The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-07-10
A MARVELLOUS PIsTOL-sHOT.

A MARVELLOUS PISTOLSHOT.
The Feats y ith which BEr. ?. H. LORD Has
AsIOBIshed New York and Paris.
Almost any evening may be seen, at
the gallery of John s. Conlin, feats oil
pistol Workmanship which would make
any one of the old-style of@hand shoot
ers stand in wonder. The marksman is
Mr. Frank 81. Lord, the most expert
and finished pistOl-shOt in the country.
He is q young man of thirty-two, the
youngest son of the late Thomas Lord.
He is an athlete and q gymnast, and
about 1867 he BEGAN to try his skill as
shot at the old Conlin gallery. The
feats of Capt. John Trsvers, now of
Cleveland, had become a tradition,
though when Sandy Lawrence kept q
ten pin alley on the site of the present
Aston house, Travers's gallery attached
to it saw some wonderful exhibit
tions of steadiness and skill with
small arms. One of Capt. Travers's
feats was to shoot away q silver three
cent bit placed between his toes,
and when Blondin crossed the Niagara
he allowed Capt. Travers to put a ball
through his hat. From q doubling
friend Capt. Travers won a diamond
ring by putting q shot through the ring,
and his feat of picking an orange from
his sons head was tried again and again.
Since Capt. TraVers's time billiards have
driven out ten-pins, and rife-shooting
at long distances has crowded pistol
shooting at twelve PAGES into disuse, Mr..
Lord, however, confines his sport almost
entirely to the smaller weapon, though
he is a fine riheNshot. He is a member
of the New York club, and his bachelor
chambers are adorned with a curious
stock of pistols. In Paris he has met
Paul de Cassagnac and others of the
French dueling clique, and astonished
them with the certainty of his aim. The
Forrest and Stream, IN an article en-
Iiched with drawings of Mr.. Lords tar
gets, says:
For ten seasons past he has been chosen
by the English-speaking residents OF
Paris as their champion, and q well
chosen representative has he proven. On
one occasion he performed among other
feats eft accurate craftsmanship, the fol-
lowing: A cap of an ordinary musket
was placed upon the neck of a champagne
bottle, and Mr.. Lord, standing thirty,
six feet, or twelve PAGES, with an ordinary
dueling pistol picked OFF the cap without
scratching the glass. The same feat wa.
repeated, but with the pistol transferred
| from the right to the left hand. Two
more caps were picked of by the right
and left hand firing respectively, but in
these instances the pistol was held in E
reverse position, with the Ii of sight
below instead of above the line of fire
The next shot was a fancy one, Mr.
| I orG etc nth haO1 70 tho oh "a
! fired at, leaning far forward, and then
with pistol pointed back between his
| legs, picked off the cap as before. The
last of the six shots was made sitting il
chair, again with back to target and
leaning back until the target could be
seen by the head and eyes bent back
1t is favorite feat to suspend his watch
"a fine imported piece, costing $3.50
and put shot after shot through the lOOI
| at thirty-six feet. A match or wooden
toothpick laid across the opening of the
golden loop is cut clearly through, anC
though the watch has been under fire
scores and hundreds of times, it still
| ticks on toward the day which may
| come when bullet fraction Of an incl
out of the way may scatter the works IL
a shower of wheels and pinions.
In shooting at the word of command
az in dueling, where the seconds cry out
care you ready p 90 Ready p Fire
one-two-three," the shooter being re
| quired TO shoot between the words fire
and "three," Mr.. Lord, with a dueIini
pistol at twelve PAGES, struck down 4
inch bullets hung up by threads. Sucl
an adversary on the field of honor would
satisfy the chivalIic yearnings of abOu
any mortal. At the word lone" MI
Lord fred ten consecutive shots into
14.inch circle, same distance.
In Paris, where fantastic shooting
| very much in vogue, he is known as IL
diable American" He has time an
again at fifteen PAGES put 100 shots con
secutively into q space of an OrdinaT
playing-card. Or 8 recent date. as show
ing his ability for long range firing wit
the pistol, he struck two caps out c
three shots at g distance OF sixty feet
As the ordinary musket cap is about one
eight of an inch across the mere seeiD
of the mark was somewhat of g feat, bu
to see and nit as well was sOmethin
entirely beyond the common. Yet it wa
done at certain hour previously sgree
upon before large number of marksmeT
including many members of the NeV
York and Zsttler rifle clubs. With
Stevens 12-inch barrel pistol, distanC
125 feet, Mr.. Lord picked off couple {
a-inch bullets, using right and left han
In turn. Three consecutive 3sinch buIle
fell at IS feet before shots from a large
sized Smith & Wesson revolver, Russia
model, heavy trigger pull.
Many attempts have been made
bring together Mr.. LnId and RecoTde
Hackett, and clubmen have backed thea
famous pistol-shOts on several occasion
but the judge is somewhat wary.