The daily gazette., 1881-11-15

WONDERFUL SHOOTING.
How Marksman w. J. French
broke Glass Balls at Scheutsen

Broke Glass Balls at scheutseu
| Park.
At the Scheutxen Park, yesterds,
afternoon, about two hundred personi
assembled to witness the glass bal
shooting contest between w, j
French, the famous Western scou
and marksman, and five members o
the delaware Gun Club, viz: Georgs
Churchmah, DR.. Linton Smith, j
Ernest Smith, Maurice Garrett ant
John NJ. G. Rodney.
In this contes. Mr.. French pitted
himself and his Winchester rifle
against the five members of the Cur
Club with shot guns. The match wa,
divided into two sections, with fifty
balls side In each section. The mem
bers Of the Gun Club shot at the balll
as they were thrown from the traps
but as Mr.. French was not accustomed
to shooting from his own traps, and
was not acquainted with those ct the
Park, he was allowed to shoot at bslls
thrown into the air by hand. w. G.
Jones was umpire.
The Gun Club took the Arst fifty
balls, each member shooting at ten in
succession. George Churchman led
off by breaking eight balls and missing
two. DR.. Smith missed but one, as
did also ]. X. Smith. Maurice Garrett
missed two, but John N. G. Rodney,
broke every ball. Total for the
Gun Club, "A out of so.
Then Mr.. French took off his "Buf-
falo Bilr' hat, and put on large,
light, soft felt hat, one side of which
tapped down over the right side Of
his face and thus acted as protection
to his eye. He shot from the left
shoulder. When he was ready, Jack
Pierson tossed the fifty balls into the
air in rapid succession, and Mr..
Frcnch blazed away, soon filing the
ground about him with fragments of
glass. When he concluded his total
was A balls-he had just tied the Gun
Club.
On the second round by the Gun
Club George Churchman again broke
eight and missed two, DR.. Smith and
j. K. Smith each broke ten, Maurice
Garrett nine ana John M. Rodney, ten.
This made q clean score for Mr.. Rod
Ley, who did not miss q single ball out
OF his quota, of twenty. The. Gun Clubs
total On the second round was AZ, max.
ing grand total of VI out of hundred
Mr.. French then startee on his second
nfty, and, by rather curious coincid-
enoe also broke Al. making Q total Of 81
out Of hundred, and tieiDg the Gun
Club on the total score. Significant
smiles were exchanged by the audience,
and the opinion was general that the
tie was simply courtesy on the part OF
Mr.. French, who could have broken
every ball had he 30 desired.
The score OF the contest, In detail,
was ~ follows:
George Churchman, 8 S-.16
DIR. Linton Smith, 8 1913
j. Ernest Smith, . 1919
Maurice Garrett, y 9-17
John M. Rodney, 10 1870
Total, 81
VIM. j. French. A A.
Afterwards, Mr.. French gave several
exhibitions OF fancy shooting. He
broke balls by shooting between his
legs and also over his shoulder and over
the top OF his head, taking sight through
a small hapd-mirror. As an exhib bitiOn
OF rapid firing he shot IT twelve balls In
sixteen seconds, and broke nine of the
twelve. He also fred at ten ball. with
tD0 blRnb Oh MS Tins OUsCur6u, ana DrOk6
seven. or a dCzen balls thrown directly
at him he broke all except one, which
was not thrown far enough to come
within range. Another exhibition of
quick shooting was to lay his gun on
the ground, give the order Tor the ball
to b6 thro wn, and then pick mp the
gun, cock 1t, and break the ball before
It reached the ground. This feat he per-
formed very successfully. Only one OF
his exhi billions proved q failure, but no
warned the audience In advance that Il
probably would fail, owing to the con.
dition Of the ground. He laid ball on
the ground and shot directly under lit,
with the intention OF spriDging 1t into
the air by tho conclusion and then
breaking It before 1t could reach the
ground again. He succeeded in lifting
one ball, but not high enough to shoot
at, the hard clay soll not being adapted
to this test.
When he concluded, Mr.. French al
lowed all who wished to try his rife, at
q charge of quarter for nve shots. A
dozen or more tried their skill, but most
of them had Door success. Maurice
Garrett took the lead with three balls
out of i've, and j. b. Bell, of the Sunday
Star, came next, with two out OF Ave.
A few others broke one apiece, but the
broke none. There was an ex-
citing contest between the Presi dent OF
City Council and Policeman Munda,
which resulted in tie-eaob missed five
balls