The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-11-19
A NEW RIFLE RANGE.
The Military to Have One of It's Own al
An Early Date.

There is prospect that the military
Of the city will secure a fine rifle range
with all modern accomplishments at an
early date. meeting of the officers Of
the military companies was held some
time ago for the purpose of consider
ing this matter, and committee was
appointed to take active steps to secure
a suitable range
The committee consists of Capt. George
T. Cam, chairman; Capt. W. n. Nichols,
inspector of rifle practice of the First
regiment; Lieut.. John NJ. Bryan, inspec~
tor Of rifle practice of the first battalion;
Mr. w. e. Gilbert, inspector of rifle prac-
tice of the Georgia IIussars Sergt. A.
,. Elchberg of the Georgia Hussars; and
Capt. Henry Kolshorn. The committee has
been actively at work and it is believed
that a hrst-elass rifle range fully an
swering all requirements, has been To-
Gated.
The location which has been selected by
the committee is on the property of the
! Avondale Company at the East Savan-
nah station of the Coast Line railroad,
| and lying north of the railroad. There is
d wide stretch of smooth, level ground
here which will require very little work
to put in hrst-class condition. Back of
the ground is a wide marsh and beyond
that a stretch of woods and another
MARSH, So lIdI the danger Oh an
accident happening to either man
or beast by stray bullets is reduced to
minimum. The committee has received
proposition from the Avondale Company
to lease the desired amount of land for
term OF five years at what is considered
a reasonable figure. An engineer has been
engaged to survey the ground and make
report of the amount OF work which will
be necessary to put the grounds in the
desired condition and the cost of doing
so. The committee is now awaiting the
engineers report before making their re-
port back to the board of officers with
recommendation for carrying the report
into effect.
Capt. George T. Cam Of Company C of
the Guards battalion, is chairman of both
of the officers meeting and the range COM
mittee. In speaking with a Morning News
reporter yesterday Capt. Cam said that
the location selected was one which would
allow of the construction of a range
which would be the equal of any in the
country, so far as the arrangement of
the ranges and the convenience was con-
cerned. 1t is proposed to establish ranges
at 200, 300, 800 800 and perhaps 900 yards
besides sl1irmish range. The idea is to
nave such range that any number of
companies can engage in target firing
at the same time, and firing can be car
ried on at all of the ranges and at the
skirmish target at the same time. The
plan includes such an arrange
ment of the target as will
allow as many as ten com
panies to participate at the same time
IN case there should happen to be so many
on the field at once.
The members of the committee are not
agreed as to the arrangement of the tar
gets to accomplish this object For this
reason each member of the committee has
been requested to work out the plan which
he prefers, in order to be able to present
1t in detail when the committee makes its
report to the general meeting of officers
Some of the members of the committee
favor arranging the targets in l. Q g. 4
order, according to distance, while others
! think an equally satisfactory ARRANGEMENT
can be made by placing the targets in two
| lines. The skirmish field would, of course.
| be separated. The width of the range
agreed upon by the committee is 200 feet
Capt. Cam, in speaking of the matter
with a Morning News reporter last night,
said
The question of a complete rifle range
is very important one to the military
of Savannah. Proficiency with the rifle
is now an object of emulation among the
volunteer troops all over the country.
The interest which already exists among
! the members of the Savannah military
on this line would be greatly enhanced
| and developed by the existence Of such a
range within convenient distance of the
| city. The result of such range would of
/ course be to bring about competition
among the various commands with greatly
increased interest in this branch of mill
/ ltary work. With such a range as is con
/ templated ii would be possible for the
regiment and the Guards battalion to
/ carry on a contest at the range with all
| the companies of both commands engaged
! IN the work at tho same time. Improve
| ment would be rapid as instead Of being
restricted to the 200 and 800 yard ranges
! as Is now the case the good shots could
| be Immediately promoted to the 500 and
4 600 yard ranges, and the skirmish line 1t
/ would also probably be made an official
! range of the state and records made here
/ would stand upon the same basis as those
/ made at the state encampment at Griffin
1 Our home companies and companies from
/ the surrounding counties would not then
/ be forced to make the long journey to
! Griffin whenever they wished to qualify
| their men as marksmen and sharpshoot-
| ers. Inter state contests would also be
| a natural result"
| The cost of securing the range with the
/ requisite number of targets will be COM
/ paratively small. and will be a light bur
/ den when divided among the various COM
| mands of the city.
PoPE's CRY OF FRAUD.