Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-09-03

Il
| CREEpMoon. L. l.. September 9, 1891.
| staff Correspondence of The Evening Star.
| Ii Henry Hilton had known how much OF
semi-dishonesty and ine-spuu chicanery his be-
| quest was going to breed. the chances are that
| he would never have donated for rifle compe-
tition that magnificent work OF art known as
the Hilton international trophy. There was
! In Mr.. Hiltous mind when he made the gener-
Gus gift referred to broadness that the New
! York intellect Of today fails to comprehend;
keenness that is lost sight Of in cloud Of state
| pride-a pride that seems to lack something o.
| upright consciousness. The Hilton idea was
one which. if squarely carried out, would bring
about annual comparisonsa as to the effectiveness
! OF the various military rifles in use throughout
! not only the United States, but many foreign
countries rs well. Suppose England. France,
| Germany and Austria were encouraged TO send
| teams to the fall meeting at Creedmoor what "a
great opportunity would then be offered for test
ing the relative merits of the rifles i'll an even
competition. In addition to the foreign guns
| American teams would contribute to the inter-
esting assortment OF firearms. Michigan would
bring its Sharps, New York its Remingtons,
while the District of Columbia, numerous
states and the regular army team could show
forth the excellence of the Springfield gun.
The conditions would be the same fo- all. and
liable to this government and to the govern
ments Of the various states.
SHOULD BE CHANGE OF NAME.
All these advantages have. however, been
lost sight Of by those who control the manage
ment of such meetings as the one now in
progress at this place. The organization which
started out as the National Rifle Association of
America degenerated some time ago into the
National Rifle Association of the State of New
tfay rN.lot
| title would be The Rifle Association for the
Encouragement Of Prize Winning at Any Cost
by New York Teams. All the national features
which once made Creedmoor the American
sharpshooters Mecca have vanished and today
| it is almost certain that New York and the Dis
| trict Of Columbia will be the only competitors
| in the two big matches which are on the pro-
gram for Saturday next. Why are so many states
unrepresented? Where are the Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, Connecticut. Maryland Massachu-
| sets, Michigan and other expert state teams?
Where is the army team, and who knows what
has become of the dozen crack shots of the
engineers? They have all been here in times
past. and had they been fairly treated they
| would be here now. No one can argue that
there has been any loss of interest in rifle
shooting; such statement refutes itself.
Those who shot at Creedmoor six or seven
years ago would gladly come again if there
was any assurance that they would not be re-
garded as deadly enemies to the peace and
VI TIC s.abS Va NscW 4OiAs
AN INTERESTING STORY.
washingtonians would probably be consider
ably surprised if the District team declined to
shoot for either the Hilton or the interstate
trophies. yet the local riiemen would be more
than justified in reaching such a conclusion.
The probabilities of such action have been
freely discussed. and while there is absolute
unanimity as to the propriety Of that course
the weight of sentiment favors desperate
. Al ~
terms be. And now somebody will want to
know where the inequality comes in. 1t is an
interesting little story that ought to make every
honest citizen of the empire state feel ashamed
of those OF his brethren who have for ten
years past plotted to secure the Hilton trophy.
Last September the District and New Jersey
teams competed under mos. discouraging con-
ditions; so discouraging that New Jersey re-
fused to come again. This year the handicap is
superlatively greater than ever before and the
chances of New York 9 victory have correspond
ingly become more numerous. Tho National
Guard Of New York is armed with Remington
6fty-caliber gun that has always been able to
hold its own in competition with the Spring
field. In last year Hilton shoot the highest
score was made with Remington, and many
of the minor prizes were captured with the aid
of that same weapon, but the fact remained,
nevertheless, that in the big event both Wash
ington and New Jersey, armed with Spring
fields, distanced their competitor.
A SPECIAL BARREL AND SPECIAL AMMUNIrIoy.
Since that day no scheme that promised
victory but has been thoroughly discussed, and
at last q decision was reached which satisfied
the conspirators. 1--WE will have a special
barrel made for the use OF our team" they said
land then we will have special ammunition
made to suit the barrel Then we are bound to
win" With this burglarious idea satisfactorily
| formulated they awaited the outcome of their
| orders and within little while were in posses
| sion of q sufficient number OF quick-twist bar
rels (such as used in high-grade Especial
| military" rifies) and the necessary ammunition.
| Neither the gun nor the ammunition come
| within the true and unperverted terms of the
| Hilton competition. Even the terms set forth
| by the association say: Weapons, any military
| rifle which has been adopted. authorized or
4 issued as an official arm by any state or govern
| ment-" Now, this special barrel Is not part
| Of the armament of any military force and has
| never been adopted by the state of New
York, except vicariously, for this particu-
| lar purpose, and in a contemptibly sur
| reptitious manner. Then to the ammuni-
| ton. Heretofore there have been proper re-
| sIrictions, but this year the anxious New York
| ers gin whose interest this so-called National
| Life Association alone rnoves) had the plant
! association change the terms OF the match SO as
| to admit ANY ammunition" With this suffi-
Gent but inequitable support the sharp prac-
| tice proceeded until a suitable cartridge had
| been manufac tured and tested The new mis-
1 sile contained ooU grains OF lead and was pro-
| PEELED by eighty grains of powder; 10 per cent
| each more OF bullet and powder than are con-
| tained in the Springfield cartridge. With this
/ the combination was regarded as complete and
| the schemers rejoiced with exceeding great
! 10y They said: I'VE will invite teams here
| from all portions Of the country and they will
| come imagining in their hearts that We will
| once more be beaten. And when they have
| come to make our meeting a success and are
| our guests We will arise and smite them, be-
| cause We have put up Job on them and will
| shoot with special guns and special ammuni-
I ton. And ii may come to pass that our
duplicity will be discovered, but that will mat
| ter not, for we shall possess tho Hilton trophy
at last and it may be ours forever"
THE NoS-xILITARY FEATURE.
Tine non-miitary feature Of this partially
legalized deception is the one most unfair to
| those competitors who come here prepared to
do only military shooting. The gun which
they called upon to compete with is not the
the ammunition of the regular variety. Ten
rounds Of the stuff would knock out completely
any average soldier in the field so strong is the
| reeoil- The increase in weight would alone
condemn II for practical and soldierly purposes,
but the great objection 70 il would come from,
the unskilled man who would be called upon to
pull the trigger. Experts may be able to &c
tne work with the new combination, but even
they would object TO the continuous use OF
such heavy charge.
\ The DEATH OF CREEDMooR.
| One of the results OF New York's action IN