Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1890-08-21

Or two gold hunters" The speaker was
one of the veteran guides of the nor
thern Adirondack region, who made his
headquarters in st. Lawrence County.
The best marksman | ever saw in
st. Lawrence County" the guide said,
was Buffalo man named Birgin, who
came here few years ago with his wife,
who was an invalid. She was threatened
with consumption, and the doctors had
advised her to try the air of the noun
tains Birgin had neat log cabin
built about two miles in from here early
In the spring, and when he had fur
nished it handsomely he moved in with
his wife and two servants. He seemed
to have plenty of money. and didn't
have any thing to do but take care of
his wife and sketch and write a little
and practice shooting with revolver.
lie didn't seem to care much for hunt
ing and don't think | ever saw him
use rife.
81 never could see why he practised
so much, for he could hit every thing
within range that he could see. 1 have
known good many crack shots and
seen deal OF close shooting in my time,
but this city man beat them all. He
didn't use any of these new-fangled
pistols, but always practised with a
rather old-fashioned looking Colts re-
volyer He always said he hated to
kill any thing. He shot to kill before
he left the woods, though.
lone day | asked him how he came
to be so expert. He said that when he
was a very young lad he had fancy for
pistol practice. When Captain Travis
opened pistol gallery in Buffalo he
took lessons of him. The captain be-
came good deal interested in him and
took pains to instruct him. When he
went away he made him present of
the revolver he still used, and advised
him to practice with nothing else. II
was one Travis had had made on pur-
pose for sharpshooting.
"When Birgin told me about Travis
he showed me a shot | would not be-
lieve could be made if hadn't seen him
make it three times in succession.
Some hard wood boards had been left
where the floor of the cabin had been
laid. Birgin took one of these boards
and laid it on the ground and leveled
it up carefully with spirit level. Ten
PAGES from the plank he put mark
about as big as silver half-dollar on a
tree. Then he got back ten PAGES from
the plank and leveled the pistol and
fired at the centre of the plank. The
bullet glanced from the hard wood and
struck the mark on the tree. This he
did three times in succession. He said
that was one of the shots Travis had
taught him, and he had always kept il
in practice He said that some time
his practice might be of use to him.
. And he was right about that.
81 was not very busy in the spring
and early summer, and went around
with Birgin good deal. Like every
stranger, he was afraid of the woods
and he paid we'll for any thing that
looked like work.
'After couple of months Mrs Birgin's
health was so much better that she was
able to join us in short strolls into the
TIMBER and she enjoyed them very
much. She would sit on some cushion;
with one of the girls an hour or two al
time, while Birgin would ramble
round and sketch and examine tb,
rocks. When had nothing particular
to do used to stroll over to Birgini
cabin along in the forenoon, wher
the weather was fine. Then, as his wifi,