The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-10-06
READY WITH THE RIFLE.
Some of the Remarkable Feats of Payne-An
Instance Where He Missed His Object.

So me of the Remarkable Feats of Payne-An
Instance Where He Missed His Object.
On Thursday last the remains of the
world-famous crack-shot, the chevalier
Ira Payne. were laid to rest at Providence.
r. /. Though Providence had been his
nominal home. he had in reality passed the
latter part of his life almost entirely
abroad. and his proves was better known
and appreciated in Europe than in Amer
lea. He was, beyond question. the best all
round shot the world ever saw, n
many of his feats with the pistol.
rifle II shotgun were marvel
GUS. There is scarcely a crowned head
in the old world before whom he has not
exhibited his skill, and when he died in
Paris his apartments were Uttered with
prizes he had won and mementoes from
distinguished admirers.
The chevalier's wonderful skill was the
among a knot of young men at the new
Denis0n Hotel. when one of the group,
who had q brief but intimate acquaint-
ance with Payne. told q story of
what was probably the. only miss
acquired fame, from which it seems that
the great crack shot was but mortal after
all, and. like all other mortals who nave
ever set eyes upon a wild deer, he fell an
e eidsn Tie Occurred re 'd DURING o@i the t eSeTalie rsg la an1
visit to America, when. in the autumn of
1887. he came over from Dresden for
the specia! purpose OF enjoying q
few weeks shooting as the guest of the
ton made up of a few sportsmen from
Michigan, New York, Vermont, Maine,
Kentucky and Indiana. who have a pre-
serve at Turtle lake. Alpena county, Mich
igan; Il never before saw said the
see anything. like the remarkable
shooting that Payne did during
our brief camping and shooting
expedition. His first exhibition was on
the woods where we had stopped for
lunch. One of the party suggested that
while we were waiting Ira might show us
what he could do. Much as we knew of
his reputation he surprised us. He set an
got off about twenty PAGES,
with o Winchester rife of 5o-caliber. load
ed with n~inety-five grams of powder. As
you may imagine, 1T was by no means a
eral purpose shooting, and was more fitted
to kill an elephant thar to do fine work on
a target. He fired 80 that the ball struck
the ground just at the bottom of the
can. the concnssions sending it Spinning up
can was of the ground but 9 moment. in
that moment Payne reloaded and put a
bullet through it before it got back to the
ground. This feat ! saw him do dozens of
times. and he never failed to accomplish it
with ease.
Though shooting was his profession he
was as enthusiastic as the veriest tyro with
a gun and never seemed to tire of prac-
ticing his marvellous shots. At camp
nD0 a. n a-nHa h~xn. -
ing or at any other time of day he was per-
forming some new and unheard-of act.
With that same old Winchester he would
put bullets through all sorts of objects as
1ass soald IN f e. %Sny tb different ;n tS directions si4' H Is
would suspend q basket or can
with figures painted on it. whirl il about
until the string was well twisted, m then
stand off at a good distance while the OBJ
the figures. Catching them as the Object
whirled. He would tack up a card, say a
f%ive-spot. turn his back to it with a Smith
d Wesson hve-shooter in his hand,
w paes. off s ana MSirl a 1tsssa and e aT the sw spofs
out of the card just as fast as the five shots
could be discharged from the revolver.
Again he would lay a nest of revolvers on a
stump: set up a board twenty PAGES off aud
holes, shooting with about as much rapid
ity and regularity as there is in the
ticking of an old-fashioned house-clock.
But he had hard luck as a huntsman at
first. He had never shots deer in his life,
and, in fact, had never seen one outside of
the menageries and geological gardens. He
twitted us not a little about our inferior
Workmanship, and could see no excuse for
missing such an object as a deer, on the
to see one alive. Tine wore along at
camp for a couple of weeks. and
every one in camp, except Payne, had had
at least a shot. and most of us had brought
down a deer or two. Finally, Ed Gilman
suggested n morning, that we all devote
our energies to giving Payne a chance.
and we readily agreed. The water in
the lake was at a very low stage at
the time, and the beach stretched
fn01' the s snS Of S'' shs ff forest to n,t the x xasas
We fixed Ira at a good point behind an old
log at the edge of the forest, just at a place
where q large wooded swamp came to a
point at the edge. The rules of the club
water, but there was plenty of time TO bring
down one that might attempt to cross that
fifty yards of beach. The rest of us sur
rounded the swamp and turned in the dogs,
and it was not long before they had chased
ways at the sides, instead of waiting for a
shot: when they heard the deer
coming would set up a shout and
thO uOCAs - uudbiliuCCnb DuCns CduiC CIdcu-
ing through the brush and burst ont on the
beach not twentyyards from Payne. While
he was making the run toward the water
the Chevalier fired four shots at him, but
never touched him. They had. however.
the effect of SO frightening the deer that he
seemed to lose his head, and. after
making three or four jumps in shallow
water he turned and ran straight back
ACROSS the beach to cover in the forest.
While he was crossing the second time
Payne bravely pegged away three times
more, but probably did not come within a
mile of the buck. 1t was a clear case of
buck fever
1--WE made life a burden to the Chevalier
after his misfortune, and be did not have
quite SO much to say about amateur shoot
ing However, before we broke camp. he
had ample opportunity to retrieve himself,
and did it to his entire satisfaction. He
saw several more deer. and, from that time
on. was Just as dead q shot at live meat as
at inanimate cards n tomato-cans."