Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-03-08
A "REMINISCENCES OF GARFIELD.
His Superiority as Rifle Shot, and How it Was
Tested.
from the Omaha Bee.l

tbs SoPcF'of'V do -'"o S"oN' o"~ ''0'' -
Tested.
GFrom the Omaha Bee
A gentleman named Marcy, who has
been spending the winter with friends
here, dropped into the Bee office the
other day, aud in the course OF talk the
name of the martyred Garfield came in.
"Well, sir, I've known Garfield ever
since [ was boy. I could almost go
blindfolded to the very spot where he
was born. Know him? | should say
SO. 1t seems strange enough though to
hear him called anything but "Jlm,
for us boys used always to call him SO,
even after he had got to be man full
grown and began to get famous. We
went to school together, and I can see
him now as school-boy just as plain as
I can see the leg of that table there
Talking of the sad ending of Gar
fields life led Mr.. Marcy to recall the
fact that Garfield in his early years was
a wonderful shot, and especially with
rifle. One incident especially was fresh
in his mind. He t3lls it thus:
"G8rfeld was then teaching at
Hiram, and I was living at CARROTS
vile, lively little town only few miles
away. He was known far and near
among the young fellows as the best
shot in that part Of the country. There
was q young man named Hi Beecher,
who kept store in Garrettsville, and
he thought himself pretty good on the
shot, and he was, too. He had got him
a new rife, and had been practicing for
months, on purpose to get ready to beat
Garfield. He had target back of his
c{O sCIo ,oF oh 4oyo
he blazed away at this day after day.
He used dead-rest, and by steady prac-
tice got so that he could put almost every
ball inside bull's-eye as small as a sill
yer quarter. When he thought he had
got himself in good trim, he told me to
see James and get him to come around
to the store and shoot with him. James
used TO dome down to Garrettsville of a
Saturday, when there wasn't any school,
so the next time / saw him [ told him all
about it. [ told him what the game
was, to get him to shoot at ten rods and
a dead-rest, and that if he did that way,
HI would surely beat him. well, said
James, according to all the rules of war
and the code of honor, the challenged
party has the right to name the distance
and the weapons. I'll see to him. At
ter a while, as Hi and I were standing
IN front of the store, Garfield came
along. L hadn't told Hi about see
ing him before, and called out
to him and told him Hi was getting
little conceited about being crack shot,
and wanted to shoot with him. They
went out back of the store, and Hi
pointed at the target. @Pshawr said
James; that's no distance to shoot.
That's too much like boys play. Let's
make it twice as far, anyway Hi
objected some, but James told him he
was the challenged party, and had the
choice, and they agreed to shoot at the
fence, about twenty rods off, when they
commenced to fire. Hi was goingt to use
a rest, FOh, stand up like man and
shoot off hand, says James. This was
another settler on Hi, but he had to do
it Or back down. Well, they fired six
shots apiece, and all of James bullets
were pumped in close together, while
His were struggled along over a string
of three feet or so long. His practice
hadn't helped him much, and he had to
own up beat. [ never shall forget how
Garfield looked as he went back into the
store, and putting on bis overcoat, stood
for a minute SO broad-shouldered and
manly, and his face so good-natured as
he smilingly said-'Well, Hi, whenever
you find yourself getting sort of conceit-
ed, just send for me to come down again,
and I'll try to help you get rid of it,
and he hurried out laughing, to catch
the stage to go back to Hiram"