Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1879-07-02
MARVELLOUS PISTOL SHOT.
Tho Faats With Which Mr.. +. II. Lord
Has Astonished New York and
Paris.
n. Y. World.

Broadway, feats Of pistol lnarksman-
ship which would make any of the old
styie, off-hand shooters stand in Won
der. The msrksman is MIR. Frank II.
Lord. the most expert and finished pi5-
tol.shct in the country. He Is Young
man of 49, the youngest son of the late
Thomas Lord. He is an athlete and
cymnast and about 1867 began to try
his skill as a shot at the old Conlin gal
lery. The feats of Captain John TIA
vers, now Of Cleveland, had become a
tradition, though when Sandy Law
renee kept ten-pin alley on the site of
the present Astor House. Travers' gal
lery attached to ii saw some wonderful
exhibitions of steadiness and skill! with
small arms. One of Captain Iravers'
feass was to shoot away silver 3-cent
bit placed between his toes, and when
Blondin crossed the Niagara he allowed
Travers to put Il bali through his hat.
From a doubling friend Captain Travers
won diamond ringby putting shot
through the riDg. and his feat of picking
an orange from MS sons head was tired
again and again. Since Captain Ira
vers' time billiards has driven out ten
plns, and rihe-shooting at long distances
has crowded p'stol-snootlng at twelve
PAGES into disuse. Mr.. Lord, however,
confines his sport almost entirely to
the smaller weapon, though be - tine
rifle shot. He is q member of the New
York club, and his bachelor chambers
are adorned with a 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 Mr.. Lords targets, says:
For ten seasons past he has been
chosen by the English-speaking resi-
dents of Paris az thoir champion, and
a wel-chosen representative has he
proven. Ga one occasion he performed
among other feats OF accurate marks
manship, the following: A cap OF an
ordinary musket was placed upon the
neck OF a champagne bottle, and Mr.
Lord, standing at thlrty-sx feet. or
twelve PAGES, with an ordinary dueling
pistol picked of 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 psto, was held in a
reverse position, with the line of sight
below instead of above the line of fire. |
The next shot was a fancy one, Mr.. Lord |
standing with his back to the object |
fred at, leaning far forward, and then, |
with pistol pointed back between his
,cLxt AFT fh,. n = ha Tho |
last Of the six shots were made sitting in |
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 at
thirty.sx feet. A match or wooden tooth
pick laid across the opening of the gold
en- loop is cut cleanly through, and,
though the watch has been under fire
scores 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.
In shooting at the word OF command |
as in dueling, when the seconds cry out |
care you ready ?" Ready "Flre!-
one--two-three," the shooter being re-
onired to shoot between the words
Fire" aud "three," Mr.. Lord, with a
dueling pistol at twelve PAGES, struck |
down six ainch bullets hung up by
threads. Such an adversary ON the
field of honor would satisfy the chival-
ric warnings OF about any mortal. AT
the word zone" Mr. Lord fred ten conSI
secutive shots into a l4.inch circle,
same distance.
In Paris, where fantastic shooting is
very much in vogue he Is known a,
"Le diable American" He has time
and again at fifteen PAGES put 100 shots
consecutivtly into space of an ordi
nary plaving-card. On a recent date, as
showing his ability for long-range fir
ing with the pistol, he struck two caps
out of three shots nj distance of sixty
feet. AS the ordinary musket cap is
about one-eght of an inch across, the
mere seeing of the mark was somewhat
OF feat, but to see and bit rs we'll was
something entirely hey nd the common.
Yet it was done at II certain hour pre-
viously agreed upon before large
number Of marKsmep, including many
members of the New York and Zettler
Rife Clubs. With q Stevens twelve
inch Darrell pistol, distance 125 feet,
Mr.. Lord picked off a couple of inch
bullets, using right and left hand in