The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-07-29
THE INTERNATIONAL RIFLE MATCH,

Some feeling has been caused In Dublin by the
accounts which appeare In some OF the New YORK
papers relative to the contest az Douymount and
which, it Is charged, were exaggerated, and, in
some respects al least, untrue. The following
letter IS from MI. John Rigby, who visited the
United states last year with the irish team:-
TO THE EDITOR OF FOREST AND STREAM, New
YORK
MY DEAR STR have JUST read the particulars
of the international ride M tch in yours of the st
or July; and am sure you VIII regr { as much as
| do that statements made therein or which
there was n foundation and which are calculated
to give much pain TO many on tRIs side who are
your friends. know that the lault lies with some
one here who has telegra Pied mlsstateuenLs
and exaggerations 10 the American press; and
only regret that the contra lotion must come so
long after their publlcatoa hat ear 1t will avail
little to remove the wrong impression they are
calculated TO produce. lt Is true that the
crowd which assembled o witness the rifle match
exceeded anything we calculated on and the
arrangements tor Keeping the ground proved
consequently inadequate but noLnIng could ex-
a single collision be tween the police and the spec
tators, or blow STRUCK, or pollceman's baton
drawn during the entire day. Unfortunately, the
formation OF the ground gives but a narrow 'front.'
age behind tne shooters, and consequently the
spectators formed themselves into TWO diyergng
mes Town the range; that on the rlght, or lrlsn
slde reaching tw0-thirds OF the way to the tar
! gets, wnlle on the lett or American nank, tho
! line WAS much snorter These lines had con-
slant tendency 10 ADVANCE, and SO, at the concur
sion or The 1000 yards shooting, they were SO
near 10 the lne OF aim that they rendered the
| work OF the shooters much more trying than IL
!
squad most severely tried In this re-
| spect. Admitting tnis, | must however, give
distinct and categorical denial to the
statement tnas there was "uproarn at
! any time, mucn less that IL was "tremendous.D
There was about the same murmured noise on tho
announcement OF each snot as came from this
crowd at Creedmoor on similar OCCASION, put
! while the competitors were aiming silence was
| fairly observed. AS TO the statement that at 900
yards the Americans refused TO proceed until
| order was restored" or that "a pause oil thirty
nve minutes resulted,n 1t is absolutely untrue.
! No such interruption took place, ana, with the
exception OF pause Tor lew minutes 10 settle
the value OF disputed shot, tue firing at eacn
range went througa continuously. the next
statement OBJECT TO IS that az 900 yards
the irish, dejected and nervous, shot Wildly me
! &c. Our American frlenos who saw the same men
al least four OF them snoot at LOCO yards at
! those Of your readers who did not will say
look at their scores. omittiag Miners
az the end OF the 500 yards shooting. and
who was consequently thrown completely out,
| yards is over Ok each, as against 5OH made by
! the Americans; but the veracous reporter says
! 'They stuck at centres and 0uters.h Again, look
at the scores. The whole Irish team made but one
outer at the LOCO yards range, aud that appears
which Is, nevertheless, better oy three points
than the best OF tae Americans at that distance,
Again, the reporter says:-"Johnson proved him.
sell the pest OF the irish team AZ 900 yards" mo
score shows that he was beaten by three OF mis-
comrades at this range. Before leaving the sub
jec. OF cutters tt may be Instructive to observe
that the American team scored during the day
| ten cutters, against four made by the Irish.
| General Dakln, Johnson, Hamilton and Miner
alone shot through without making cutters.
kinemen are aware that on Inc first class
target OUTER which counts TWO, Is often
worse shot than q miss over or UNDER
which counts nothing. The last contradiction |
Will trouble you with is, that 'before Fulton and
Bodine cred their last snots the crowd formed
two lines, with only the two targets visible at the
end," and tnat 1.-THE roar was almost deafenng.n
All this is pure fabrication. The crowd did NOT
advance untu every shot was fred, and re-
NAMED aiming with General Dakfn's rife on ono
until he and his friends had packed up their sghCs
ana apparatus aud were ready to move Oh. cam
further say that, although the majority OF the
lower orders among the spectators lost money by
the result, they appeared animated oy sincere
desire that your countrymen should have lair
play, and the front Ranks kept the ground clear
as well as 1t was possible for them to do when
hind. AS the remarks have objected to are I'M
fair 10 the spectators aud 10 the Irish team, so
are the closing ones to Mr.. Miner His msnspss
doubtless, contributed more TO the defeat OF ma
SIDE than the amount Dy which his score was
below the proper average, but 1t IS not correct to-
say that he has been 'unIortunate in all the i'm
portant contests in which he mas been engaged.n
don ana been first on one occasion and second in
another. Last year he won tue AOercorn Cup,
mace first score In the irish Eight, shot well aT
Creedmoor and ran well up for the Bennett Cup
and this year lie made the highest aggregate in
the selection competitions for the International
team at Dublin. The accident when threw MIN
! out Of the match was more his misfortune than
mis- laut, and have no doubt he VIII yet be heard
| OF Wherever mis- coOlness steadiness and Judg-
| menJ nave fair neld for their exercise.
Permit nae TO say, before concluding, that DO
| not In any remarks | have made, desire to de-
| tract in the smallest degree from the credit
! Justly due 10 the vlctors. Those wac have repre-
scented their opponents as "deJected and Ier-
Vous,u confused and trembling" are the real de-
tractors No credit would be gained by the de-
feat OF sucn contemptl0le antagonists. l trust
ere this reaches you your readers Will be better
informed. They Will likewise have received tho
accounts OF subsequent battles and the result of
the All Ireland Challenge Shield Match, which
proves how closely matched were the contending
forces on these OCCASIONS. am ours. very truly
JOHN RIGBY.