822 
FOREST AND STREAM 
June 28, 1913 
Grand American Handicap 
The Fourteenth Premier Shooting Tournament 
Dayton, Ohio, June 17-20 
P ATTERSON, Dayton, N. C. R., call it anything you like, but every time the thousand trap- 
shooters and trap fans hear the bell of a cash register, they will recall one of the 
most pleasant trapshooting conventions they ever have experienced. We have our American 
Henley, Newport tennis tournaments, National golf meets. Meadow Brook polo matches and 
what not else, but none of these can take precedence over the Grand American Handicap, 
wherein more than 500 clear-eyed, smooth-skinned, trained-muscled and iron-nerved men in¬ 
dulge in the gentle art of sending chilled No. 8 shot after the fleeting elusive aerosaucer, 
heading for the fifty-yard mark at the speed of a flushed woodcock. Resplendent in flags, 
with snow-white tents glimmering in the June sun, the grounds of the N. C. R. Gun Club 
nestled in the hollow of verdant hills, dotted here and there with contrasting tents of red, 
a beauty spot yet to be duplicated for a -four days' trapshooting holiday. And such a myriad 
of willing hands and open hearts to make yo feel that even the best in view is not good 
enough for the bidden guest. The herculean effort of the little gun club that wot not of 
nature’s fickleness when they invited these hundreds of sportsmen into their midst were evi¬ 
denced beyond the most sanguine expectations. All had hoped the G. A. H. would be pulled 
at Dayton—after a fashion—but none had looked forward to any such comparative magnifi¬ 
cence as that offered. First of all to the directors of the Interstate Association should be 
given thanks for their astuteness in appreciating a situation and knowing how to act under 
given conditions. Then to that brave quartet of officers of the N. C. R. Gun Club, Bill Macand- 
less, W. F. Bippus, H. Monbeck and Everett, who had courage sufficient to forget local ad¬ 
versities and go forward in keeping with their promise, made at the annual meeting of the Inter¬ 
state Association a promise that any human readily would have relinquished; and last, but by 
no means least, should we compliment that great organization, the National Cash Register 
Company and its worthy president, Dayton’s idealized citizen, John H. Patterson, on their per¬ 
sonal interest in the welfare of the shooters and their friends. 
After the broiling days, made as comfortable as possible by rest and refreshment tents, 
hose-sprinkled grounds and other comforters, the squads took their places for the preliminary 
handicap. It was a great event, finally ending in a tie, 96 x 100, between Captain Andy Meaders, 
•of Nashville, Tenn., and A. B. Richardson, of the Du Pont Gun Club, and recently a Dela¬ 
ware State champion. In the shoot-off, youth told her story, and Richardson won with 18 x 20 
against 16 for the older man. Among the trade exponents, Walter Huff was high gun with 
•96 X 100. On Thursday morning, bright and early, the fifty-odd gunners were eager for the 
American shooting classic, and no less than a dozen shooters tuned up with a gallop over hills 
and dales on the hunters sent over by the officers of the N. C. R. Co. Promptly at 9 o’clock 
the only Elmer Shaner delivered his final oration to the shooters, so that none should fail 
to know the conditions of the big event. Whaf he said doesn’t matter, for it always savors 
•of fact rather than of rhetoric, and everyone was on the qui vive —some said tip toe—for the 
query, “Are you ready?’’ Owing to the number of entries only eighty targets were pulled on 
Thursday, the remaining twenty going over to Friday morning. At the close of the day 
G. A. Graper was in the upper register with 78 x 80, while J. A. Blunt, from Greensboro, 
Ala, and M. S. Hootman, of Hicksville, Ohio, were tied on 77. In the morning Hootman 
Tan twenty straight, while Blunt and Graper dropped one rock each. This brought a tie shoot- 
■off at twenty discs, scored as follows: 
Graper . i i i i i i i i i i i i 10 i i i i i i 
Hootman . i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i 
Blunt . I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I o I 
Although as usual by prearrangement the purse was divided in three 500’s, Hootman, a 
blacksmith, won the G. A. H. and the diamond medal. High pro honors went to the veteran 
Walter Huff with 97. After the shoot-off of the tie of the Consolation Handicap, for which, 
besides the regular purse, J. H. Patterson donated one-half of the receipts from the refresh¬ 
ment tent, was shot. This was won with 96 by B. F. Covert, of Lockport, N. Y., G. Grubb, 
of Wetmore, Kans., getting place with 96. Ed. O’Brien won among pros with 97. Now came 
the prettiest event of the tournament that is most interesting to spectators—the double amateur 
and professional championship at too aerosaucers pulled in pairs. The only record of the classic 
was broken in this event, and that by as graceful a shooter as ever pulled a trigger, George L. 
Lyon, of Durham, N. C. He broke 94 out of the hundred allotted, starting with 19, then losing 
two, then getting all but one, following with a straight twenty, then letting two straight 
•aways get through his shot. It was as fine a piece of shooting as one wants to see. The old 
reliable Allen Heil got second with 81 and M. Arie filling the upper rungs with 80. For the 
“wads only” gentlemen, J. R. Graham smashed 88 for high. Bill Crosby 85 and that youngster 
heading for lofty places in the shooting histor3^ W. S. Colfax, Jr., trailing with 83 and a cold 
In the head. Thus ended the greatest trapshooting event known in ballistic history. 
June 16. 
PRACTICE DAY. 
Monday, June 16, was given over to practice events, 
five 20s being shot in the morning, and the same pro¬ 
gram repeated in the afternoon. There was an unusu¬ 
ally large number of shooters who took advantage of the 
opportunity to visit the grounds and try the traps under 
the conditions that were to prevail the balance of the 
week. Then, too, many of them were curious to see if 
the N. C. R. Gun Club had made good its promises to 
give them an ideal shooting park for the banner event 
of the year. In this respect they found that their wildest 
dreams were more than realized, and that this G. A. H. 
was to be pulled off under conditions which left nothing 
to be desired. 
The field force was on hand, and looked refreshing 
in their uniforms of white coats and trousers. Secretary 
Shaner had made a good selection for this important 
factor in the smooth and satisfactory running of a tour¬ 
nament. 
At trap No. 1: Referee, John S. Neff; scorers, C. W. 
Graham and J. H. McGregor; puller, C. G. Peters; trap¬ 
per, G. Neff. 
Trap No. 2; Referee, G. G. Weeks; scorers, E. G. 
Hall and H. Riley; puller, D. O. McElroy; trapper, F. 
Pfrehler. 
Trap No. 3: Referee, G. M. Wilson; scorers, H. T. 
Burchard and J. Mann; puller, E. Bramble; trapper, D. 
W. McElroy. 
Trap No. 4: Referee, D. B. Sortman; scorers, W. Dill 
and A. H. Wise; puller, H. F. Schoonover; trapper, R. 
S. Brown. 
Trap No. 5: Referee, L. R. Brewer; scorers, A. D. 
Cooper and J. Eberhardt; puller, C. W. Hickernall; 
trapper, W. Schaefer. 
Relief force: Referee, S. W. Everett; scorers, C. H. 
Etz and W. Clevenew; puller, Ross Monbeck; trapper, 
L. Stengel. 
Bulletin board, P. Stanley; assistant ground super¬ 
intendent, T. Walsh. 
There were twenty-nine squads entered in the morn¬ 
ing program, forty-one professionals being among the 
number of shooters. The first squad started at No. 1 
trap at 9:10, and from that time until late in the after¬ 
noon the popping of the guns was continuous. 
L. S. German was in a class by himself in the morn¬ 
ing, breaking the entire 100, and in the- afternoon pro¬ 
gram, starting off at the same clip, but dropping his 
22d target, and ending his run with 121. E. M. Daniels 
kept up with him for 84 targets, but lost his 85th, going 
out with 99, which is considered a very fair score by 
most shooters. Closely following Daniels came W. H. 
lleer, Walter Huff, J. M. Hawkins, with 97 each. 
The amateurs did nice work also, but were not quite 
up to the mark set by the professionals. J. Foley, M. 
Arie, J. S. Young, E. Hellyer, Jr., tied for high place 
on 97; A. B. Richardson, P. J. Graham, W. Raup and 
W. Ridley got in second with 95 each. 
In the afternoon the attendance was increased by 
five squads, many new arrivals in the city coming out 
Photograph Captions. 
On opposite page appear views taken at the fourteenth 
G. A. H. last week. Some of these were taken by N. 
C. R. Company, others by our own photographer. No. 
1, A. R. Richardson, winner of preliminary handicap; 
No. 2, Capt. Everett, N. C. R. G. C.; Nos. 3, 4 and 5, 
winners of G. A. H.—Graper, Hootman, Blunt; No 6, 
F. B. Patterson; No. 7, Bart Lewis, amateur champion, 
showing his newly won medal; No. 8, Bill MacCandless, 
Secretary N. C. R. G. C.; No. 9, J. T. Skelly, President 
Interstate Association; No. 10, J. R Graham, winner 
double championship, professional; No. 11, view of 
grounds; No. 12, J. H. Patterson, President N. C. R. 
Company, and the most popular man in Ohio to-day; 
No. 13, our editor—we wouldn’t put 13 on any one 
else; No. 14, Mrs. Ad. Topperwein joshing E. Reed 
Shaner, Secretary Interstate Association; No. 15, 
young Patterson getting final instructions from W. F. 
Bippus on how to win the G. A. H.; No. 16, Elmer E. 
Shaner, Secretary Interstate Association; No. 17, Tom 
Keller, of Peters yellow boys; No. 18, Frank G. Drew, 
of Winchester; No. 19, A. H. Durston, Lefever Arms 
Co., alleged by some to have been the handsomest man 
on the grounds; No. 20, John Phillip Sousa; No. 21, 
Tom Marshall (the man who made Illinois famous), W. 
F. Bippus, Treasurer N. C. R. Co., and two lady fans; 
No. 22, F. B. Clark, the exceedingly popular Remington- 
U. M. C. sales manager; No. 23—not just the proper 
numeral for the man who knows more trapshooters than 
almost any one man—this is Cashier Whitney. 
