIRST DAY'S SCORES. 

 AMERICAN. BRITISH. 



C E Blydenbirs, Rem Cree.t. j k Milner, Riabv Ride.. 



5 4 6 9 8 B 6 5 B S 5 5 5 5—74 5 3 i 5 5 5 5 5 5 fi 5 fi 5 5 5—73 



5 8 5 6 3 5 5 a 4 4 6 3 5 3 5-67 B H 3 4 5 5 B 4 B 5 5 B 5 5 5- TO 



36564546654555 5— 1i 505555 55554545 4-67 



Total 3ia 



H S Jewell, Rem Creed 

 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 3 4 4 5 5 5—71 

 14 3 6 5 4 5 4 5 5 r, 5 5 1 4—69 

 5 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 6 3 5 5 5 5— 7 1 



Total 9U9 



Frank Hyde, Sharp Ore.! 

 4 5 4 5 5 S 5^5 45545 5-71 



4 4 4 5 8 5 5 5 5 6 5 o 5 3 5 -70 

 4550565 5'fl 55555 4 -(is 



Total »iki 



Isaac L Allen, Rem Dreed. 

 3 4 5 5 5 6 5 5 5 4 6 5 5 B 5—71 

 3 3 4 3 4 5 5 5 n 5 5 5 5 5 t— (jfl 

 543 56655545 4 45 5 -6!) 



Total £06 



L Weber. Sharpe Creed 



3 5 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 5-6!) 



5 5 5 5 4 5 5 6 5 B 1 5 5 5 5 -73 

 3 5 3 5 4 4 5 5 5 3 4 5 5 5 3—B4 



Total 206 



L C Bruce, Sharps Creed. 



3 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 6 5 5 5 5 1 -70 

 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 8 5 6 5-73 



2 5 3 5 4 5 5 4 5 5 4 4 3 5 4-63 



Total 206 



W H Jackson, Rem Creed, 

 5 5 5 5 5 5 S 5 4 4 5 5 5 3 3—69 



4 3 5 5 4 4 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5—09 



5 5 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 4 4— 66 



Total „ 204 



TS Dakln, Rem Cteefl, 



4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4—73 



3 4 4 5 4 5 5 5 3 4 3 5 3 5 B -03 

 545444453535 555 -60 



no9 



Wm RIOT, Klpny Rifle. 

 6 5 5 6 5 6 i I .-,55 5—73 



5 4 4 8 3 3 4 6 5 5 4 4 5 4 5- 65 

 5 44353 5 555 5 556 5—69 



Total 2H7 



n a w Brorn*, Metford R tie 



5 ;; 5 5 (55565*556 5-71 

 5 5 5 4 4 5 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5-70 

 B 5 5 5 3 3 5 4 5 5 5 5 4 4 5-16 



Total 20T 



Wra Fersupson, Rieby Rittfe 

 5 5 5 I 4 5 5 5 4 5 6 5 6 6 5—72 



5 2 4 ?. 5 6 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 4-67 



6 5 5 5 5 3 5 4 5 4 5 3 5 4 4—67 



Total. 206 



Sir Henry Halford, Metford, 



4 15 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 6 6 71 



5 5 5 5 5 5 3 3 4 5 8 S 6 5—63 

 555055 5545545 3 3—71 



Totil BOB 



Lieut. Geo. Feiiton, Ripliy. 

 8 4 I 4 5 2 5 5 4 4 5 5 5 5 5—65 



4 5 4 5 5 4 4 1 5 5 5 5 6 5 5-70 



5 4 5 15 5 5 5 5 4 4 5 5 5 3—69 



Total 804 



Lieut Op] Fenton, Metforrt. 



5 3 5 4 5 B 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 8—71 

 4 4 5 5 5 2 3 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 4— 62 

 O456344S405544 5-65 



Total 198 



A 1' Humphry, Metforrl. 

 5 3 5 5 4 3 5 5 3 B 5 5 5 5-63 



3 5 5 5 6 5 5 5 5 5 4 5 ,'i 5 5-70 



4 5 5 4 4 5 U 4 5 4 6 5 5 5-00 



Total 2,2 Total 193 



THE SECOND DAT. 



The 14th inst. repeated the story of the day previous. 

 There were the teams at the firing points, toiling on, watching 

 and working, using brain and body in a grand trial of com- 

 bined head and hand work. There were the crowds and the 

 hubbub, and the short rations and plentiful libations, Hie 

 watching and the scurrying, and over all the same spite- 

 fully hot sun. But the day's effort was not misspent? 

 neither of the teams would recall, if they could, the record 

 of that day's work. The British might not cafe to have the 

 result come as it did, but lo shoot so well as to compel a total 

 of 1,679 from the Opposing team is high honor for any squad. 

 The finish of the day's work on Thursday shorpencd the an- 

 ticipation of all for the struggle of Friday. The British were 

 behind and had the prospect of a had defeat before them, yet 

 it was possible that victory might yet be theirs. They had a 

 double motive for extra care and scrutiny in every detail, and 

 certainly their actions showed that they were doing their best. 

 The Americans, with their big record of the first day, saw the 

 chance of doing something brilliant, and perhaps, too, urged 

 on by the thought that the Englishmen were holding back a 

 little to pull up on the last day, took every advantage which 

 the day could afford. The day previous had been hot, and 

 the second day was hotter by fully 10 degrees. Before !) 

 o'clock, at which hour the team men and the early visitors 

 began to appear on the shooting ground, there wok a midday 

 heat, which made rapid walking an tnithought-of venture, 

 and the shelter of the tents and trees more than merely ac- 

 ceptable. The agreement of the previous morning between 

 the referee, Colonels GildersleevG and Peel, that the targets 

 should be exchanged from day to day. brought the British 

 shooters to targets K and W on the left of the range, and the 

 Americans to targets X and I. The scores v., re as on the 

 day before, and, in shooting, Dakin, Jackson, Hyde and Allen 

 followed on target X, with Weber, Bruce, Blydenburgh and 

 Jewell on I. Rigby, Milner, Fergusson ana Evans filled 

 target K, and Halford, Geo Fenton, Col. »Fenton and Hum- 

 phry shot on target W. The Older of firing on each target 

 was that named above. Oaptain KobMns replaced Col. Baa- 

 ford as officer in charge of the butts, and the assignments 

 there'were : J. McGlensey, American representative, "and A. 

 M. Fraser, British representative, at X ; E. If. Lichfield and 

 C. G. Peterkin on target I. On the British targets the butt 

 delegates on target W were Captain fjenrichs, of the Forty- 

 seventh Brooklyn, and T, Yaughan Thompson ; and on i 

 K, Sergeant T. N. Brown, of the Twenty-third, and Sergeant 

 W. H. Gilder of the British staff. The order on the n 

 was of the same excellent character which has in 

 day thus far of the fall meeting, The tiring places wtfa 

 clear of the general mass of loungers and on-lookers, anj 

 the actual firing party a quiet and order were maintained 

 which had not been possible were the crowd at large pern 

 to jam itself into such positions as it might choose, At 10:45 

 o'clock the six-pounder brass field piece boomed out tin m 

 ready warning, and fief ore 11 o'clock the two teams wi 

 their posts. The men were in good irim, Weber, the sick 

 man, having under vigorous treatment on the previous 

 ing almost thrown off his heavy headache and general unfit- 

 ness for work. He came on the range smiling, and bis scores 

 do not certainly give any indication of a serious tnterfi 

 of sickness. Dakin was not in good trim, and Lis day's work 

 shows the only slip under 200 points by anj member of the 

 team during the two days' scoring. In the British Iving of 

 the field the usual grouping was seen. Lieut. Adam, of the 

 Canadians, spotted and coached on one target, while It. 8. 

 Greenhill did the same for the other group. Ap the riflemen 

 unpacked their rifles and looked sharply Out upon the range 

 to see the wind, they were met by as lazy and quiet a display 

 of bunting as it was possible to have, On some oi fh, 

 the flags hugged them without the least attempt at a flurry, 

 much less a wave. At the dial the pointer stood at 1 1 o'< 

 and the gentle swaying of the fane kept the hand mo 

 lazily about; There was wind enough to allow for, and that 



By 11:15 the men had concluded th 

 and warming up, and the business Ol led on 



target X ma centre by General Dakin, and 

 followed by eve-y mo 



