Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-12-06
FANCY SHOOTING ON THE STAGE
How It Is D0nc-The Case Of Erayne-
His Two Crack shots.

HIS Two Crack Shots
From the st. Louis Globe d mocras.
"oh," said Burney, sit isn't SO hard as it
seems to do these fancy shots. You can do
them yourself" he said indicating the reporter,
who has not handled rife outside or inside a
shoOting-gallery more than four dozen times
The reporter laughed. but Mr.. Burney said he
was in earnest.
''Come here" lie said, picking up 22-caliber
Stevens rifle and moving down toward the tar
gets. "The distance fired by Frayne on the
| stage is not more than eighteen or twenty feet
Let us measure Off twenty feet. and suppose
this inch-and-a-half butts eye is an apple on
| somebody's head. Try to hit it, taking care
| full sight"
The reporter got the gun into position, took
| a steady aim. fired, and the bell rang. One
bulls eye. Five times handwriting the reporter
did the same thing. and then Mr.. Burney han
| died the rifle and rang the bell every few Sec
on DIS, never missing shot.
'Now you see how easy it is" he said can
| apple Is larger than that bulls eye and when
| it is placed upon a woman's head with the hair
pulled up. so as to raise it an inch or two above
the SKULL it takes pretty poor marksman to
| hit the woman in the head"
"YOu don't seem to have the slightest faith
| in Frayne's expertness," the reporter sug-
| gested.
'Frayne," responded the gallery man, twas
what | would call only an ordinary good shot.
| can name 500 men here in st. Louis who can
shoot him out Of sight, Captain Cottrill, the
city bl-poster. can beat him all day at the
target hit the swinging target in the bulls eve
| sixteen time handwriting, one day two years
ago, when practising with Frayne. and it
was only with the greatest difficulty the
actor hit the target at all. When he saw me
shoot he said, why, Burney, if you went on
| fhl cfa x-nr,xr
doingT | asked. Shooting he answered. you
could pick an apple off a fellows head easily
| l told him did not value life so lightly. and he
laughed at what he called my fooshness.
Harry Sargent. the Snowman can outshoot
Frayne or Buffalo Bill, and, as l said before.
many st. LOusans can do the same thing l
can bring forward dozens of prominent citizens
who shoot as well with the revolver as Frayne
does with the gun"
| Mr.. Rice explained that Frayne used 80
caliber Stevens and 40 or H-caliber Winches-
ter rife in doing his shots. Buffalo Bill used a
Winchester rifle of 44-caliber An ordinary
charge OF powder for a cartridge is fifty or sixty
grains, and for stage shots twelve or
let through a man at twenty-five feet In
shooting galleries only three grains are used,
and No. % balls. 1t will be understood from
this that the men or women who permit them
| selves to be made targets of by sO-caed crack
shots do so at the full risk of their lives slip
of the gun or too sudden discharge of the
weapon may send death message to the vic
tim. Yesterdays accident was not the first of
the kind. Readers with far memories will be
able to recall the terrible tragedy that occurred
on stage in the east within the past few years,
when one woman, who imagined she could shoot
well, sent bullet through the brain of another
woman who had too much faith in the first
party's skill. In Milwaukee. a year ago last
September, one marksman plugged another in
the forehead instead OF scattering to pieces the
potato that rested upon the victims cabtage
| head And there have been many similar cases.
THE REPORTERS FANCY SHOOTING
Ills there not very great danger in doing
what they call backward shots?" the reporter
asked.
"Not as much,' said Burney. ''as when you
shoot in the regular. Here, let me show you
again what fancy shooting you can do. Take
little piece of looking-gla and George, ~
calling to boy. "hand me that heavy rifle. Now
turn your back. put the gun OveryOur shoulder
rest the piece of glass in your left hand on the
stock catch it firmly with your right near the
trigger, SO as to have your thumb free to pull
the trigger. So. Now take that same bulls eye
and move the gun and glass until you can see
the sight. the notch and the center of the bulls
eye all pictured one upon the other, the top of
the sight in the middle notch at the bulls eye
center Have you got it? Well, pull the trig-
The reporter did as he was ordered. but in
pulling the trigger shifted the gun slightly, and
| the bullet struck an eighth of an inch from the
lower edge Of the bulls eye. The next time
however, he rang the bell and twice after that
hit the bulls eye, the distance now being eigh-
teen yards. and the only sight OF the target be-
hind him that the reporter could get being fur
nished by bit of looking glass 2x4 inches.
lou see now how easy it is, said the other
marksman. IL q reporter can come in here and
hit a observation-disclosures bulls eye, with his
back to the target, and eighteen yards distance
| three times out of the first four attempts he
makes at the trick, it is easy to understand that
Frayne needs something more than a news
paper mans cheek to go on the stage night
after night and make the same shot at eighteen
feet. The only thing wonderful about this
shooting is not the shooting ITSELF but the fool
hardness Of the person who allows herself to be
| shot at"
Mr.. Burney then did the backward shot. with
the little piece of looking glass to reflect the
sight-nOtch and bulls eye, and hit the center
the first crack. He succeededin clearly demon
strating to the reporter that the restfu position
OF the gun ana the trueness of the aim furnished
by the glass made it impossible for anybody to
fail to hit mark.
The gallery man then leaned backward over
his counter and successfully made the hardest
shot OF all. In doing it the gun is in the same
| relative position to the shoulder as that which
it occupies when held for ordinary shooting.
The body. however, is at complete rest and there
| Is that advantage in it. The reporter whose
snort legs did not reach to the floor in irving
the shot. hit the big bulls eye the fifth time he
| fired, and was satisfied. If woman had been
holding an apple on her head for him she would
have been pierced through the heart by the first
bullet.
These two shots were the most difficult in Mr..
Fraynes extensive repertoire. Any fair marks
man can accomplish them with very little prac-
| tice; indeed, they are SO comparatively easy
that the shooter Is apt soon to hold them in
contempt, grow careless, and set about his work
In sufficiently reckless manner to bring about
such fatal result as that yesterday at the Gin
cinnati Coliseum. What the Globe Democrat
man attained to in the way of Workmanship
inside OF half hour was sufficient to make the
reputation of star actor in the Buffalo Bill
line; and it only demonstrates that the fame
which such meh as the actor scout and MIR.
Frayne have achieved in the dramatic line is
built almost entirely, not upon any extraordi-
nary skill, but upon quantity and quality of
audacity that nightly courts the crime of MUIR
der, as 1t laughs in the face Of its victims, and
is cheered to desperate and reckless efforts by
the applause of ignorant and unfeeling crowds
Making Up.
From the Ne,o York Clipper.
Deity the powder she 8pnieS