The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1879-01-24
tom POTYER,s SHOOTING.

They had been talking about tie remark
able performance OF DR.. Carver the marks
man, Hho shoots, with a rife. glass balls
which are sent into the air a. fast a. % man
can throw them. Presently Abner Byiug,
who was sitting by. said
That's nothing
"What is nothing p
"Why, that shooting. Did you ever
know Tom PUtler?';
ssNo'
"WcU Potter was the best hand with a
rifle ever sHw beac this man Carver all
hollow. I'll tell you what ye seen tins
man Potter DO. ou know, may be, sl0ue
there in the cherry season, Mrs. Potter
would want 20 preseeve some cl.aIrjos; so
Tom would pick 'em for beg, aud how DO
you thiuk he'd stone 'cul -
Il dou't know. How %
"Why, he'd tiN his gun with bud shot.
and get "a boy TO drop half a bushsl ct cher
lies at one Time from the roof Df IIlu house.
As they came down he q GIe aud take tie
stone clean out OF the cherry iu tine lnr
It's a positive fact . lie might occasion-
ally miss one, not often. BuJ be did big
yea shooting than that wheudc wanted to-
Nv hat did hr du?''
Nv hy, iiui AIili-r-did you know him .
No? Well, Tom made q bet once with
Jun that lee could shoot The buttons OF .f
has oVu cuat-iail hv aiming iu iHe opposite
D.
Did lee do 81 pa
..Doil! He fixed himself IN position and
aimed at tIee III ftuUi of him. The ball
la; Tive Tree, carumed, hit the corner OF a
house, caTnuted, siiuCk e lamp post, ca
romed, aud flew behind Tom, aud niprcd
the button of as slick as a whistle. You
bet hc did &C. -
THAT was fine sho0tiue.n
''Ies, but I've seen Tom Potter beat IT,
| seen hlm stand under 4 floc. Of " ild pig
cons. billions Of them coming like the wind,
and kill en- fast that the font of The
flock never passed given line. hut turned
over aud fell down, So that it looked Ike q
kind IF brown and feathc!y Niagara
Tom did it by having twenty rhrCe hreech-
loading rifles aud boy To ,uad EN-. lie
always shot with thar kiud."
You say you saw him do this snrf Of
shooting p
Yes, sir; ana better than that too.
Why, IN tell you what I've seen Tom
Potter do. | saw him once set up an In
dia rubber target az 800 feet. aud biz the
bulls eye twenty seven times a minute
with The same ball He would lit the
target, the ball would bounce back right
into the riHe bauei just rs Tom had clap
ped ia a flesh charge Of powder, and So ho
kept Der going backward and forward,
until at last Ec happened To- move l;iS gun,
aud the bullet missed tie uIz1ie Of The
barIel. Il was 'he biggest thing 1 ever
saw the very biggest except one
''What VAS that -
''Nhy, one day I was out with him when
he was practising. aud it came on iu Ii.iii.
Tom didu't want to get WEI, aud We had
no umbrella, aud what do you think lie
did -
''What?'
"No,,, what do you think ;hai man did
TO keep dIy?"
i can ina giue.'
''Eci, SIT, he got me TO load his vrap-
ous tor him, and pledge you my urd.
although IL began to rain haif, lac aif every
dlop that came down, So ihai tic ground
for about eight feet aIouud us vas dry as
punk. 7, was beautiful, siI, beautiful!
And then the company rose up SLOW y
and passed out oue 10y one, each man eye
ing Abuer aud look ing solemn as be went
bY and wEcu they had gore, = Duer look
ed queer Tor muIueuT, and said to me-:
There's nothing l hate So much rs
liar. Give me a man no Is the fiIeud Of
The solid truth aud j lie 10 him.