Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1879-03-28
A Very Fine Shot.

balls which are sent into the air as fast
as man can throw them. Presently.
Abner Byng, who was standing by said:
That's nothing"
"What is nothing 2"
"Why, that shooting. Did you ever
know Tom Potter y
mo"
"Well Potter was the best hand with
rife | ever saw j; beat this man Carver
all hollow. 1 tell you what I've saw
this man Potter do. You know, mayba
along there in the cherry season Mrs
Potter would want 10 preserve Soma
cherries; SO Tom would pick EN- for her
and how do you think he'd stone EN- !?
~ don't know. Howl" W
why, he'd fill his gun with bird shot
and get boy to drop half bushel of
cherries at one time from the roof of tho
hous" AS they came down he'd fire and
take the stone clear out of every cherry
in the lot It's a positive fact lie might
occasionally miss one, but not often
But he did bigger shooting than that
when he wanted to-" 'aa
what did he do Z"
"Why, Jim Mller---did you know
him I? No? Well, Tom made 4 bet once
with Jim that he could shoot the buttons
of his own coat tail by shooting in the
opposite direction, and Jim took him up.n
Did he do it n as.
"Do it {! He fixed himself in position
and aimed at tree in front of him. The
ball hit the tree, caromcd, hit the corner
OF house, caromed, struck lamp. pest
behind Tom and nipped the button Off as.
slick as whistle. You bet he did il I"
That was fine shooting. %
Eyes but I've seen Tom Potter beat
1t. I've seed him stand under a flock Of
Wild pigeons, billions of them coming like
tho wind, and killed them SO fast that the
front of the flock never passed at given
line, but turned over and fell down. SO
thatit looked like kind of brown feathery
Niagara. Tom did it by having twenty
three breech-loading rifles and bow TO
load EN-. He always shot with that
kind"
"You say you saw him do this sort of
shooting 2"
Yes, sir; and better than that. too.
Why, I'll tell you what have seen Tom
Potter do. | saw him once set up an In.
dla rubber target at 800 feet and hit tbe
bullseye twenty-seven times minute
with the same ball He would h;t the
target, the ball would bound right back
into the rifle barrel just as Tom bad
clapped IN fresh charge of powder, and
forward until at last he happened to move
his gun and the bullet missed the muzzle
of the gun. 1t was the biggest thing 7
ever saw +; the very biggest--exccpt one."
"What was that :"
"Why, one day | was out with him
when he was practicing, 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 ?"
IL can't imagine"
"Well, sir, he got me to load bis wean-
ons for him, aud | pledge you nv word
although it began to rain hard. he hi
every drop that came down, so that tho,
ground for about eight feet around M,
was IS dry as punk. 1t was beautiful.
sir, beautiful"
And then the company rose up slowly
and passed out one by one, each man eve
ing Abncr, and looking solemn as no
went by; and when they had gone Abner
looked qaeery for moment and said TO
me:
. There's nothing hate so much as
liar. Give me man who is friend to
the old solid truth, and I'll tic to him."
In the course of n be,,od d;so,aa: