The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-11 00:00:00

WIMBLEDON PRIZE MEETING.

The shooting at Wimbledon continued yesterday
ed at all the
under the same conditions as on the previous after-
noon—that is to say, the troops ma
ranges ges where flags were employ:drk, the butts at-
tached to the disc targets being filled with musketry
instructors of Volunteer corps, and by Volunteers
whose services had been accepted in this capacity,
aided and superintended by one or two members of
the Council,
and among them Col. Lloyd Lindsay.
The Volunteer marking was universally admitted to
be excellent, and was so entirely reliable,that in some
cases the tables were turned upon a marksman in a
way that he little expected. One noble lord, while
in the marker's butt, remarked that a shot was fired
at his target before the danger disc had been lowered.
He at once waved the danger flag to call attention
to the fact, and allowed a little time to elapse before
pointing out the bullet mark, which be did without
indicating where the hit had been made, as the shot
had been fired clearly in defiance of the regulations.
In the course of the afternoon he was informed that

the firer of the shot had lodged
a protest, counter-
signed by a friend, against the neglect of the marker
to register the hit which he had made. The ocer
in charge of the firing party accepted the protest,
knowing nothing of the circumstances; but the name
and address thus given afforded the Council a con-
venient opportunity of inflicting
the penalty for the
breach of rule committed. Throughout the whole
afternoon the marking was carried on without the
slightest casualty ; but about 6 o'clock p.m. one ac-
cident did take place which,
slight as it was, in-
duced the Council seriously to reconsider the ques-
tion of the propriety of continuing that system of
marking. It seems that one of the Volunteers heard
a bullet strike his target, but was unable to
discover for nearly a minute whereabouts it had
struck. Instead of putting up the danger-signal at
once, he allowed this interval to elapse before doing
so, and then proceeded to mark the hit and to paint
it out in the usual way. Meanwhile, the firing party
at the other end of the range, concluding that there
had been a miss, proceeded to fire another shot,
which reached its destination while the marker was
thus occupied, and some splashes unfortunately
grazed him, but so slightly that it was not necessary
to resort to the professional assistance of Dr. West-
macott. But such an event having occurred, precisely
one of that nature which cannot be foreseen
or guarded against, the Council felt them-
selves placed in this position ;—Against the de-

dared opinion of the military authorities, they
were upholding a system of marking which was
theoretically perfect, but which in practice it was
evident called for the services of a more experienced
class of markers than they were likely on the spur
of the moment to obtain. It had worked well for
the best part of two days, but the slightest inatten-
tion to rule rendered an accident all but inevitable.
They, therefore, felt it best to retreat, and to retreat
with a good grace, from the position they had occu-
pied. They accepted the scratch last received as con-
demnatory, not so much of the principle as of its
expediency for the purposes of the present meeting ;
and to-morrow morning a new system of marking,
possessing the merits of the disc system, hut guard-
ing against its dangers, will be adopted.. The
!mullets will be prolonged so as to gue:rd against
the poso.ibliity of splashes coming into the butt;
and the nutrker will indicate the place when- the
shot has strick the iron target, not upcn that
target itself, but upon a "dummy" wooden target
of smaller size placed over his head. It need scarcely
be said that this will entail considerable labour on
the executive, but it was felt right at all hazards to
putges t
ea
ds taosp
the to accidents,bes tme a n
means
and f
guardingthis plan hasag a inesetn
them
without returning to the unsatisfactory flag $713713wis
The running-man was perpetually traversi 0
in.-
rkable lea-
notes
a dangerous
sharpp at
ringing
nyesterday,the aim of the marksman. It was a reraa
danatdtensetaerdlytheevescryeutLY if