The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-09 00:00:00

• The preparations for the opening of the camp on Satu-I-'
day are gradually approaching completion. Little doubt'
is entertained, from the resources which the National.
Rifle Association has at its command, that the arrange.'
rents now being made will be completed in time, and'
will give satisfaction to the thousands of volunteer rifle--
men who will go under canvas during thegreater part of the"
meeting. In adddition to the space annually covered with'
::anvas by the association for the general body of velum,
teers, which this year has had to be considerably extended;
there will be no fewer than seventeen separate camps,
elonging entirely to metropolitan volunteer regiments.
tllost of the structures in which timber has to
be used are now erected, and the tramway, which
stretches from one end of the camp to the other, is almost
finished. Altogether, the camp will be the largest and
most complete this year which has yet been formed.
Every regiment in the volunteer force will be represented
at the meeting, and for the Queen's Prize alone, the
entries for which closed last month, there are some thou-
sands of competitors. The entries for all the competitions
are now closed, but Post entries may be made at the com-
mon. The lists directing the squadding of volunteers
for the St. George's- Challenge Vase and her Majesty's
Prize have been issued, as have also others on
various matters appertaining to the meeting. One
states that " the ammunition issued on the ground at
Wimbledon will be entirely of 1866 manufacture," the
announcement being made to guide those practising
for the Enfield competitions, as some doubt seems to
have prevailed as to the date of the ammunition
issued. Another sets forth that "in all competitions
restricted to rifles of bond fide Government pattern steel
barrels shall not be allowed." Eighty counties of Great
Britain will send its volunteers to the Common, and some
of the. competitors are on their way from Australia,
India (Bombay), the Cape of Good Hope, Jersey and
Guernsey, and various parts of Ireland. It has been
decided .that the match between England, Scotland, and
rrelancl, for the Elelio Wallenge Shield, shall be shot off
on the 23rd inst.; the match between the Houses of Lords
and Commons on the 16th inst.; the International Irish
Challenge Trophy on the 18th ; the Public Schools
matches for the Ashburton Challenge Shield and the
Spencer Cup on the 21st ; and the match between the
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge for the Chancellor's
Challenge Plate on the 22nd instant.

A MOTHER ACCIDENTALLY SHOT BY

HER SON.

A fatal accident has occurred at Doddington, about
seven miles from Lincoln, which resulted in the imme-
diate death of Mrs. Elizabeth Pickworth, the wife of a
farmer, aged 56 years. The coroner's inquiry, held on
Tuesday evening, shewed that it was purley accidental.
Mary Law, servant, deposed that she was sitting sewing,
Mrs. Pickworth being in the room writing, when Joseph
Pickworth, her step-son, came in and got a powder-flask, a
shot-flask, and some wads out of a drawer. He put them'
on the table,!but did not use them. Presently she heard a
gun go off, and saw Mrs. Pickworth fall from her chair
before she could save her from falling. Benjamin Pick-
worth said he heard the report of a gun, and on going
towards the house he saw his brother Joseph saddling a
horse, and he said he had shot his mother, and seemed
much distressed. He went off directly for a doctor. The
gun was kept in a corner of the room, and belonged to
Joseph. On Sunday morning witness loaded the gun to
shoot sparrows, but as the servants were then coming home
from church he put it back in the corner without dis-
charging it. Joseph had been shooting sparrows with it
before, but had left it unloaded, and witness did not believe
that he knew it was loaded. By a juror: I left it on half-
cock. The jury examined the gun, and found the right
lock imperfect and unsafe, so that the least touch would
make it go off. On Joseph Pickworth being cautioned, he
said : I came into the house and spoke to mother, and then
took up the gun and laid it over my arm. I did not know
it was loaded. I laid the things on the table, and as I did
so it went off. It may have caught against the chain of
my watch. I had shot it off on Sunday, and had put it
away empty, and did not know it had been loaded again.
The jury were perfectly satisfied that the death of Mrs.
Pickworth was accidental.—Stamford Mercury.