The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-07-28 00:00:00

A HERO OF TEL-EL-KEBIR.

The Court Circular of Saturday last says :
"The Queen to day decorated Private Robert Gaw
let Battaiion Scots Guards with the medal fer die
tinguished service io the field. Private Gary was shot
in the head at the battle of Tel-el.Kebir on Sept. 13,
1882, hut although severely wounded be marched with
his battalion to the railway station at Tel-el-liehir (a
distance ot four miles). Hero the battalion was halted,
and Private Gaw saw the surgeon, and made so Dot of
his wound that it was thought to be slight. Though
suffering great pain he remained with the battalion,
proceeded to Cairo, and did duty there for five days,
during which time he took his share of the guards and
other duties furnished by the hattali, n. At the expira-
tion of this period he could no lon4er continue at his
duty, and was sent to hospital at Cairo and from
thence home to Netley. On M.rch 16, 1883, the bullet
was, with difficulty, extracted from his skull, and he
Ii now convalescent. In all probability had it not
been extracted be must have died from the effects of
the wound,

CLOSE of the WIMBLEDON MEETING.

The Wimbledon Meeting closed on Saturday with
the International Ma%clo, which, after a very close and
exciting contest, was won by the British, their grand
total be 1,951, sod that of the Amorican team 1,906.
When the firing at the short ranges, 210, 590, and 600
yards, was finished on the previous day the represen-
tatives of thr United States National Guard had a
score higher by eight points than that of the picked
men of the Volunteers who were doing ba•tle for the
old country.—ln describing the final competition The
limes says:—

Major Young, 21st Middlesex, who acted as pioneer
shot for his team at the 800 yards, found a spot in the
magpie, while Private Smith, 9th Regiment, leading
off for the Americans, got into the centre Then the
firing went on steadily along both lines the British
firing in pairs, six men at a time, and, when they had
finished, the other half of the team taking their places.
The Americans fired right round the team with squads
of four at each firing paint. At all the ranges their
opponents were first to finish, though some of the Ame-
ricans took aim very quickly. Any position was allowed
at the long ranges at which the teams were now firing,
and there appeared to be as much difference of practice
in this respect in one camp as in the other, and it was im-
possible from the results to say whether those who chose
the prone position or those who stretched themselves on
their backs, steadying the rifle between their legs did
better on the whole in scoring. Owing to the fact
the British team fired in sections, the totals of the
rounds do not show how the balance of advantage
inclined from time to time to one side or the other.
When Major Young, Major Pearse, 4th Devon, Private
M'Vittie, Ist Dumfries, Corporal Bates, Ist Warwick,
Captain Godsal, 2nd Bucks, and Private Lowe, Queen's
Westminster, who formed the first division, had
finished firing at the 800 yards' range, they had among
them made 153 points, or fewer by 14 than their
antagonists obtained for their first 42 shots. The
second section of the British team, Quartermaster
Gouldsmith, let Gloucester' Private Gibbs, Bristol
Rifles, Corporal Parry, 2nd Cheshire, Sergeant Dods,
let Berwick, Major Humphry, Cambridge University
Corps, and Private W.ttleworth, sth Lancashire, did
betts-r, and during their innings the Americans only
gained two points more. The British, however, were
now 24 points behind, and when, in their first round at
900 yards, both Major Pearse and Mr. Lowe failed to
get any signal for their shots, and Major Young,
beginning with an outer and, after twice getting into
the centre, again fell away, and scored three outere
consecutively, the prospectz of the British team
did not seem bright. Private M'Vittie, however,
Mr. Gibbs, Corporal Bates, Captain Godsal, Private
Wattieworth kept bravely to the front. The calls
of the register-keepers at these targets were rep, a`ed
by Captain Harris, who marked the great scoring
board for the English, and as his clear tones were
borne on the wind to the American lines the words,
" Pearse, bull's eye, five ; " "Godsal, bull's-eve, five ; "
"Lowe, inner, four," must have sounded discourag-
ingly to the Americans, who, failing every now and
then to get any signal for their shots, or making only
outera and magpies, seemed, in shooting phrase, to be
going to pieces.
On going back to the 1,000 yards, the Btitish had
wiped off their deficit, and had ten points to their
credit. For a time, however, it seemed that their skill
or fortune had failed them, and the appearance of the
score list, a mosaic of circles, shows their firstsection had
a bad quarter of an hour. The light was puzzling and
the wind strong and variable. With the advance of
the second division of the British to the front the
aspect of affairs once more changed, and when these
had fired their last shot, about ten minutes before the
Americans had finished, it was plain that the victory
was already won, for the British had scored 254 at this
range, bringing their total up to 1,951 points, while
the Americans had only succeeded in adding 206 to
the 1,687 points they had gained up to the time of
leaving the 900 yard range; and though at this
moment they had still four shots to fire, even if all
these should find the bull's-eye, the match must still
be lost to them. In the result they made 219, and
finished with an aggregate score of 1,906, or 45 points
below that of the winning team.