Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1879-01-29
Tom Potter's Shooting.

Iney nau Deen talking ABOUT the re-
markable performance Of DIR. Carver,
the marksman, who shoots. with a rifle,
glass balls which are sent into the air
as fast as man can throw them. Pres
emily, Abner Bying, who was sitting
by, said:
That's nothing"
"What is nothing?"
"Why. that shooting. Did you ever
know Tom Potter?"
| NO"
"Well, Potter was the best hand with
a rifle l ever saw; beat this man Carver
all hollow. I'll tell you what I've seen
this man Potter do. You know, may
be, along there in the cherry season.
Mrs. Potter would want to preserve
some cherries; 80 Tom would pick 'em
for her, and how do you think he'd
stone 'em ?'
81 don't know. How?"
"why, he'd fill his gun with bird
shot, and get a boy TO drop balf a
bushel of cherries at one time from
the roof of the house. As they came
down he'd fire and take the stone clean
out of every cherry in the lot. It's a
positive fact He might occasionally
miss one, not often. But he did bigger
shooting than that when he wanted to. :"
"What did he do?"
"Why, Jim Miller-did you know
him? No? Well, Tom made bet once
with Jim that he could shoot the but
tons off his own coat-tail by aiming in
the opposite direction, and jim took
him up"
''Did he do il ~
''Do il, He fixed himself i'm position,
and aimed at tree in front of him,
The ball hit the tree, caromed, hit
the corner of house, carOmed, struck
lamp-post, caromed, and flew behind
Tom, and nipped the buttons off as
slick as whistle. You bet ne did ii. !"
''That was fine shooting"
''Yes, but Eve seen Tom Potter beat
it. seen HIM stand under a flock of
wild pigeons. billions of them coming
like the wind, and kill 'em so fast that
the front Of the flock never passed a
given line, but turned over and fell
down, so that it looked like kind of a
brown and feathery Niagara. Tom did
it by having twenty-three breech-load-
ing rifles and boy to load 'em. He
always shot with that kind"
"You say you saw him do this sort of
shooting:"
''Yes, sir; and better than that, too.
Why, I'll tell you what I've seen Tom
Potter do. | saw him once set up an
India-rubber target at 300 feet, and hit
the bull's-eye twenty-seven times a
minute with the same ball. He would
hit the target, the ball would bounce
back right into the rifie-barrel just as
Tom had clapped in a fresh charge OF
powder, and so he kept her a-going
backward and forward, until at last he
happened to move his gun, and the
bu let missed the muzzle of the barrel,
1t was the biggest thing ever saw the
very biggest-except one"
"What was that?'
''why, one day was out with him
when he was prac cticing, and it came
on to rain. Tom didn't want to get
wet, and we had no umbrella. and what
do you think he did?"
"What,"
"-Now, what do you think that man
did to keep dry?"
s'I can't imagine"
"Well, sir, he got me to load his
weapons for him, and pledge you my
word although 1t began to rain hard,
he hit every drop that came down, so
that the ground for about eight feet
around us was dry as punk. 1t was
beautiful, sir-beautiful,
And then the company rose up Slow
ly and passed out, one by one, each
man eying Abner and looking solemn
as he went by; and when they had
gone, Abner looked queerly for mo-
ment, and said to me:
"There's nothing | hate so much as
liar. Give me man who is the friend
of the solid truth and I'll tie to him."