Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-07-02
A MARVELLOUS PISTOL SHOT.
The Feats With Which Mr.. F. III. Lord
Has Astenished New York and
Paris.
N. Y. World.

N. Y. World.
Almost any evening may be seen, at
the gallery Of James S. Conlin, 1922
Broadway, feats of pistol lnark sman-
ship which would make any Of the old
style, off-hand shooters stand in won
der. The marksman is Mr.. Frank H.
Lord, the most expert and finished pis-
tol-shot in the country. He is a Young
man of 80, the youngest son of the late
Thomas Lord. He is an athlete and a
gymnast and about 1867 began to try
his skill as q shot at the old Conlin gal
lery. The feats Of Captain John Ira
vers, now Of Cleveland, had become a
tradition, though when Sandy Law
renee kept a ten-pin alley on the site of
the present Astor House, Travers' gal
lery attached to it saw some wonderful
exhibitions of steadiness and skill with
small arms. One of Captain Travers'
feats was to shoot away silver Scent
bit placed between his toes, and when
Blondin crossed the Niagara he allowed
Travers to put ball through his hat.
From a doubling friend Captain Travers
won diamond ringby putting d shot
through the ring, and his feat Of picking
an orange from his sons head was tried
again and again. Since Captain Ira
vers' time billiards has driven out ten
plns, 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
rifle shot. He is member of the New
York club, and his bachelor chambers
are adorned with curious stock of
pistols. In Paris he met Paul de Cas-
sagnac and others Of the French duel
ing clique, and astonished them by the
certainty of his aim. The Forest and
Stream, in an article enriched with
drawings of MIR. Lords targets, says:
For ten seasons past he has been
chosen by the English-speaking resi-
dents of Paris as their champion, and
a well-chosen representative has he
proven. On one occasion he performed
am ong other feats of accurate marks
manship, the following: A cap OF an
ordinary musket was placed upon the
neck Of champagne bottle, and Mr..
Lord, standing at thirty-slx feet. or
twelve PAGES, with an ordinary duelling
pistol picked off the cap without scratch
ing the glass. The same feat was re-
peated, but with the pistol transferred
frem the right to the left hand. Two
more caps were picked off with right
and left hand firing, respectively, but IN
these instances the pistol was held in a
reverse position, with the line of sight
below instead Of above the line of fire.
The next shot was fancy one, Mr.. Lord
standing with his back to the object
fired at, leaning far forward, and then,
with pistol pointed back between his
legs, picking off the cap as before. The
last of the six shots were made sitting in
a 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 $25O-and
put shot after shot through the loop al
thirty-six feet. A match or wooden tooth.
pick laid across the opening of the gold
en- loop is cut clearly through, and
though the watch has been under fire
ccores and hundreds Of times, it still ticks
on towards the day which may come
when bullet fraction of an inch out
of the way, may scatter the works in q
shower Of wheels and pinions.
i In shooting at the word of command
as in dueling, when the seconds cry out
care you ready?" "Readyw "Fire!-
one-two-three," the shooter being re-
quired to shoot between the words
Fire" and "three," Mr.. Lord, with s
dueling pistol at twelve PAGES, struck
down six pinch bullets hung up by
threads. Such an adversary On the
field Of honor would satisfy the chival
rio yearnings of about any mortal. A
the word zone" Mr.. Lord fred ten con
secutive shots into a 1}-inch circle
same distance.
In Paris, where fantastic shooting il
very much in vogue, he Is known as
lie diable American" He has time
and again at fifteen PAGES put 100 shots
consecutively into space Of an ordi
nary playing-card. On recent date, a.
showing his ability for long-range fir
ing with the pistol, he struck two cap
out of three shots at a distance of sixty
feet. AS the ordinary musket cap il
about one-eight of an inch across, the
mere seeing of the mark was somewha
, of feat, but to see and hit as well wa
something entirely beyond the common
Yet it was done at a certain hour pre-
viously agreed upon before a large
number of marksmen, including many
members of the New York and Zettlel
Rifle Clubs. With a Stevens twelve
inch Darrell pistol, distance 125 feet
Mr.. Lord picked off a couple of 4-incf
bullets, using right and left hand il
turn. Three consecutive 4-inch bullets
fell at forty-fve feet before shots from {
large-sized Smith & Wesson revolver
Russian model, heavy trigger pull.
Many attempts have been made tt
bring together Mr.. Lord and Recorder
Hackett, and the clubmen have backed
these famous pistol-shots on severa
occasions, but the Judge is somewhat
wary.
If the Sahara Desert isaFlooded,i What
] The only important objection which
has thus far been urged against the un-
dertaking has arisen in the apprehen.