JtJLY 14, 1893.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



39 



DRIVERS AND TWISTERS. 



Johu Parker, the ever popular "Jack," of Detroit, wites us that 

 everything is booming for the Interimtional shoot, to talce place at 

 Des bhree-Snos-Ka Island on August 38 to 3(i. 



** * 



Ami, by :h6 wav. "'.lack" has been con juring his brain for many 

 days to devise some equitable handicap for target oveuts; a handicap 

 Wliic^ will serve to protect the medium shot without i)uttiug a sure- 

 losins penalty on the man who ha<i superior skill. He has at la^l 

 worked out a' scheme which is so well thought of in Michigan as to he 

 adopted for U9e at the semi monthly shoots of the Michigan Trap 

 Shooters' League. 



* * * 



The handicap embodies a combination of the Interstate and North 

 systems, and is thus descrioed: In event Wo. I everybody shoots 

 trom known traps and angles. All who win or tie for first money are 

 obhged in the succeedins event to shoot as experts from traps Nos. 

 1, 2 and 3, unknown traps and angles; those wbo win or tie for second 

 money shoot in the succeetling event, as serni-esrperts, from known 

 traps and unknown angles; all others shoot from known traps at 

 known angles. Bv using traps 1, 2 and 3 for experts the shooter is 

 not out-gunned. This system was given a trial at Lansing, Mich., 

 and suited everybody, this seems to be an equicable handicap, and 

 we can see no reason why it should not become generally popular. 



* * * 



Once moi'6 we will say for the benefit of our readers that we have 

 no space for publication of personal complaints concerning arms and 

 ammunition. We do not believe that the experience of one or a 

 dozen men is sufficient to properly demonstrate the fact that the 

 product of a firm is defective. Because one man buys a "Jones" gun 

 which bursts at the first fire it does not necessarily follow that all the 

 product of the "Jones" factory is defective. A hberal-minded sports- 

 man would refer lo the "Jones" flrtn. rather than to the public press. 

 Again, if a man wislies to know why his shoulder was bruised by a 

 charge of "Squedunk" powder he would be more likely to get the 

 information trom "Squedunk & Co." than from the e-'litor of a 

 paper. 



* * * 



i new gun club has been started by some of the hill sportsmen, 

 Spokane, Wash., under the name of the Cliff Park aun Omb. Jos. 

 H. «pear has been chosen president and Mr. D. S Cowgill secre- 

 tary and treasurer. The club intend to fit up their grounds on top 

 of the eliEE, the use of wbich has kindly bei-n offered by Mr. Dill- 

 man. They will put in the latpsC improved traps, which have been 

 ordered for them by Messrs. Ware Bros, from the East. They will 

 hold a regular shoot once a week, the day not having been fully 

 decided upon, but the club will allow no Sunday shooting. 



* * * 



The Baltimore Gun Chib members who are training to uphold their 

 reputation in the tournament which will be shot at Tolchester, Ju ly 

 18, 19 and 20, had a p entrance pool at Acton's Park on July 7 with 

 the following result: At 40 keystone targets Bufflugton broke 33, Dr. 

 Smith S9, Greener 39, Malone 29, Hartner 40, Cantler 38, Price 30, Snip 

 28, Grey 37, Edwards 38, John«on 28, Gilpatrick 36, and Nixton 23 

 Hartner, recording secretary of the club, won first money; second 

 money was divided between Dr. Smith, Malone and Greener, 



At the annual meeting of the Inglewood (Mass.) Fish and Game 

 Corporation, the treasurer reported no liabilities. The assets in- 

 clude cash, eight buildings,',fuinisbings, boats, i-ights, privileges and 

 about twenty years' lease. The airectors elected for the ensuing 

 year are: Andrew S. March, President; Henry P. Brigham, Vice- 

 President; Samuel Shaw, Fred E Whiting, Lsroy S. Brown, Henry 

 E. Cobb, C. A. Hopkins, ];. Noyes Whitcomb and Joshua Knight. 

 Henry O. Cutter was eleeted treasurer. 



* * * 



The sporting men of Waukesha, Wis., have perfected the perma- 

 nent organization of the Waukesha Gun Club. The new organization 

 starts out with thirty two members. It is the intention to hold bi- 

 pionthly trap-shooting contests the first Jriday and second Saturday 

 of each month. OiHcers were elected asfohows: President, .Tohn C. 

 Land; Vice-President, K. S. Greengro; Secretary, Adolph Estberg; 

 Treasurer, William A. Qault; Captain, George Anderson. 



* * * 



The members of the Santa Fe (N. M.) Gun Clab held a shoot yes- 

 terday afternoon, north of the Santa Fe elevator. Clay pigeons 

 were used at a distance of ISyds. Following is the score" out of a 

 possible twenty-five: Peach )8, Myer 16. F. A. Foster 18, Babcock 

 lO, J. P. Foster 50, Spien 14. Gumly 14, Thompson 16, Sweeney 18, 

 Crube 15, Tolly 14, Eagan IT. Logan 18, Heflfustay 15, Furman 17. 

 ■ * * * 



The seventh contest for the prizes of the New Jersey Trap Shooting 

 League will take place at Claremont. N. J., on Saturday, July 23, 

 under the auspices of the New Jersey Shooting Club. The traps will 

 be in position at 8:30 A. M., and the team shoot wi'l be started at 3 

 P. M. The facilities at these grounds are unsurpassed and a big turn- 

 out is looked for. 



* * * 



At the annual meeting of the Watertown Gun Club, July 7, the fol- 

 lowing officers were elected for the ensuing year: Pres., O. M. Pad- 

 dock; Vice-Pres., A. F. O'Connor; Sec'y, J. C. Ayers; Treas. and 

 Team Capt, W. H. Tallett. The club is in a prosperous condition, 

 and is m iking active preparations for the coming tournament, July 

 26, 27 and 23. 



* * * 



Of the younger sporting associations in Grand Rapids, Mich., the 

 Valley City Gun Club is one of the most flourishing. It has a mem 

 bership of nearly forty, and many good shooters are being de 

 veloped. In a short time, as soon as a classification of members can 

 be perfected, suitable prizes will be offered for the best scores in 

 each class. 



* * * 



Considering the fact that the various gun clubs throughout the 

 country depend upon the trap journals for free advertising for their 

 tournaments It would he no more than just for them to reciprocate 

 by furnishing the said papers with the scores. At the Atlantic City 

 Sboot the newspaper men were obliged to sit down and copy every 

 score. 



Henry Matz, of the Reading Shooting Association, which will en- 

 gineer the annual tournament of the Pennsylvania Slate Association, 

 August 9 to 12, says the shoot will be the best on record. Every 

 member of the Reading Association is an active worker, and as they 

 are all pulling harmoniously together, success is sure to be their por- 

 tion. 



The fourth annual interstate tournament of Mississippi gun clubs 

 will be held at West Point, Miss., Aug. 912. Four days sport will be 

 provided. On the last day the championship of the South will be 

 decided in a race of 50 bluerocks. In addition to the sweepstake 

 *""0 in gold and several medals wdl be added by the management. 



The Androscoggin Gun Club of Auburn and Lewiston, Me., enter- 

 tained the Bath and Lisbon gun clubs on the Fourth, a friendly 

 Boston target shoot was indulged in on the club grounds, but there 

 was no regular match. The regular shoots of the Androscoggin Gun 

 Club occur every Thursday afternoon. 



E. H. Breintnall was unable to get to Atlantic City on account of 

 having to march his regiment in the Centennial parade at Paterson 

 N. J. If Col. E. A, Campbell is elected Brigadier-General of the Fii-st 

 Brigade N. G. N. J., Lieut.-Col. Breintnall will be promoted to the 

 colonelcy of the First Regiment. 



As Charles Burbidge failed to appear to shoot along with A.llen 

 Willey against Messrs. Savage and Bates at Wiifimantic, Conn., on 

 July 1, Forest and Stream stands ready to pay over the forfeit to 

 Messrs. Savage and Bates unless good reason is shown for their 

 not domg so. 



C. F. fearnes, of Wheeling, W. Va., is out with the following broad 

 challenge ; "I challenge all comers to a lOO-bird shooting match, gun 

 below elbow until bird is on the wing. I will lay odds of two to one 

 and shoot a match of lOO birds, 50 from right shoulder and 50 from 

 eft shoulder. 



* * « 



The Island City Guu Club, of Wlieeling, W. Va., has a team whicti 

 should hold its own with an7 five men in the country. Its score of 

 lie, made at Atlantic City, tees the score wa«Je by the teanj of the 



Independents, of Plaihfield, at a recent shoot of the New Jersey 

 League. 



* * * 



H. Balsir and E. H. Garrison are matched to shoot agahjst 0. Fur- 

 gupson, Jr., and G. Morris, of the Atlantic Rod and Gun Club at 50 

 live birds each, 28 ond 30yds. rise, for $200. The match will be shot 

 on the Atlantic club's grounds at Coney Island, when Garrison names 

 a date. 



*** 



The official orgati of the New Jersey Trap-Shooters' League failed 

 lo publish a line anent the League shoot at Plainfleld on June 30. 



*** 



Forest and Stream, however, gave a full account of the shoot. 



* * * 



The Sipe & Sigler cup shoot w^as held at the grounds of the Cleve- 

 land Qim Club, July 2. The number of birds killed by Crockett and 

 Brett was 28 each, but a h8.ndica.p of one bird each was given, leaving 

 the score tied at 29. The cup was won by Crockett in the shoot-off. 



The Young Men's Gun Club, of Parkershurg, West Virginia, has 

 elected the following officers: President, J. H. Dils; Vice-President, 

 Conrad Goetz; Secretary and Treasurer, G. M. Cover; Field Captain, 

 H. H. McVey. The club has blossomed out finely this season, 



* * * 



The. Brunswick Gun Club, of New Brunswick, N. J., thinks of locat- 

 ing a fish and game preserve in Pennsylvania. The club has an offer 

 of a mo it desirable tract, which a committee of members will be dele- 

 gattd to inspect at an early date. 



* * * 



Fn lion. 111. has organized a gun club and has sent out a challenge 

 for a match for the championship of amateur clubs of the State. The 

 Spring Valley ( Burea'i county) Gun Club has accepted the challenge 

 for a purse of $25 to $50. 



* * * 



George S. Atwater, a popular member of the Boiling Springs Fish 

 and Game Club, has met with a sad loss in the death of his seven 

 months' old daughter, Mabel, which Gccm-red at Massilon, Ohio, on 

 July 1. 



I!. B. ORGAN, 

 President IlUuols State Sportsmen's Association. 1892-9.^. 



All trains on the South Branch of the Central Railroad of New Jer- 

 sey will stop at the shooting grounds during the tournament at 

 Flemington, N. J., on July 26 and 37. 



Johnson City, Teun., will be the Mecca for trap shooters on .July 26 

 to 30. This should be one of the biggest shoots of the season judg- 

 ing from the fine programme. 



The East End Gun Club, of Houston, III,, has been organized with 

 J. \V. Smith as President; Robert Jankes, Vice-President; W. H. 

 Roberts, Treasurer; L. C. Palmer, Secretary. 



* * * 



The old grounds of the Jersey City Heights Gun Club at Marion, N. 

 J., will soon be converted to other uses. The coming live-bird season 

 will probably be the wind up there. 



"Court" will soon be in the vicinity of the metropolis worrying the 

 gun trade. And he will be accorded a rousing welcome in sporting 

 as well as btisiness circles. 



* * * 



Harry Thurman will hold a two days' tournament open to all and 

 no handicaps, on the Pier at Atlantic City some time dm-ing the early 

 part of September. 



"Dutchy" and "Tee Kay" are up to their eyes in business booming 

 the shoot of the Independent Gun Club, to be held at Plainfleld, N. 

 J. July 31 and 23. 



* * * 



Shooters all over the Eastern section of the country agree with us 

 in saying that gun clubs should discontinue live bird matches from 

 June 1 to Oct. 1. 



* * * 



At the shoot of the New Jersey League on July 23. targets will he 

 charged for at the uniform rate of two cents each. This should help 

 fill the events. 



The Baltimore Gun Club has put out an attractive programme for 

 its summer tournament to be held at Tolchester Beach, Md., July 18 

 to 20. 



* '^ * 



Frank Class has organized a gun club at Morristown, N. J. The 

 club wUl hold weekly shoots at the Morristown Driving Park. 



Invitations have been received for the fourth annual tournament 

 of the West Point (Miss.) Gun Club, to take place Aug. 9 to 12. 



The Michigan State League has adopted the bluerock targets, ex- 

 pert trap, Paul North's electric pull and the Parker handicap. 



The annual tournament of the Corry (Pa.) Gun Club will be held on 

 July 26 to 29, and a big programme is announced. 



The Harrisburg and Williamsport, Pa., and Statmton, Va., contin- 

 gents failed to materialize at Atlantic City, 



* * 



Paul North, the "ruddy faced chap" from Cleveland, O., will be 

 chief hustler during the Johnson City shoot. 



* * -* 



The Rod and Gun Club of Steuben ville, Ohio, spent a week camping 

 out at Toronto after the Fourth. 



* * * 



East Liverpool, O., has a new gtm club, which will hold weekly 

 shoots on the East End race track. 



The Wawasec Gun Club, of Wilmington, Del., will engineer an ex- 

 cursion to Augustine Pier on Jtily 31. 



* * * 



Twenty members of the Knoxvil'e Gun Club have signed an agree- 

 ment to attend the tournament at Johnson City, Tenn. 



* * * 



The Parkway Rod and Gun Club will hold a shoot and picnic, open 

 to all, at Miller's Dexter Park on Aug. 28, 



* * * 



"Picus" will be one of the prime workers during the Baltimore 

 Guu Clnb shoot. 



Tred way's new recoil block caught the fancy of the shooters at 

 A'lantic City. 



.Joe Hunter says he will go to .fohnson City if he has to walk. 



* * * 



The monthly shoot of the Essex Gun Club will ba held at Marion on 

 July 22. 



Newport, Ark., has a new gun club. 



C. H. ToWNSEND, 



The Illinois Rule. 



The Bucyrus (Ohio) Guh Club will give a big tournament Tbursdsy, 

 July 38, ftt live birds and targets. 



Chicaoo, 111., July 9.~In the Fohest ani> Stiieam report of the 

 Illinois State shoot there was comment upon ihe absurd rule 

 adopted in the convention, which rule pi ared all gauges at the 

 same score, without any handicap whatever. Dr. N. Rowe, editor 

 of the J mcrtcan Field, was the mover for this rule, aa was duly 

 shown. In the issue of the American Field for July 2 the said 

 gentleman editor replies in said paper to the aforesaid comnaent. 

 There is no doubt as to th° iHentltv of the writer of the reply 

 No member of the Amerimn Field staff can imitate that fine 

 Italian English, strive he never so diligently. To establish Ibis 

 coiut r need only quote the opening sentence: "The adoption 

 of the rule at the convention of the Illinois State Sportsmen's 

 Association, placing 10 and 12-gaupe guns at the same distance 

 tirought forth the remark on the following day, from a gentle- 

 man who was very much excited over It, that it had put 

 the question of ten and twelve gauges back twenty years, a 

 statement which could have been made only through not con- 

 sidering the circumstances." 



A glance at this opening sentence establishes also further facts. 

 The reply of the editor of the American Field lacks candor and 

 a frank and cheerful manhood. It lacks logic. It lacks also a 

 tenor even with the actual facts of this case. 



In the first place, the "gentleman who was very much excited 

 oyer it" is purely hypothetical. He is identical with ''tlie friend 

 I met at the Palmer House." He is a dummy. This "gentleman" 

 means really "the Forest and Stream report." For "back 

 twenty years," read "one hundred years behind the times." There 

 you have it. It was the Fore.st and Stream report that the edi- 

 tor felt constrained to try to answer, not a dummy gentleman. 

 The candid, frank and msnly thing to do would have been to say 

 an, directly and plainly. It was lack of frank and manly candor, 

 iuci a surplus of concealed but purely selfish motives, which in- 

 duced this gentleman and editor to move for the adoption of this 

 rule. That got him into trouble. A further exercise of the same 

 1 unentable weakness will never get him out. 



In the next place the reply is illogical. When the gentleman 

 uses the expression "placing 10 and 13 gauges at the same distance" 

 'le is guilty of the logical fallacy known as "begging the ques- 

 tion." I cannot speak as to the early educational advantages of 

 the editor of the .^mericaji Fic/4, and perhaps lie does not know 

 what begging the question means. If he did, certainly he would 

 not commit so ruinous a fallacy in the first sentence of an explan- 

 ition meant to get him out of-a serious difficulty. If he did not 

 lie should take better thought. Certainly he knows or should' 

 know, and certainly all his readers know, or will know that this 

 was not the question ot "placing 10 or 13 gauges at the same dis- 

 t'nce,"hut of placing lOs, 12s, I63 20=, all at the same distance. 

 In short, it is the uuestion of abolishing all handicap in pigeoii 

 -hooting, for suns above 10 gauge are not to be used. The editor 

 stuck to the lOs and ISs because he thought tiat would be the best 

 sort of sophistry. Any sort of sophistry is bad, is ruinous, is self- 

 condemning when the facts are shown. The editor of the Ameri- 

 canField may fool himself, either through ignorance or intention 

 but he cannot fool the shooters of America nor of Illinois. They 

 will gee clearly through a misfit explanation intended to coyer up 

 a position taken for purely selfish and money-seeking reasons. 



To evade the real issue m a case, to adopt a special pleading, to 

 ,'liif t from post to post and not courageously stand and meet the 

 statements of the original bill of declarations— all this may avail 

 a lawyer or an editor who seeks only to save time and trusts to 

 Providence to save his case; but they do not win a case, and they 

 do not incite admiration or respect. Any explanation of an as-' 

 sumed position, no matter how unfortunate that position may be 

 must have a tenor even with the actual facts of the case. It will 

 not do to say, "1 have four potatoes and four turnips, therefore I 

 have eight oranges." The people ^yill not believe it. They will 

 detect the lack of logic at once, and suspect that the mover of the 

 proposition has neither turnips nor potatoes for the market. 



To say so much is to (»ver the whole of the article in question. It 

 is not candid; it is not logical; it is distant from the actual facts. I 

 cannot find it in my heart to respect demagoguery which seeks to 

 justify demagoguery, and which insults so noble a body of sports- 

 men as the Illinois Association with such remarks as. "The Illi- 

 nois Association's rules are not national," . . . "The rule and 

 its effect are purely local." W^hat sort of pleading is it to belittle 

 a body of sportsmen actually the first in all the land, unless we 

 shall except the older organization of New York? No rules, 

 neither those devised by any sportsmen's organization nor by any 

 body of men are national, or can he national, for reasons that are 

 obvious. But this great Illinois Association is national in its im- 

 portance, and from it the shooters of this Nation have a right to 

 expect and to demand wise and well-considered action, and not a 

 chf-ap fffort to gain a few subscribers for a newspaper. It will 

 not lake the Illinois Association long, when it sees It is being 

 worked in so open-faced a manner, to show that it is national 

 enough to change this "purely local rule," and to change It before 

 all the world has had time to laugh at it. 



To excuse this 10-gauge doctrine, as does the able editor of the 

 American Field, on the ground that it is purely local in applica- 

 tion, is not only slighting to the Illinois Association, but is of it- 

 self hopelessly illogical and absurd. No rules can he national, 

 but in shooting matters there are certain principles, which, if es- 

 tablished as true, must be national In their application. If a 10- 

 gauge gun is no better shooter than a IS here in Illinois, the same 

 gun is no better than a 13 in New York. If IO3 and 13s should 

 theoretically stand at the same score In Chicago, they should 

 theoretically stand at the same score in New York. If this propo- 

 sition is wrong in N»»w York, It is wrong in Illinois, if both States 

 are equally alive to progress. Therefore it is no defense of the 

 doctrine to call it purely local. That is inconsistent and absurd. 

 The able editor's syllogism has a hole in it. 



In logic this hole is called a faulty middle. A homely illustra- 

 tion in point of this Is that ot the ancient sow which sought to 

 crawl tnrough a hollow log which led into a turnip patch. The 

 log was hollow, but also crooked, and both ends came out en the 

 same side of the fence. The animal went through the log several 

 times, but to its intense surprise remained always outside the 

 field. To this day It does not understand why It could not get in 

 to the turnip?. The defense of this rule on the "purely local" 

 basis is simply the act of going through the hollow log and com- 

 ing out on the same side of the fence. This simile is further sin- 

 gularly fl^ The editor of the American Field was after suffrages 

 when he went into the log, and he is after them now he is out. 

 But he will never get them until he finds a straighterlog. 



Not content with the weak "purely local" plea, and not con- 

 tent with evading the comparison between the 10-gauge and the 

 le-gauge. which is quite as legitimate as that between the 10 and 

 the 12, the writer 01 this unique defense attempts to prove tM. 

 practical equality of the 10 and the 13-gauges. He says: 



"The only advantuge the 10-gauge has over the 15 is a larger 

 killing surface, but this Is more than counterbalanced by the 

 greater facility with which the 13-gauge can be handled and 

 thrown on to a fast bird, and so make it.an easy bird before it 

 gets to be a hard one." 



This proposition is much as if one should say, "Things not equal 

 to the same thing are equnl to each other." There is no hard and' 

 fast method of comparing the execution of 10 or I2-gauge8, 

 because the physical qualities of the shooters handling them are 

 not available as factors. As a general thing lO-gauges are handled 

 by powerful men, to whom their weight is no more than that of a 

 12-gauge is to a man of less physical strength. I know a very 

 earnest 10-bore man who claims that he does not "fire steady" at 

 the score with a gun lighter than his old 10-gauge, The matter of 

 quickness in getting on is also variable. The quickest man I ever 

 saw »t tbe trap shot a lO-'gauge, Now be has cbang ed to a 1^ 



