Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1881-07-13
TARGET SHOOTING.

IAhubI pHuUllNu'
A Number ef Heeent Gases Witch wew
Decided by The Iouri..
A recent English trial will be In
atueiiye TO American target,shoot'
lists" Three young Engliahmen visited
a vacant fold for amateur ride shooting,
They placed bit Of board Ia the
branches OF tree for mark, aud com
menced firing, without any special pre-
cautions as to who or what might DO In
the distance beyond, They fired In
turn, but before they had gone twice
around people came running ilom
the rear OF the target 10 tell them
that they had killed u little boy. And
no II was, Tho rifles were able TO
carry bullet nearly mile, In o gar.
t&n, far beyond tho target, two chill.
dsen were at play, The little boy
climbed into low apple tree. Just
then these balls came whistling by, and
no fell from tho treo, dead, at his sisters
feet, The three young men were tried
for manslaughter, Now, II was not pos.
sible 10 ascertain with certainty whose
bullet did the mischief. But the judges
said that oil three must be punished
alike. II was not necessary TO detect
tho individual. Rifle shooting under
such arrangements, and with no precau-
tions to avoid doing mischief, was o
dangerous and unlawful practice, The
killing OF the little child was manslaugh-
ter, and as all three Of tho young men
had participated in the shooting they
were all liable to tho punishment.
A curious shooting case is related
from Illinois. A young man had lately
been married and had brought his
wife home to his fathers house. Appar-
ently-although history does not say so
in express words tho match was dis.
pleasing to the neighbors. At all events,
the house was visited late one evening,
soon after the wedding, by " chari.
vari." Now, charivari is a serenade
turned wrong side outward. II consists
OF great crowd surrounding the house,
hooting, shouting derisively, beat
ing burlesque drums and footing mock
instruments, firing guns, and the like.
The father and head Of the household
rushed out without much delibeation
and commenced chasing the riotous
visitors, and in tho melee one Of the
latter WAS shot by him, as several wit
ncsses said. Now, it is well-estab.
lished rule in the courts that nothing in
the nature of mere words, threats,
abuse or ridiculc will justify shooting
in retaliation. But the judges said that
they thought the charivari might fairly
be deemed provocation sufficient to
exempt the father from punishment.
As the constitutions generally say
that the right of the people to bear
arms shall not be infrnged, it seems to
be established that laws cannot be
passed to forbid men from carrying fire
arms. But most of the States proba.
bly, have laws declared that these
weapons shall not be carried concealed;
whoever wears n pistol must wear it
openly, so that his neighbors can see
that lie goes armed and may take care
accordingly. Alabama has a stringent
law OF this kind. One man lately at
tempted to evade it by carrying in his
pocket pistol which could be
taken apart and put together; the
cylinder would unscrew from the bar
lel. He carried the pieces separate,
but they were all in readiness and
could be screwed together and put
in order for use at short notice, He
said the pieces of the pistol were not
weapon. But the court decided against
him. An unloaded pistol cannot be
fred, but would any one say that carry
ing an unloaded pistol in the pocket
was not carrying concealed weapon =?
Unless some essential part of the pistol
is wholly wanting, so that it cannot be
made useful, it is weapon.
The courts continue to take the ut
most pains to discourage the pernicious
practice of brandisbing pistols Or point
ing guns, whether loaded or unloaded.
In Mississippi two men "loating" in
country store were drawn into petty
quarrel arising from the rudeness OF
one, who was eating nuts, in scattering
the shells about SO that they hit the
other. When the quarrel grew some-
what serious, the other ran forth from
the store into the street. The she'll
thrower followed, and in the race dis
charged a pistol. 1t was quite plain
from all circumstances that he did not
intend to hurt the runaway, or even hit
him ; but meant only to alarm him, or
demonstrate his own prowcss. There
fore his lawyers argued that there was
no criminal assault, for, they said,
an intent to hurt is part of the very idea
of an assault. The judges said that this
is difficult question: shall shooting in
sport be judged 10y the intention OF the
"shootist" or by the apprehension of
the "shootee?" The true rule is that
no assault is committed when the per-
son at whom the gun or pistol is aimed
knows that is empty, and that the
assailant does not intend to injure him,
but is acting only in fun. But when he
does not know these facts-when the
circumstances are such as may reason
ably lead him to believe that he is in
danger his rights are just as truly vio-
lated as if the intent were serious and
the danger actual. Also the effect OF
such conduct to disturb the public
pea-e is equally Objectionable. There
fore they pronounced the make-believe
shooter guilty.