The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-07-20 00:00:00

WINNING THE QUEEN'S PRIZE AT
WIMBLEDON.

The Queen's Prize was won at Wimbledon on
Tuesday by Private Rae, of Stirling, with an aggre-
gate of seventy-eight, which is eight points more than
the winning score last year. There was a numerous
assemblage of spectators, and great enthusiasm was
manifested.—We take the following account of the
proceedings from Wednesday's Daily Telegraph
To the volunteers and the public alike Tuesday was the
most eventful day of
.the Wimbledon fortnight. The most
Important rifie-shooting competition of the year had to be
decided, and a magnificent prize given by the highest per-
souage in the realm had to be won. That 'Queen's
weather ' should have prevailed was, if not a natural con-
sequence, at least a fortunate coincidence. . . . The final
shot for the Queen's Prize was witnessed byprobably a larger
crowd than the marksmen's annual struggle for superiority
has ever before attracted to Wimbledon.
" It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to explain that the great
competition of Tuesday was confined to the 60 highest
scorers in the contest for the Silver Medal, which took
place last week, and in which there were between 2,000
and 3,000 competitors. The prize consists. of £250 in
money, the gift of her Majesty the Queen, and entitles
the winner to the gold medal and gold badge of the
National Rifle Association. The GO marksmen paraded
by order in front
.of the secretary's office at half-past
eight in the morning. Lord Wharncliffe having in-
spected them made the gratifying announcement that
the Council had agreed to dispense with the rule
which made it imperative for the competitors to wear
their belts. He also intimated that the firing at the 1,000
yards range would be deferred till the evening, with a view
to securing the best possible light. His lordship having urged
them strictly to respect the conditions laid down, and ex-
pressed a desire that the most worthy of them should win,
the men marched off to the 800 yards firing-point, and broke
into 10 squads of six each. After the usual signal had been
given, the shooting for the Royal prize began. The light at
this time was very steady, although somewhat bright; and,
although there was a gentle breeze blowing from the north-
west, its regularity enabled experienced marksmen to
make their calculations with a considerable degree of
accuracy, and in so far as they maintained a steady aim to
the right of the target they made fairly good shooting. The
peculiarity, however, which has been remarked in so many
other important competitions, of high scorers at the shorter
ranges breaking down at the long distances, was again
noticeable. Nervousness or excitement may in many cases be
held responsible for this circumstance : built was observable
that even marksmen of long experience, who know how
to keep perfectly cool, sometimes unaccountably failed
to hold on.' Sergeant Lamont (Queen's Edinburgh),
who had tried with Private Lowe for the Silver
Medal, Sergeant Burrows (Ist Warwick), Private Ms-41We
(7th Dumfries), and Private Rae (11th Stirling) were
the most successful men at 800 yards, scoring 30 each out of
the possible 35, and with this in hand they went back, at
eleven o'clock, to the nOO yards range. During the tiring at
this distance the light was never so good as in the earlier
etage. Men had to increase their windage considerably, aud
even then the bietze was so fitful as to upset all calculation.
Hence, perhaps, to some extent the unevenness of the
shooting. Private Lowe, the winner of the Silver Medal,
it may be observed, only made an aggregate of 40 at the
two ranges, and was obviously, therefore, out of the
running; Lamont put on 21 to the 30 he had scored
at EGO yards; Burrows broke down altogether, making
four successive misses; M'Vittio put on 20; whilst Rae in-
creased his aggregate to 63. Some of the smaller scorers at
300 yards, by holding on. attained to a much better position.
Sergeant Simpson, for instance, who had made 21 at the
shorter range, put on 30 at 200 yards, bringing up his total to
,s 7. Then, again, Lieutenant-Colonel Walrond, let Exeter,
by his success at the longer distance, raised his aggregate to
65. Sergeant Walker, too, of the 16th Lanark, scored 29 at
800 yards, and by adding 24 at 000 placed himself on an
equality with Rae. There was a long interval before the
firing commenced at the ultimate distance, the competi-
tors not assembling at the 1,000 yards firing-point
until half-past five. An immense crowd had assem-
bled outside the lines, but excellent order was pre-
served. The atmospherical conditions, genial as they
were for spectators, were not altogether acceptable to the
marksmen. When they commenced there was a heat hese,
which, creeping over the common, had got in front of the
targets and rendered the bull's-eye almost invisible; but
after the third round a welcome breeze came up and cleared
away the mirage. Up to this time Private Walker, of the
ist Lanark, had had a splendid chance of making a good
aggregate, but an unfortunate miss at this stago threw hint
out. Meanwhile, his namesake and compatriot was doing
well at one of the left-band targets, and the names of
Rae, Walrond, and Walker began to be exchanged
among the initiated observers as those of the men
who stood in the best positions. Lieutenant-Colonel
Walrond was the first of the time to finish, and his last shot
being a bull brought no his total at the range to 22, and his
aggregate to 77. Rae finished immediately afterwards with
73, having put on three bulls,' an inner, and two magpies.
By this time it was known that Sergeant Walker was the
only man who had a chance of beating him. Walker's fourth
shot, an outer, had made his aggregate 76, so that he only
wanted an outer to tie Rae, or a magpie to win. There was a
general movement, therefore, in the direction of the firing-
point for target E, the result of the shot being watched with
. breathless excitement. Alas, for Sergeant Walker, the mix-
lonely looked-for disc did not rise. He had made a miss. His
1 friends looked glum for a moment, but, quickly remembering
&last his Los was anstims Ecutgamssiis stsiD, YWistclea