Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-03-28
REMARKABLE BAT-sHoorIHa.

When, five or six years ago, officer jackson
and other Sscramentsns inaugurated bat
shooting, they had no idea that it would ex-
tend over the entire country but it evidently
has. Recently, at New Orleans, DIR. Carver
undertook to shoot 1000 of them, thrown up
by hand, in eighty minutes, and an audience
of about 5000 persons assembled to witness
him perform the feat. Few thought be
would accomplish it, and he was not very
sanguine himself. a large table was placed
in front of the grand stand, on which were
placed the shells, guns, bucket of ice-water
and other necessary articles, while near by
were several large barrels of ics-water used
for the cooling Of the guns after the rapid
firing. Eighteen yards from the table were
two cages filed with bats, in charge of four
attendants, two of whom were selected to fur
nish the bats, and the other two to throw
them in the air. Edgar Leche was selected
as the referee, G. 9. Dawkins the timer, and
VIM. Dupre and Edward Drouet the scorers.
DR.. Carver wore on his left hand heavy
buckskin glove, in which the barrel of his
gun rested He used his celebrated Old
Widow, Greener double. barrel choke bore
gun. which he has used in all of his famous
matches; he also used another choke bore
gun of different pattern. He had two other
guns ready in case of necessity, but did not
use them. At sixteen minutes to o'clock
the attendants began throwing the bats in
the air, one at time. With his old reliable
shotgun, Carver began finely, and before the
bats could begin their pirouettes in the sir,
he brought numbers Of them to the ground.
When the doctor got hold of the other gun,
however, he experienced some difficulty, and
toned to it because of the difference in the
sight, and the fact that the gun snapped
several times. Many of the cartridges did not
explode well, either. and one of the attendants
failed TO throw the bats properly, so that for
few minutes the shoot did not progress brill
iantly. However, an old-time bat throTer,
q colored mon, was directed to do all the
throwing, and the doctor becoming more &C.
customed to his guns, execution soon became
rapid and brilliant. The large number of
spectators crowded on either side of him and
caused many shots,to be missed by the doc.
tor, which he could have made had the people
not heen in the way. His shooting was
watched with rapt attention, and several
times the spectators broke forth in wild ap.
plause over the magnificent work done. The
referee and scorers performed their duty
well, and the rapid firing kept them busy
attending to their duties, so that DIR. Carver
had very little idea of how he stood at any
time of the match. The quick firing kept
the guns exceedingly hot all the time, caus-
ing DR.. Carver to have constant recourse to
the pail of ice water to relieve his hand from
the heat of the gun. Several times he brought
down two bats at the same fire. and again he
would kill the bats while they were pursuing
the most difficult flights in the air. After
the first twenty minutes DR.. Carver kept the
colored man busy throwing the bats, his
shooting from this on being of the frest char
acter. with very few misses. Finally, at 5:55
o'clock, just as the scorers arose to announce
that the !, 900 bats were killed. the colored
man threw into the air threa bats at the same
time, and DR.. Carver, with one beautiful
shot, brought all three down together. 1t
was then announced to him, amid the widest
enthusiasm of the spectators, that he had
killed l, 003 bats in seventy one minutes, thus
having nine minutes tc spare and three bats
more thsn necessary.