The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-08-28
CLEVER MARKSMEN.
Their Skill Has Proved of Great Value During War Time.
 [From Tid-Bitsl

shooting as exemplified at Bisley, that
 your crack shot is absolutely valueless
 in actual warfare, that he finds nov ing men very different from stationa- ry targets, and lthat all sharp-shooting in action is mere haphazard guess work, in which the duffer is just as likely to do execution as the expert.
 There may be some truth in that view
 of craftsmanship, but that there have
 been cases in which the services of
 crack shots have been invaluable the
 following instances will prove:
 At the time of the Indian mutiny young Hercules Ross, son of the fa-
 nous sportsman and marksman, Cap
 tain Horatio Ross and brother of Ed
 ward Ross, the first winner of the ] queens prize at Wimbledon, was the
 crack rifle-shot of India. He subse- quently won the Indian championship three years in succession, and on the | third occasion put on ten consecutive bull's-eyes at one thousand yards. He
 was also mighty tiger slayer But he proved the value of his deadly. skill with the rifle against more formidable foes than the jungle could produce. His greatest and most memorable fiat was the following:
 | He had ridden nearly one hundred | miles to ford on the river Gorgra, where it asSexpected that a large fnrca of rooutinaarc ri,,4andaa IA o,,ars, It was of absolutely vital importance
 to keep them at bay until the women
 and children and the sick and wounded could be removed from an English sta tion close by, Hercules Ross heroical- ly undertook the task. He had pit dug on the bank of the river con- l manding the ford. Here he took his post, with a dozen good rifles by his l side, and four attendants to load for him. The heavy rains had swollen the river and the ford was impossible, but the enemy had large boat, and with this proceeded to make the passage of the stream. But Ross, from his rifle pit, picked off the rowers one by one
 with marvellous skill. Time after time
 the boat put back, time after time it
 
 ly fire which that swift rifieman kept up prevepted the oarsmen from ever getting more than a third of the way across.
 l Armed with only the old Brown Bess, 1 the Sepoys could not touch the occu- pant of the rifie-pit. For three hours, with unfailing skill and nerve, Hercu- l les Ross shot down the rebel rowers
 whenever they attempted to cross, till at last a body of English troops with three guns came up, and the Sepoys l sullenly retired. By his splendid craftsmanship, coupled with unfiinch- l ing steadiness and courage, young
 Ross undoubtedly saved the lives of those English women and children with their helpless sick and wounded
 companions.
 | Another and even more remarkable instance of the. practical value of
 craftsmanship in action occurred at l Lucknow, during the long and terrible seige. The Sepoys had hauled couple I of eighteen-pounders on to a flat roof | of one of the palaces which surrounded the residency in which the English | were at bay. If they could only mount | those guns they would be able to pour | a plunging fire down upon the defend-
 CTS of the residency, which would soon have the place untenable and com l pelled the English to surrender. It was imperative, therefore, that those | guns should not be mounted.
 l Sergeant Halliwell of the Thirty | second foot was the crack shot of the little garrison. He, was supplied with l the best of rifles that the officers pos-
 sessed and he was posted in an angle | of the residency, with orders to pre- vent the Sepoys from mounting those l guns.
 | The part of the building in which he | took up his position had already been battered by the Sepoy guns into heap | of ruins and behind the shattered ma- | sonry he lay at full length--there was | just cover enough to protect him in
 that posture. For several days he re- ! mained there, never once rising to his | feet, or even to his knees, for to do so would have been to court instant death | from the swarm of rebel marksmen in | front of him. The only change in at ! titude in which he could indulge was | by rolling over from his back to his stomach and vice versa.
 l His powers of endurance were almost | superhuman. He was a man who | hardly seemed ito know the need of sleep. He kept his eye night and day | on those dismounted guns. Whenever the Sepoys attempted to mount them
 his deadly rifle was at work and he picked them off one by one till they 1 dared no longer to expose so much as a
 finger to the unerring aim of this mys- terious and invisible death dealer. In | the dead of night provisions were con veyed to him by men crawling on their hands and knees along the slight bar ricade, which was all the shelter they
 had from the cannon and muskets of
 the foe. The guns were never mount od nd Ia ct I he r,al.c