Mexico weekly ledger., 1879-02-27
eTALK ABOUT SHOOTING.
RecOllectiOns of n New Jersey
Man That Scoops Anything
II ON Record.
Columbus Democrat.

!
They had been talking about the
remarkable performances of DR.. Car
vel the marksman who shoots with q
riff glass balls which are sent into
thepir as fast as man can throw
then. Presently, Abner Byng, who
Il Was Itanding by said:
s.what' nothing
w hd' 10 81 :oUp'
"Why, that shooting. 4>:,. vor
ever know Tom Potter?"
s'No"
"Well. Potter was the best hand
with a.ritle l ever saw; beat this man
Carver all hollow. I'll tell you what
I've saw this man Potter do. You
know, maybe along there in the cher
ry season Mrs. Potter would want to
preserve some cherries; so Tom
would pick 'em for her, and how do
you think he'd stone emp
II don't know. How"
"Why, he'd fill his gun with bird
shot and get boy to drop half 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 occa-
sionally miss one, but 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 q bet
once with Jim that he could shoot
the button off of his own coat tail by
aiming in the opposite direction, and
Jim took him up"
Ibid he do it,"
''Do it! He fixed himself in posi-
ton and aimed at tree in front OF
him. The ball hit the tree, caromed,
hit the corner of q house, caromed,
struck a lamp post, caromed and flew
behind Tom and nipped the button
off as slick as q whistle. You bet be
did it!''
THAT was fine shooting.'
''Yes, but I've seen Tom Potter
beat it. I've seen him stand under
flock Of wild pigeons, billions OF
them coming like the wind, and kill
'em so fast that the front of a flock
never passed given line, but turn.
ed over and fell down, SO that it look
ed like a kind of brown feathery
Niagara. Tom did it by having
twenty-three bEeeeh-loading rifles and
a boy to load 'em. He always shot
with that kind"
''You say you saw him do this sori
of shooting?"
''Yes, sir; and better than that
too. Why, I'll tell you what l hart
seen Tom Potter do. / saw hin
once set up an India rubber target a
three hundred feet and hit the bulls
/ eye twenty seven times a minute will
the same ball! He would hit th'
target, the ball would bound righ
back into the rife barrel just as Ton
hand clapped in a flesh charge o
powder, and SO he kept her a going
backward and forward until at last ht
| happened to move his gun and tht
| bullet missed the muzzle of the gun
1t was the biggest thing l ever saw
the very biggest-except one"
"What was that:'
.sWhy, one day was out will
him when he was practicing, and it be-
len to rain. Tom didn't want to get
wet. and we bad no umbrella, and
what do YOU think he did,"
,'FWhst?'
.''Now what do you think that man
did to keep. dry!"
81 can't imagine" ="
"Well, sir, he got me to load his
weapons for him, and 1 pledge yor
my word, although it began to rain
hard, he hit every drop that come
down, so that the ground for about
eight feet around us was as dry as
punk. 1t was beautiful, Sir, beauti'
full"
And then the company rose up
slowly and passed out one by one,
each man eyeing Abner and looking
solemn as he went by and when they
had gone Abner looked queerly for 8
moment and said to me:
There's nothing i hate so much
as liar. Give me man who is a
friend of the solid truth, and I'll tic
to him.