Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-10-14
Aumorons department.
GREAT SHOOTING.

Recollections of an Old Man That Excel
Anything on Record.
They had been talking about the
remarkable performances of a marks
man who shoots with rife glass balls
which are sent into the air as fast as d
man can throw them. Presently Alb
ner Byng, who was standing by, said
"That's nothing"
"What is nothing?"
"Why, that shooting. Did you ever
know Tom Potter?"
"No."
swell, Potter was the best hand with
a rifle ever saw; beat this man Car
yer all hollow. I'll tell you what
I've saw this man Potter do. You
know, maybe, along there in the cher
ry season Mrs. Potter would want to
preserve some cherries so Tom would
pick 'em for her, and how do think
he'd stone 'em ?"
~ don't know. How ?"
"Why, he'd fill his gun with bird
shot, and got boy to drop half a
bushel of cherries at one time from
the roof of the house. AS they came
down he'd fire, and take the stone
clean out of every cherry in the lot
It's positive fact He might occa-
sionally miss one, but not often. But
he did bigger shooting than that when
. he wanted to-"
"What did he do"
"Why, Jim Miller-did you know
him? No? Well, Tom made a bet
once with Jim that he could shoot the
button off of his own coat tail by aim
ing in the opposite direction, and Jim
took him up"
"Did he do it?"
"Do it! He fixed himself in position,
and aimed at tree in front of him.
The ball hit the tree, caromed, hit the
corner of house, caromed, struck q
lamp-post, caromed, and flew behind
Tom and nipped the button of as slick
as whistle. You bet he did it,"
"That was fine shooting"
ayes, but I've seen Tom Potter beat
it. I've seen him stand under flock
of wild pigeons, billions of them
coming like the wind, and kill 'em so
fast that the front of flock never
passed given line, but turned over
and fell down, so that it looked like a
kind of brown, feathery Niagara.
Tom did it by having % breech load
ing rifles. and boy to load 'em. He
always shot with that kind"
"Y ou say you saw him do this sort
of shooting?
ayes, sir ); and better than that, too.
Why, I'll tell you what 1 have seen
Tom Potter do. I saw him once set
up an India rubber target at 300 feet,
and hit the bulls eye 81 times a min
ute with the same ball! He could hit
the target, the ball would bound right
back into the rifle barrel just as Tom
had clapped in a fresh charge of pow
per, and so he kept her a-going back
ward and forward until at last he hap
pened to move his gun, and the bullet
missed the muzzle of the gun. 1t was
the biggest thing 1 ever saw; the very
biggest-except one."
"What was that?"
"Why, one day was out with him
when he was practicing, and it came
on to rain. Tom didn't want to get
wet, and we had no umbrella; and
what do you think he did?"
"What? ?"
"Now what do you think that man
did to keep dry ?"
81 can't imagine"
"Well, sir, he got me to load his
weapons for him, and pledge you my
word, although it began to rain hard,
he hit every drop that came down, so
that the ground for about eight feet
around was as dry as punk. 1t was
beautiful sir, beautiful"
And then the company rose up
slowly and passed out one by one, each
man eyeing Abner and looking solemn
ly as he went by and when they had
gone Abner looked queerly for mo-
ment, and said to me:
"There's nothing hate so much as
liar. Give me man who is friend
of the solid truth, and I'll tie to him."