Dec. 21, 1896.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



647 



The Clark-Willey Matches. 



WILLEY WON TWO OUT OF THREE. 



The series of three matches arranged to take place between W. G. 

 Clark, late of Altoona, Pa., and Allen Willey, of Hadlyme, Conn., was 

 brought to a conclusion late on Saturday afternoon last, Dec. 14. The 

 three matches had been fixed for three consecutive days, one match 

 each day. The first was to be shot on the grounds of the Elizabeth 

 (N. J.) Gun Club, Dec. 13; the second at Charlie Zwirlein's Yardville, 

 N. J., grounds on Dec. 13, and the final match on the Dexter Park, L. 

 I., grounds on Dec. 14. 



The above programme was successfully carried out, the weather- 

 barring the cold on the first two days— being all that could be asked 

 for. The birds at Elizabeth and at Yardville were a rattling good lot, 

 while at Dexter Park the first 100 flew well, many of them being 

 extremely hard birds; the last 100 were shot at in a fast failing light, 

 the consequence being that incomers were far too numerous. As a 

 matter of fact the match at Dexter Park was commenced at least an 

 hour too late for this time of the year, the first shot not being fired 

 until 3:25 P. M. The last 35 for each man were shot in such an uncer- 

 tain light that many of the kills of outgoing birds were little short 

 of marvelous. 



Taken as a whole, the work of the two men in the serieB was a dis- 

 appointment to their friends, the scores being low ones with the ex- 

 ception of Willey's 50 out of 56 in the match at Yardville. In that 

 match he shot an excellent race, killing some extra fast birds and 

 shooting in good, quick time. Clark did by far his best work of the 

 series in Saturday's match, when at one time he ran 58 out of 61, two 

 of his lost birds falling dead out of bounds. This was from the 10th to 

 the 70th rounds inclusive. In the same match Willey scored 31 out of 

 33 birds, from the 39th to the 70th rounds inclusive. 



The scores in the three matches were as follows: First match— Wil- 

 ley 83, Clark 80. Second match— Willey 50 out of 56, Clark 36 out of 

 56, Clark withdrawing, owiDg to reasons given below. Third match — 

 Clark 85, Willey 80. These figures show that out of the 356 birds shot 

 at by each man Willey scored 213, Clark only 301. 



The combined records of the way the traps fell in the three matches 

 are as follows: 



No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5. Total. 



Willey 49 53 56 49 49 256 



Clark 48 53 43 59 54 356 



97 



105 



108 



108 



512 



From the above it will be seen that Willey drew No. 1 and No. 5s each 

 once more than Clark did, but he had No. 3 just thirteen times more than 

 his opponent, Clark, on the other hand, drew No. 4 ten time8 and No. 

 5 five times more than Willey did. As 103 would be about an average 

 for the five traps, each trap kept wonderfully close to the average. 

 At Elizabeth and at Yardville an indicator was used, while at Dexter 

 Park the Mott automatic electric pulling apparatus was used. Each 

 match is treated in detail below. 



WILLEY WON BY TWO BIRDS. 



Dec. IS.— The first match of the Clark-Willey series was shot to-day 

 on the grounds of the Elizabeth, N. J., Gun Club. These grounds are 

 capital ones for a pigeon match, and Nate Astfalk to-day showed that 

 he can. provide as good birds as anybody else. The birds were really 

 an excellent lot of flyers, quick to take wing and strong when started. 

 Notwithstanding the penetrating cold of the northeast wind, they 

 were not allowed to feel it, the match birds being kept iuside the warm 

 club house and being brought out a dozen at a time as they were 



needed. The consequence was that they were never the least bit 

 chilled and flew as well as any we ever saw. This probably accounts 

 in a great measure for the comparatively low scores made, 82 winning 

 the match by 3 birds. 



It cannot be said, however, that it accounts entirely for the low 

 scores, because each man showed that he could kill good fast birds 

 when they were dealt out to him. Of course there were a few that 

 "nobody could have killed," and they naturally got away. Then 

 again the cold was very severe and few shooters, if any, can do their 

 best work when they have to be blanketed, like a horse, after each 

 shot. Clark appeared to feel the cold the most, particularly after the 

 interval of ten minutes for warming up, which took place at the half- 

 way notch. Willey, on the other hand, seemed to be in need of the 

 stove at the close of his second string; he did the besc shooting of the 

 match after the first 7 birds in the third string had been shot at. Out 

 of the next 31 birds he lost but 3, and one of the two went out of 

 bounds after being knocked down apparently as dead as a doornail. 



As regards the luck of the birds, Willey drew the .hardest birds in 

 the first half, but Clark's birds in the second half made up whatever 

 was lacking in the previous 50. Taken as a whole, therefore, the luck 

 of the birds was about even. The fall of the traps, an indicator and a 

 rope pull being used, was as follows: 



No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5 



Clark 11 21 17 14 27 



Willey 21 28 21 19 11 



- — -" 32 49 38 43 38 



It will be noticed that Nos. 1 and 5 fell very unevenly to both men; 

 Clark had No. 1 ten times less than Willey, while he drew No. 5 sixteen 

 times more than his opponent did. 



The match commenced at 1:15 with Willey at the score, Al Heritage 

 acting as referee, Aaron Woodruff as trap-puller and Edward Banks 

 as official scorer. Carl von Lengerke looked after Clark's interests. 



The first bird of the match was a corker. It left No. 5 like a 

 flash and twisted like a snipe, but Willey was too good for 

 him and he made the first kill of the shoot. Willey missed his 

 4th and gave Clark the lead, but the latter followed suit in the 

 next round and the pair were even. Next Willey lost his 7th bird dead 

 out of bounds, but Clark once more evened things up by losing his 8th 

 bird, also dead out of bounds. In the 13th round Clark drew a very 

 hard bird from No. 5, the bird carrying both loads of shot just 

 outside the boundary. This gave Willey the lead and he held it for 

 the next 5 rounds. In the 19th round he drew a fast bird from No. 2 

 that beat him entirely, the bird losing only a few feathers; the score 

 was once more a tie when Clark landed another good bird from the 

 same trap. In the 21st round both men lost their birds, the score 

 being still a tie. Each killed the next 4 birds, the score at the end of 

 the first 25 showing 31 all. 



Willey was the first to lose a bird in the second series, his 38 th bird 

 falling dead outside the boundary. Both men lost their birds in the 

 31st round, but Willey added one more to Clark's lead by losing his 

 10th bird. The next ten rounds were productive of some of the poor- 

 est work in the whole match, each man losing 4 out of his 10 birds. 

 Killing the next 4 straight, the score at the half-way showed: Clark 41, 

 Willey 39. 



After the recess of ten minutes Jim Elliott took Al. Heritage's place 

 as referee, the cold being too severe for Heritage's comfort. The 

 official scorer also went inside the club house, where it was warm. 

 Willey's 54th bird fell dead out of bounds, Clark's lead being increased 

 to 3 birds. The next round, however, saw Clark lo3e a bird, but as 

 Willey lost his 57th, Clark still had a commanding lead of 3 After 

 that round, though, the match quickly took on another aspect; Willey 

 ran 33 straight, while Clark lost 8 birds, the latter losing his 74th, 75th, 

 78th and 77th birdB in rapid succession. Both men lost their 81st birds; 



Willey also had his 87th go out of bounds after being supposed to be 

 a dead bird. When Clark lost his 93d the match was all over, as 

 Willey had a lead of 5 with only 7 more to shoot at. Then Willey gave 

 his backers a temporary scare; he let an easy bird from No. 2 beat 

 him in the 94th round; his 95th was a fast driver that jumped clean 

 out of the first load ,not a pellet apparently striking him. Willey held 

 his second barrel for a long time, finally bringing down the bird at 

 least 35yds. from the score, the wing being broken; it was one of 

 those 10 to 1 shots that come off now and then. His 91st and 93d 

 both escaped, the 92d being a particularly faBt bird. As Clark bad 

 killed his 4 birds, this work of Willey's reduced the lead to 2, with 3 

 more birds to shoot at, but the 3 he drew were all that one could ask 

 for in a tight place and he scored them, winning as above by 2 birds to 

 the good. Clark shot well at the close, killing 31 out of his last 23; 

 he had struck hi3 gait, but be came too late. The match occupied 

 three hours all but five minutes. 

 The full scores, showing flight and number of trap, are as follows: 



Trap score type— Copyright /sss, by Forest and Stream Piilrtishing Co. 



52 3 44243314423 3 8542413 141 



A Willey (30). ..2 2 2 2 2 • 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 2 3 3 • 2 2 2 2-21 



1112152354313325134151223 



22«12022202220 2.022201 2 1 2-18 



143335312212211328144354 3 

 \T/"-*NTS^-»^\/U-><-^-+T-»-+T~i-V- 

 2 21«230 2 22212 2 22222 2 2222 2-23 



4313325524, 2 25132442243312 



3222202222 1 •12 2 1 2 2 2 0.2 2 2—20-82 



5415513153525224542445228 



W G Clark (30).a 112022.a221«22221220222 2-21 



R424514415422345212122344 



322220222221020332020222 2—30 



54453514544 3 2242 3 35355155 

 T <- ? \ ? ? ft T T-^ \ M-^ \ 1 1 T-> t -f 

 2231012232022.1331002220 0—18 



225322343454545351354313 3 

 -» T t /* I T -T i t <- 1 N O- 1 T * ^ ^ v? <-«- 

 • 02220212222122 3 20222112 3—21—80 



Clark's gun goes back on him. 



Dec. IS.— The second match of the series was shot to-day at Yard- 

 ville, N. J., on Charlie Zwirlein's grounds. The weather was even 

 colder than that of the previous day— Dec. 13, 1895, making a record 

 for Itself by being the coldest Dec. 13 since 1872. A strong wind blew 

 in such a manner as to make right-quartering incomers a probability, 

 but so good were Zwirlein's birds that 68 out of the 112 trapped in the 

 match were outgoers, while 17 more were either direct right-quarter- 

 ers or lef t-quarterers; in other words, inclusive of two hoverers, 87 out 

 of 112 showed no incoming tendencies. Those figures tell most con- 

 clusively what was the quality of the birds. 



The 9:10 A. M. train over the P. R. R., arriving at Yardville at 11:21, 

 had on board it a small delegation of shooters and others interested in 

 the match. In addition to three newspaper men, there were Allen 

 Willey, W. G. Clark and J. L.. Brewer, of New York; Al. Heritage, of 

 Marion; Aaron Woodruff and' Nate Astfalk, of Elizabeth. The party 

 was joined at Pennsylvania Crossing by John S. Hoey, of Long Branch, 

 N. J., who kindly consented" to act as referee in the match. 



Charlie Zwirlein's dinner was first disposed of, the rabbit stew find- 

 ing much favor. The party that sat down to the dinner included, be- 

 sides those named above: I. W. Budd, of Pemberton, N. J. ; John 

 Rothacker and Ed. Johnson, of Philadelphia; etc. After dinner an 

 adjournment was made to the grounds and a 7-bird sweep, $5 en- 

 trance, three moneys, was shot, with the result given below. The 

 birds shot at in this sweep were not as quick to start as is usual with 

 Yardville birds; they were apparently suffering a little from the 

 intense cold; once started, and with the wind behind them, they went 

 as fast as any one could ask, 



The match itself started at 1 :33 and by 3 o'clock it was all over, Clark 

 withdrawing at the end of the 56th round, his gun having gone back on 

 him and his opponent being 20 birds in the lead. The accident to Clark's 

 gun was not ot a serious nature, but still it prevented him from using 

 his second barrel with effect, in addition to which he slowed up per- 

 ceptibly in his time with his first barrel, apparently with the idea of 

 making surer work with it. This made his birds appear to be harder 

 than Willey's; as a matter of fact the luck of the birds may be said to 

 be about even. In the matter of the traps, a rope pull and an indica- 

 tor being used, the result was as follows: 



No. 1: No. 2: No. 3: No 4: No 5: 



Willey 13 8 11 7 17 



Clark 13 11 10 14 8 



26 19 21 21 25 



The hardest trap of the lot, with the wind as it was, No. 5, fell to 

 Willey with a frequency that was remarkable, while Clark drew No. 4 . 

 just twice as often as Willey did. An average for the 113 times the 

 traps were pulled would be 23.4; the result as given above shows that 

 the traps fell very regularly, observing the average very closely. 



The story of the match is not a long one and is best told by the de- 

 tailed score, with Forest and Stream's trap-score type to indicate the 

 flight of each bird. Clark changed guns in the 43d round, trying two 

 or three before he finally withdrew. He was unfortunate enough, 

 also, to cut his trigger finger on the first joint with the first gun he 

 changed to, the second one making the cut still larger. Willey shot 

 very well indeed, shooting in quick time, centering his birds well with 

 the first barrel, and, in fact, shooting like a winner all through the 

 match. The fact that he naturally grew more confident as his op- 

 ponent rapidly fell behind him cannot detract from his work, which 

 was as good as any we have ever witnessed, and was, we think, the 

 best he has ever done. His kill of the 43d bird was a splendid piece of 

 shooting. He made a run of 31 straight and another of 11, scoring 32 

 out of his last 34 birds. Clark made good kills also, notably on his 

 37th bird, a second barrel kill that called forth rounds of applause. 

 The traps were pulled by Mr. Hill, the father of Eddie Hill, of Tren- 

 ton, N. J., the official scorer being Edward Bants. It took one hour 

 and nine minutes to shoot the first 100 birds, the delay being due to 

 the dilatory movements of the shooters themselves, the work of the 

 trappers and Nig, the black setter, being all that could be desired. 



After the match sweepstake events were shot off, the shooters just 

 managing to catch the 5 o'clock train for New York, Scores of all the 

 events: 



Trap score type— Copyright ism, by Forest and Stream '_Pubtisliing Co. 



4115552415153532535512312 

 ;^<-^\ T-n T<--TT NT T t T \H 

 A Willey (30).. .2 2220220221221232022 2*0 22 2—21 



54111115821825313 4 5553422 



222122212212213122012212 1—24 



5 4 3 5 3 4 



3 2 12 10 — 5-50 



5343214353415411244431823 

 W G Clark (80). 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2-19 

 2315535211545442311 "4 12324 

 22203.02220220200 2 2.0002 2—14 

 13 4 3 4 1 



lOlOaOw — 3-36 



The three sweeps, each at 7 live birds, $5 entrance, three moneys, 

 were as below. Zwirlein shot very well indeed, killing his 21 birds 

 without a single scrateh, centering each pigeon well. Brewer killed 19 

 out of 21. Everybody stood at the 30yds. mark. Scores: 



No. 1. No. 2. No 3. 



J L Brewer 2222212—7 2022232—6 1111110-6 



J Rothacker ...2002202—4 0022202-4 2112002—5 



WG Clark 0322122-6 



E Johnson 2202230-5 0020021-3 1210302-5 



IWBudd ,...2233233—7 ... , 



Allen Willey 1111113-7 



Chas Zwirlein 1233123-7 2222113-7 2232131-7 



N Astfalk 1022300 -4 1100012-4 



T F Carlton 0123303-5 



A Woodruff 2002232-5 3221122-7 0111001-4 



E Hill 2222201-6 0203012-4 



CLARK TOOK THE THIRD. 



Dec. lit— The third match of the Clark-Willey series took place this 

 afternoon on the Dexter Park, L. I., grounds. The weather was very 

 pleasant, perhaps a trifle cold for anyone to stand around and do 

 nothing, but by no means a bad day for live-bird shooting, The wind 



was in favor of the birds, helping right-quarterere very considerably 

 Mr. Lippack, the proprietor of the grounds, provided a very nice- 

 looking lot of birds, and the first 100 or 150 proved to be as good as one 

 generally sees on most grounds, many of the birds being as fast as 

 any ever trapped. Still there were a number of sitters, birds that re- 

 quired the scareropes, and this delayed the progress of the match 

 very much; the fault seemed to He not with the birds so much as with 

 the fact that they had been quite recently fed, the crops of many of 

 them being full of food. 



The Mott disappearing traps, with the Mott automatic electric pull, 

 were used. The only fault we can find with these traps is the lack of a 

 flipper to start a bird that has refused to fly when the trap has 

 opened. Unlike the King or the Clark trap, these traps have no at- 

 tachment that can be worked after the trap has once fallen out of 

 sight; if the bird does not start at once scare ropes or balls must be 

 used to start them off. When birds are really fast, we believe, despite 

 some opinions to the contrary, that these traps are two, if not three, 

 yards faster than the King trap. 



A mistake was made in starting the match at such a late hour as 

 2:25 P. M., the time it actually commenced. No dogs for retrieving 

 were used; the consequence was that, owing to several of the blrdB 

 having to be flushed, and also owing to the fact that the birds had to 

 be retrieved by hand, it was 2 hours and 40 minutes later before the 

 200th bird had been shot at. During the last 40 minutes the light was 

 very poor, and at the close it was hardly possible to see a bird leave 

 the traps, while the official scorer had to light matches to see that he 

 was placing the figures where they belonged. Gus Greiff acted as 

 referee; Herman Voss as trap-puller; Billy Mills did the trapping and 

 retrieving. As at Yardville, W. R. Hobart looked after Willey, Jim 

 Elliott handling Clark. The attendance of spectators was quite large, 

 among the number being: J. A. H. Dressel, of the TJ. M. C Company, 

 and Secretary-treasurer of the Interstate Association, Mr. Dressel 

 having acted as stakeholder for Clark and Willey; T. W. Morfey, of 

 Paterson, N. J., who Is booked to Bhoot a race with Jim Eliiott in the 

 latter part of January next; C. Wash Floyd, S Julian Held, Dr. Allen, 

 F. A. and W. H. Thompson, Tom Short, Al. Heritage, John L. Brewer 

 etc. 



Clark won the toss and went to the score first; both men killed their 

 flrst birds. The next round saw Clark's bird go out of bounds before 

 coming down; the 2d round saw both men miss their birds, Willey 

 letting off an easy incomer; in the 7th round both men missed again, 

 Clark's being a low fast driver, Willey's bird being an extremely hard 

 one to score. When Clark lost his 9th bird dead out of bounds, thus 

 giving Willey a lead of 2, It looked as if the latter was going to make 

 it 3 straight. After that piece of bad luck, however, Clark settled 

 down and ran 19 straight before losing a low driver from No. 1 in the 

 39th round. While Clark was making that run Willey lost 3 birds, his 

 13th, 14th (dead out of bounds) and his 23d, Clark having a lead of 

 one at the end of the first quarter, the scores standing 31 to 30 in 

 Clark's favor. The loss of Clark's 29th bird did not affect the score, 

 as Willey for the third time in this match followed suit by letting his 

 29th bird get away. 



Then came a break on Willey's part, bis next 4 birds adding as many 

 ciphers to his score, both the 32d and the 33d falling dead outside the 

 boundary; this gave Clark the big lead of 5, a lead which Willey still 

 further increased by the loss of his 36th and 38th birds. Then Clark 

 lost his 44th dead out of bounds, reducing the lead to 6, the score 

 showing Clark 44, Willey 38 at the halfway post. Willey lost his 50th, 

 a comparatively easy bird as it looked to us ; this made Clark's lead 7 

 once more, but the loss of Clark's 57th, dead out of bounds, made it 6 

 again. The 71st round saw both men spoil nice runs by losing their 

 birds this being the fourth time in the match that Willey followed 

 Clark's example. The latter then lost in rapid succession 3 more 



ALLEN WILLEY. 



birds, his 78d and his 74th, the last one dead out of bounds; for the 

 fifth time Willey lost an opportunity to ga n on Clark, also losing his 

 74th bird. The score at the commencement of the last 25 showed 

 Clark 65 to Willey's 60. 



The next losses to be recorded ware in the 82d round, Clark losiDg 

 an easy incoming bird from No. 1, while Willey for the sixth time 

 failed to take advantage of his chance by losing a good bird from the 

 same trap, the pigeon falling just out of bounds. Willey's 83d and 

 86th birds both got away, Ciark's lead being once more 7, the latter's 

 loss of his 87th and 91st bringing back the difference to 5 again. As 

 Clark lost his 96th and 98th birds both dead out of bounds, and as 

 Willey let his 93d and 98th also escape him, the lead was unchanged 

 Clark winning by the score of 85 to 80. It will be noticed that for the 

 seventh time in the match Willey missed in the same round that his 

 adversary did, the 98th round. 



The high runs were: Clark, 19, 14, 13 and 12; Willey, 19 and 12. Clark 

 had 7 of his 15 lost birds fall dead outside the 50yds. boundary, Willey 

 losing 4 in that manner. The traps fell to each man as follows: 



No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5. Total. 



Clark 24 20 16 21 19 100 



Willey 15 17 24 S3 21 100 



39 37 40 44 40 200 

 Though both men drew'plenty of hard and fast birds in the match, 

 Clark had the best of it in the luck of the birds; no less than 40 out of 

 his 100 showed an incoming tendency, Willey having 29 of a similar 

 character. It took 1 hour and 12 minutes to trap the first 100, the last 

 100 taking 1 hour and 28 minutes, 16 minutes more than the flrBt 100. 

 The difference in Clark's style of shooting in this, the last, match of 

 the series was very marked as compared with that in which he shot 

 during the first two matches after his gun went back on him. The 

 cause of the trouble was easily remedied by J. P. Dannefelser this 

 morning. The gun is a Greener that Clark has had for a long time, 

 and out of which he has fired many thousands of shots. Owing to 

 heavy wear and tear the bolt that locks the grip had worn a little 

 loose, allowing the gun to open slightly. This fact Clark had not no- 

 ticed until halfway through the first match. After he had regained 

 confidence in his weapon this afternoon he got back into his old-time 

 form and did some good work, as the following score shows: 



Trap score type— Copyright, ism, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 



1311513134211431151151225 



W G Clark (30).2 . 2 2 2 2 . 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 2 3 3 2 2 3 2 1 2-21 



2551245555232125231221415 



223011222231211111.32222 2-23 



432335 5 4444242 2 3534444224 



2 2 2222.22222 2 2 3 2221 2 2 . 2-21 



141553154212244334 3 111534 



22222202222022 2 02222 . 2 ,2 2-20- 



545214313352848144453 2 413 

 T,*4t*'*--?T\*--/' , r > .sV ?-> T-£>\ ^i-«-f- 

 A Willey (30) ..2 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 .2 2 2 2 2 2 2 21 2-20 



5185512224451253454134454 



i* *" f t "fn./* f t s /v l jr<-j \r> T t 



222000. .J2 1 2 <5 2 2 1 3 2 1 2 3 1 2 2 2-18 



