FOREST AND STREAM. 











































































































































































The Touring Squad. 
day’s date, we have traveled some and reached a really 
green oranges, the eating of which they aver gives them 
hotel is absolutely enormous but magnificent, and 
only drawback to our complete happiness is the fact 
as yet only for it being too_early for 
this discomfort 
somewhat for at the Hillsboro Café the cooking is good, 
service rapid and pleasing, while the smiles and courtesy 
handmaidens 
whether one 
respective companies 
expense account entries under this date. 
the past few days, is still in bad trim and is of course 
Seriously speaking, though 
his conditions 
he has made the scores he 
1is usual average, are 
a man suffering as he has been and 
disarrangement 
d the unfortunate quality 
grub put before him at certain places. 
eft off yesterday, I must 
d Money, 
, as usual, was just 
losing all 
wonderful 
which, although rather below 
remarkable 
proceeding 
just tell a good joke on Haro 
registered here this 
about leaving the 
I were assigned by some one to the only two lemons in 

chambers, while ours were just bachelor quarters. 
told him he was right alongside me. 
course Harold wished to know where I was located, and 
messenger 

low the boy to my 
walked a bit more 
and by the time the 
The kid, a bright little shaver, 
briskly than Harold does as a rule, 
his guide was out of sight down one of the mile- 
send me up another guide. 
Dublin, Ga., 
I’ve lost this one!’ 
and the shoot 
we were all feeling pretty good 
some rejoicing, 
the members of the incomplete squad 
His greeting was warm and he showed 
of it by biting at every old joke that 
particularly among 
appreciation 
sinker disappeared with the bait. 
Out at the grounds, the usual 
“quarter of a mile or 
so from town,” 
we found a good crowd of spectators, but 
come to see some shooting by the rather than 
used—expert 
a pine woods back- 
straight there one year ago. That he was proud of that 
f »y his telling me of the occurrence not 
In view of what Squad 
team on the same grounds this year, | 
at that I should mention Hawkins’ feat 
a dozen times. 

1ink it only rig 
fo) 
professionals competing for cash or 
prizes, 1t was suggested that a better chance for a 
two squads 
in 25-target strings. 
result seems to have 
o 
1eir 200 targets on the programme 
‘his was accordingly done, and the 1 
the change. 
feeling of natural 
the actual figures of the scores. 
the Winchester-Dupont 
sarkley, Gilbert and J. R, 7 
) to their reputation, and broke 122 
2—Harold J 
myself and Walter Huff—had 
the Colonel and myself, 
diffidence 
awkins, Crosby, ] ‘aylor—shot 

Taylor,» Colonel Anthony, 
a couple of soft spots in it, 
each of whom lost three targets, 
ost two and Huff one, 
six to the bad at once. 
In event No. 
Hawkins and 
That put us 
2, the Winchester-Dupont squad lost four, 
Taylor one each and 
but only Huff and I lost any targets, 
iree out of the four lost—that low little 
Barkley two. 
share being tl 
1 squad lost four more targets, bue we 
each dropped one, 
as they lost four while 
one and Huff two. 
we gained 
hile we dropped but three, Anthony 
This left us at the interval for dinner 
f mention that Money had his 100 str 
Taylor was f 
run of 96 unfinished. 
we managed to lose no ground in event 
squad losing three targets, Crosby, Gilbert, 
myself going straight; the others had 24 
Money lost his second target, 
aight, while 





After dinner 


Anthony and 



thus breaking 106 
Harry Taylor 




lost his third target, 
st his run being 98 strai 
rhe close 
of event No. 6 saw us 
No. 1 squad lost seven targets, we 
came event No, 
our squad 

“all square,” for while 
only lost three. 
7 in which we gained five all in a b 
running the 125 target without 
we had a comfortable lead when 
string, a lead which was made 
the fact that No. 1 squad lost f 
121 out of their last 1 
ir allotment, 
entirely due to a 









we entered on our last 
still more comfortable by 
st four more targets, scoring 
Our squad broke but 119 out 
the comparatively low score 
temporary ascension on my part dur- 
I dropped out of the sack four fat 
This put us three to the good, 













with a total of 969 out 




of 1,000 to their 966—and you may be sure we have not 
failed to call their attention to the fact whenever any of 
the crackerjack squad gets at all funny or sarcastic. In 
addition to Monday’s run of 106, Colonel Anthony had a 
run of 105, while I had the double honor of being low 
man of the ten with 189, and of having the long run of 
126. (I’ve been on the sick list ever since, and no 
wonder!) ¥ 
The amateurs who took part were: Messrs. J. S. 
Brunson (who did the most consistent shooting), Donald- 


son, Rawes, Smith, Daniels, Stallings, Dr, Stanley, 
Robertson, McDaniel, Johnson, Scarboro and Boulden. 
Before passing on to our visit to Eastman, Ga., it 
would be well to refer to an incident which occurred at 
Dublin the evening we arrived there. Gilbert and I went 
into the barber’s shop to be shaved. While there an 
old gentleman professing to be a phrenologist put in 
his appearance and requested the honor of examining 
our bumps. Fred willingly accepted my offer to pay 
a quarter if he would have his head examined, and 
what that phrenologist told Gilbert was (as “Fritz” said): 
“Pretty close to the truth.” It may surprise some of 
Fred’s friends, however, to know that the first thing 
the phrenologist found out was that his victim had a 
skull that was an inch too low and that therefore the 
subject was “lacking in religion.” It was strange to 
hear the old man tell us a whole lot of facts regarding 
Gilbert’s disposition, etc., especially as Fred sat like a 
wooden Indian during the entire éxamination, and also 
had not uttered ten words in the hearing of the old 
gentleman. F[red’s opinion of phrenology, like my own, 
has gone up since the interview. 
We left for Eastman, Ga., 31 miles away, at about 
6 P. M., reaching there somewhere about 8 o’clock, 
hungry and ready for bed. The only item in connec- 
tion with the trip from Dublin worthy of mention was 
the stopping of the train at a water tank where the 
conductor or some other member of the train’s crew 
tried to shoot a dog that had bitten some one and that 
had been brought to that point to be put out of the way. 
Revolver shots and no station handy, with pitch dark- 
ness all around, smacked a bit of a hold up and caused 
a little excitement. All soon quieted down, with the 
exception of the dog, which with a few bullet holes’ in 
it got away in front of the train and took off up the 
track ahead of the engine, ‘being plainly visible in the 
bright rays of the headlight as we turned corners and 
rounded curves. It was quite a long time before we 
caught up with the poor animal, but the engineer finally 
managed to get it to move out of our way, sharp 
staccato whistles and escaping steam from the cylinders 
ultimately inducing the dog to sidetrack for a minute or 
two. Of the shoot at Eastman on Nov. 8, and of the 
good boys we met there, ‘the s ory of the same will be 
told in my next communication. 

Ocala, Fla., Nov. 23.—That Winchester-Dupont squad 
has gone and done it again! And has done it well! 
Not content with making two new records at Columbia, 
S. C., on the first, twenty days later it went and hung 
some new marks that will take some beating, most par- 
ticularly that for 500 targets, to-wit, 496 out of 500 con- 
secutive targets shot at by a team of five men, each man 
shooting at 100 targets! This is three targets better than 
the Columbia record, while the 1000-target record is now 
980, or two better than that made at the South Carolina 
State Fair Grounds. 
The new records were made at Leesburg, Fla., on the 
21st inst., over the local gun club’s Leggett trap throwing 
a good 45-to-50-yards-target, unknown angles. In fact, 
they were made: under just such conditions as_ prevail 
at the Grand American Handicap and similar important 
events decided under the Interstate Association’s man- 
agement, and must therefore be classed as standard in 
every respect, 
There is one feature about the making of these new 
records which will always cling as closely to my memory 
as the Florida sand-spurs clung to Bill Crosby’s ‘‘sassy” 
socks, and that is goin’ some! We were scheduled to 
leave Tarpon Springs, Fla., about “8 something,” but as 
is so often the case down here during the movement of 
the fruit crop the train was about an hour late. Instead 
therefore of getting into Leesburg at midnight, it was 
1 A. M. when we reached that point. 
And then, owing to a misunderstanding, we found no 
hotel porter to take care of us, and we had to shift for 
ourselves. It was surely a warm job that Colonel 
Anthony, Lee Barkley and I had that early hour. One 
or two of the boys carried their grips, but the rest 
dumped grips, guns, etec., into the A. C. L. Co.’s second- 
handed pusheart, secure in the knowledge that the three 
of us mentioned above would do the rest. Lee and [I 
were hitched up as wheel horses, while the Colonel 
pushed behind. It must have been a moving spectacle 
as we cheerfully bent to our tasks with a will, and I am 
told that the sight of the Colonel’s legs twinkling in the 
dust of the Florida sand roads when Lee and I tried 
to run away and dump the baggage, was more inspiriting 
for those who were carrying their own baggage and 
therefore net worked up as to the safety of what we had 
in our wagon. The night was beautiful, as all Florida 
moonlight nights are, but it was a warm job and both 
Colonel Anthony and Lee declared that the hotel’s 
thermometer was not telling the truth when its mercury 
only pointed to the 76 degree mark 
By 1:30 A. M. we 


were—at least I was, and I am gen- 
erally about the last to turn out my light—in bed and 
asleep. But we had to get up_early and go out to our 
meals because the Lakeview Hotel is only just getting 
into shape for its quota of winter guests. Nobody was 
feeling really good that morning, but the grapefruit, the 
air and the sunshine, together with some of Gilbert’s 
recitations and the warm greetings we received from 
members of the local club, put us in a better frame of 
mind quickly. Still there was a feeling of a lack of 
sleep and a desire to sit still that was evident in each 
member of the squad. And yet they went out and shot 
as no team of five men have ever shot before! 
In order that the quality of their work may be better 
and more readily understood, the following ‘figures are 
given showing the scores made in the eight 25-target 
events shot at by the squad: 




[DeEc. 7, 1907. 
Events: 4.5 6 7 8 Tata 
J Mowell Hawkins 25 25 25 23 195 
WERE | Croshyi tis ee ones 25 25 28 25 198 
Lee R> Barkley < 32... 25 25 24 24 193 
Pred /Gilbertey.0 25 24 24 24 196 
Jak Layior aaa 25 25 25 24 24 198 
122 125 124 121 120 121 980 
Taking the first 500 targets shot at, the totals are: 
Crosby and John Taylor 100 straight each, Gilbert 99, 
Hawkins 98 and Barkley 97, a grand total of 494, or one 
break better than the previous record made ‘at Columbia. 
If, however, we take the totals made in events 2, 3, 4 
and 5, four consecutive events of 25 targets each, the 
totals are: Crosby and Taylor 100 straight each, Hawkins 
and Barkley 99, with Gilbert 98, or a grand total of 496 
out of 500, which is surely the record and one likely to 
stand for a good long time to come, unless some other 
bunch of equally good shots (and where could you pick 
them?) goes even more crazy than did this Winchester- 
Dupont squad on Noy. 21, 1907, at Leesburg, Fla. 
As to the background, the quality of this necessary 
feature is always to be considered, At Leesburg the 
background is not what could be called any of the best. 
It is too much mixed and low-thrown targets were hard 
to line out as they left the traps. I took some snaps 
at both background and club buildings generally, and 
possibly some of them may be fit to reproduce, although 
the light at times was poor and weak. 
As mentioned earlier, the trap was a Leggett and it 
was pulled by a colored man, Will Owens, who knew 
his business most thoroughly and attended strictly to it, 
with the natural result that targets “‘came”’ promptly to 
the call, all of which goes to help the shooter to make 
a better score than he would do were the pulling slow 
and draggy. The trapping, too, was good, and Mel- 
bourne Williams, a colored man with a heavily sun- 
burned but smiling countenance, is to be congratulated 
on his work. - 
I find on looking this over that I have omitted all 
mention of the long runs made by the members of the 
squad. Johnny Taylor, as usual, when any record break- 
ing to be done, got busy and broke his first 158 
straight—and he had about forty straight left over from 
Tarpon Springs. Crosby ran his first 125 straight, losing 
his 126th. Hawkins had a run of 111 and Barkley 1v5, 
while “Fritz” came along with 84 straight. 
To say that the Leesburg Gun Club’s officials were 
pleased with results of the shoot is not saying too much. 
Among the members of that club who shot along were 
Messrs. C. G. Westcott, a rattling good shot, J. W. 
Lucius, J. H. Randolph, A. B, Lees, W. H. Howell, W. 
H_Shaddick, ‘etc 
It will be noted that no mention has been made of the 
scores put up by the members of the “awkward squad,” 
but in order that some better idea of what “the main 
guys” did may be gained, it is best to say that Harold 
Money and H. G,. Taylor broke 188 each. I got 180 and 
put Colonel Anthony in my game sack to the tune of 
three targets. 
is 
Birmingham, Ala., Nov. 27.—Since my last letter, which 
closed with the account of the shoot at Dublin, Ga., on 
the 7th inst., and also my other letter from Jacksonville, 
in which I told of the new world’s records made at 
Leesburg, Fla., on Nov. 21, we have been going some. 
We were at Waycross, Ga., on Monday, the 25th, and 
left there that night on the sleeper for Montgomery, Ala., 
en route for Tuscaloosa, Ala., where we shot to-day, 
coming on to this city by a train leaving there at 5:45 

iP: M., and getting here about 7:30. 
Imagine our joy at finding a dining car on that train, 
Most, if not all of us, had not seen a “diner” since 
away back in the month of October. Did the dinner taste 
good? Ask Fritz Gilbert about that Thanksgiving turkey 
which he and I had just a few hours ahead of time. Ask 
“Hawky” and Harry Taylor about the ‘“‘Kansas City 
steak” they had last night for supper, and then about 
the one of the same name they enjoyed on the train to- 
night. Harold Money and John W. Hawkins, Jr., better 
known as “Big Hawky’s brother,” both had much to say 
as to what should be ordered, but neither of them wasted 
any breath, and made no false motions when the food 
was set before them. 
Everybody is in a good humor to-night, 
cause for regret that we now have 
four of the crowd who were with us 
this week. Col. Anthony left us 
Sunday, going home to Charlotte, 
and to make preparations for 
to-morrow. Billy Crosby and John R. Taylor were both 
called away, and started for their respective homes at 
O’Fallon, Ill., and at Newark, O., on the same evening. 
And yesterday Lee Barkley received a telegram telling 
of sickness at home, and he left for Chicago within two 
hours of reaching Tuscaloosa, 
This last defection left Capt. Mowell Hawkins with but 
ene of his original regiment—Gilbert—and two recruits 
from the “McPherson Guards,” which “fit” so nobly at 
Dublin, Ga. Those two recruits were Harold Money and 
Harry G. Taylor, who had ably filled the vacant places 
of Crosby and John R. Taylor at Waycross, Ga., on Mon- 
day. Mr, Barkley’s place was filled by the sole survivor 
of the McPhersons, to-wit, myself, and proud am I to 
state that the reconstructed and patched-up squad upheld 
the reputation of those that had gone before by making 
an average of 96.5 for the 1,000 targets shot at this day. 
Hawky ran his first 99 straight, while Gilbert and Harold 
Money finished with 108 and 102 unfinished respectively. 
With much 
and the only 
is that we have lost 
at the beginning of 
in Jacksonville, on 
N. C., to recuperate 
his private Thanksgiving 
so for an introduction, I am now going 
back to where I left off, namely, our visit to Eastman, 
Ga., on Nov. & 
At Eastman they have a good club, newly organized, 
but full of first-class material. Chief among the moving 
spirits of the organization was Claude Eubank, whose 
efforts were ably seconded by G. T. McRae, of Bohan- 
non & McRae, J. R. Wilcox and others. The grounds 
were some little distance from the town, but still were 
nothing more than what would have been an easy walk 
were it not for the sandy condition of the roads. The 
background might be impreved upon, and probably will 
be, for there is a much better background to the right 
of the traps as now located than directly in front of them, 



