Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1899-11-28
THE TURKEY SHOOT
wHIMs or The BIRD AND GUILE or
THE MAN.


How the Stranger Beat Cy -Conklin.
Revenge Of the Latter-A Race
Between Ducks--A wild Turkey
Tragedy--The Delayed Jadge.
Old CT Conklln, OF Conklin Forks,
Broom county, N. T.. was curious
genius, with habit Of going on into
the woods and staying there until his
wife was driven to the verge Of distrac-
hon by the fear that something had hap
pened to him. AT other times he would
shut himself up in the barn and admit
no one, receiving his food through a
lattice drop-d0or to be opened only
from the inside.
"Thanksgivingr said Cy one bright
November day a few days before his
leath; "Thanksgivingl Not overmuch
to give thanks for around here, except
for brains, which thieves reap the
fruits of. hear Bill Defner has
bought Abe Risley's turkeys and Is
bringing them down for turkey shoot
Thanksgiving Day, cents shot
You will go In? Well, it's fun, OF
course, but with a rifle II needs quick
hand and eye to catch the wary Ameri-
can bird.
About that turkey shoot When
was Il young man, was pretty good
shot with a rifle, and one year went
to a shoot and ranged up against q
stranger with a wager as TO birds ana
he wiped me up In great shape. Howf
The gang was ranged around In semi
circle to see the fun and the turk was
in a barrel between the two horns.
got q fair percentage, but that fellow
nailed every one. That puzzled me, be-
cause when the bird raises his head It
Is with an eye of faith at the crowd,
but at the fash down he goes with
side twist which makes Ii hard to
score. Well, after the shooting was
over and the stranger had driven on
with the turks and my good $50 In his
inside pocket friend of mine said:
i guess that fellow in the rough coat
who stood near me was travelling with
that stranger; they drove away to-
gether. He had something wrong with
him and so kept out of the crowd not
to attract attention, for every now and
then he. would twist up his face and
squeak like chicken That was 1t.
He stood over at the end of the crescent,
and when he saw the turks head COM
ing up he called, and the bird, think
ing 1t was his mate, turned his head
that side, and so the stranger got In.
Was | mad? Well, not until the boys
tumbled TO 1t. / got even. Next year
down he come again and enters the
shoot as before, and the whole gang
was with me to do him up In great
shape. We watched where his con-
federate placed himself and then we
placed our man on the opposite side,
and he carried tin canister with
some corn in it, When the friend
|-tweeted the call, at the same second
our man ratified the corn, and the tur-
key naturally shook his mate for the
feed, and when he saw the fash from
the tail of his eye down he went, but
with left handed twist instead of a
right, and while one or two We're
scorched none of the first five were hit.
The fellow never tweeted for me, but
the corn rattl. and / scored right
along There was nearly war when af-
ter the shooting started In to chaff
the g,,loot. He never came our way
again.
Another year we had a visitor In the
village all the fall, city fellow board
Ing up on the hill, nice man, but all
| ing at the chest until the hill air
Strengthened him out Every one liked
him. He could fish and shoot and knew
a gooG dog. but about farm things he
did pJt know thing, and the folks
used 90 string him good deal just for
the fun of it. Well, one day they were
after telling him about the speed at
which n turkey could walk and be
driven. They told him how Ed Beas-
Ter once had turkey that for 200
yarfls could beat n running horse. Lots
IL matches were had. Eds brother
used to help him, they said. The course
was marked out with flags like a real
track, straight away on the grass. The
boy was placed on the horse and the
turkey was held by Ed between his
knees at the start. While these were
tetting ready. Eds brother would bring
but a galvanized iron feed trough and
place 1t at the winning post on the tur-
Iey's side of the track, and just before
he word Cor was given he would be-
rim to pour corn into that trough so
hat 1t sounded like storm of hail
The turk knew 1t meant feed. and fly
ing and running, went like race horse.
always beating out the horse which
could scarcely get into its stride They
told him too that Ed had hog trained
the same way. and won lots of money
at the county fair; any one would back
a horse against hog for 200 yards.
But to come back to the city fellow.
When they were talking about turkey
speed, he said quietly:
:" Well, don't know, but I think
1ucks are faster on foot than turkeys"
'srhen the gang went for him. and
finally he made match to drive six
iucks against six turkeys for five
miles, he to fix time and place. so as
TO have chance to train the ducks.
and 1t was agreed that there were to be
10 tricks of feed or anything. but that
straight, honest driving was to be prac-
iced. Well, he took his ducks out and
Ioted them around good deal. and
liked the afternoon before Thanksgiv-
ng for the match. time 2 o'clock. Just
As the Judge. Rouse Watson. was start
ng for the place. n stranger came into
his store and kept him for quite awhile.
and it was after 3 o'clock before he
reached the starting place, and then IL
was nearly half an hour before the
birds were started. Finally they got
off well together, the turkey driver
with long whip, like the four-in-hand
drivers use, and the city man with a
.ong. timber wand with a piece of red
1annel at the end. He said as how be-
.ore Christ was born they drove ducks
and geese that way over the Sisters
marshes, near Rome, and that it was
the proper way to drive them-any-
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