Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1894-12-05
EXCEL AS MARKSMEN.
Germans COncede that Americans
are Crack Shots.
MARTIN AND WESTERN In GERMANY.
An Account OF Mr.. Sober, of Sunburg,
Pa, the Great Trick Shooter with
Double-barreled Shotguns.

many, WneT6 military ndlhnduoHAp
has reached perfection, that in fancy
shooting at least Americans are not ex-
celled.
Both Dr. Carver and Buffalo Bill
have perhaps nowhere been received by
more enthusiastic gatherings than in
the large cities of Prussia and Austria.
Press and public alike were unstinted
in their expressions Of admiration.
Messrs. Martin and Western, expert
marksmen, are just now making tour
of Germany, and "Zur Guten
Stunde" artist has used the opportunity
to sketch them in their various posi-
lions while performing. This journal
claims that their feats are fully as re-
markable as those of DR.. Carver and
Buffalo Bill, and that in fact it would
be hard to find their match i'll the
world, for their challenge also in
cludes all-around military markham
ship.
One of their most remarkable feats
is their Swinging France target. A
dozen eggs of plaster of paris are ad-
justed very close together in frame
kept in brisk motion. Six shots in
rapid succession from each of the per-
formers emptied the frame in order and
it made no difference whether they
used one or two pistols Zone in each
hand. Their aim was fully as accur-
ate with rifles. They could bend down
and hit the eggs or put out candle
lights, holding their pistols while
bending backward or forward, aiming
from between their legs. Often a
small mirror is used, when they seem
to take longer time in aiming.
An excellent feat is the shooting of
two eggs at once, one of them placed on
the neck of the bottle and the other on
level in small swinging frame. In
this instance but little time is con-
sumed in aiming.
In this Connection it is of interest to
note that there lives in Sunbury, Pa. a
marksman whose challenge to the
fancy shooters of America and Europe
was never accepted. His name is Mr..
G. K Sober, and since 1889 he has
offered to pay the expenses OF any one
who would meet him and shoot at
Sunbury, Pa, in an exhibition match
against him with double-barreled
shotgun for stake of $500. The
American Field" says that Mr.. Sober
has never yet found his equal at
the trap, in field and cover, and in trick
shooting.
From the fact remarks this
journal, "that for the past ten years
Mr.. Sober has hunted ruffed grouse
only-the bird of all feathered game in
America that flushes and gets into full
flight most rapidly-he has acquired a
marvellous degree of skill in wing
shooting with his favorite weapon, the
double-bareled shotgun. During the
fall of 1890 Mr.. Sober made straight
run of thirty two kills ON ruffed grouse
during his tramp through the forests
on business, and in the last fifty he
killed that year he shot at but fifty-five.
AS far back as the spring of 1880, he
shot 537 wild pigeons in three days,
at Kane, Pa, while the birds were fly
ing to and from their feeding grounds,
and at no time did he kill more than
one bird at shot. For number Of
years. however, the increased pressure
of business cares has prevented Mr..
Sober from attending trap shoots. from
which fact some people think he can
not shoot over trap, but his scores on
record show he found no difficulty in
winning when he did attend. He has
never broken 100 Blue Rocks straight,
but he has broken 100 out of 101. He
has never killed 100 pigeons straight,
but he has killed ninety-six out of 100
at twenty-one yards rise, using one
barrel only. At match at twelve
live bats to each man, in which seven
teen shooters contested, Mr.. Sober won
with score of eleven killed, it being
the only match at bats in which be had
contested. When he attended trap
shoots he often made clean scores at
glass balls. Blue Rocks, and live pig
cons, often making from fourteen to
thirty straight kills, and readily de-
feated all who shot against him.
The most remarkable exhibitions of
Mr.. Sober's skill, however, are in trick
shooting, or, as he terms it, trough
and tumble shooting" in which he
handicaps himself in many different
ways, shooting from all sorts of posi-
tions at Blue Rocks, glass balls, or live
pigeons sprung from trap, and in
which bis scores are fully equal to
those made by many trap shooters who
shoot from the shoulder and not in any
way handicapped. Through long prac-
tice of these feats-many of which he
originated-Mr. Sober has become so
expert that he claims he can perform
more unique shots with the double
barreled shotgun than any other living
man. He performs at least one hum
bred feats, each shot being more mar
velous than the preceding one, all from
different positions or under new forms
of handicap. Mr.. Sober breaks glass
balls or Blue Rocks from either should
er, with handkerchiefs tied around the
barrels of his gun, with the barrels
thrust through objects of different