Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1889-10-15
SHOOTING ACCIDENTS.


Advice as TO HOW to Avoid Them
From an Expert"
From the Forest and Stream.
If it were possible to collect data for a
comprehensive study of shooting accidents it
would be found that most casualties of this
nature would naturally fall into groups, each
group having distinct classification. Thus
two weeks ago we made note of numerous
instances where human beings had been mis-
taken for various species of game and delibe-
rately shot at by hunters; and last week we
spoke of the fatalities caused by stray bull
let's and the reeklessness of shooters who do
not stop to discover If there are human be-
ings in range of their shots. A third class is
of the purely accidental ones which result
from the carelessnsss or elumsiness of shoot
ing companions.
This is the season of the year when the
accident insurance companies expect to be
called on to pay insurance on men who have
been manned or killed by their field COM
rades. Last week member Of deer hunt
ing party In Sullivan county, in this State,
was killed by the accidental discharge Of a
companion's gun; the men were walking in
single file, the one ahead carrying his gun on
his shoulder pointing downward at the stom-
ach of the man behind; twig caught the
trigger, the gun went off and the man be-
hind died within an hour. Only a week be-
fore this came the report of the accidental
killing of prominent Iowa banker by his
son while they were out hunting. These in
stances are multiplied again and again, and
they constitute q distinct class of shooting
accidents.
A iudicious person will hesitate before ven-
turing into the field with one whose shooting
habits are unknown to him; and the older
person grows and the more he sees OF field
shooting and field shots the less inclined is
he to risk his person and life with careless
gunners. Few of us would be persuaded by
the assurance of the German baron who in
vited an English guest to shoot with hfm on
his preserve. IT have shot tiger in India"
said the Englishman, by way of excuse, land
your German hunting is not exciting enough,
don't you knowa" "Ah!" exclaimed the
baron, "you love dancher, do youa Den you
should 60 shoot NIT me. Only an fordnight
ago I shooted mine bruder-in-law right
through de shtomaeh." No less reassuring
was that reply of the keeper Of an English
estate, when q guest who had heard OF his
hosts carelessness in the field, asked just as
they were starting out, "Has Mr.. =. ever
wounded anybodys' "Oh, yes," replied the
keeper solemnly end in a whisper, "Mr. =
shoots man every year" Suoh men have
not learned the first principle of sportsman-
ship, for no man has a right to count him
self fellow of the Draft unless he has
learned above all things caution in handling
his weapon.
The simple rule never to point gun at the
person Of human being is the only safe
maxim; nine out of every ten accidents In
the field are caused by violation of it. The
| Utica. N. Y, young man who when trying to
remove cap from his, gun, blew off the
head of boy standing BY; the Milltswn,
Me-, hunter, who when about to aim at a
target, accidentally pressed the trigger OF his
rifle and put bullet through the thigh Of
| his friend with fatal results; the Kenosha,
Wis, gunner, who when bringing down the
barrels of his gun after loading It, discharged
| it and shot three children; the Leavenworth,
Kan, man. and the Newport, r. l., gunner,
who caused their friends to perish by similar
| premature gun discharges; all these and
scores Of others would not have been "pros-
trated with grief" 'craxed" and otherwise
made to suffer the tertures Of self-reproach
and condemnation, had they but observed
this simple, and, with the exercise of only q
slight degree Of thoughtfulness, entirely
practicable rule. A gun Is a deadly weapon;
death Is the purpose of its use; and there ID
no excuse for those who, forgetting or disre-
garding this, bring death to their fellows.