The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-20
BEST TRAP SHOTS.
Charles E. Forehand
Favorite for First
Place.
MANY CLOSE FOLLOWERS.
Jay N. Smell is the Fastest
Man That
Hunts.

In no branch of sport is there keener
rivalry than among the trapshooters.
Among the topnotchers there exists d
feeling not far removed from jealousy,
sometimes friendly, often cool and
once in a while bitter.
Perhaps it is the uncertainty of the
sport that begets this sharp rivalry,
for at the traps conditions are never
twice alike. Wind and light and speed
of targets are constantly on the change,
and favorable conditions for one shoot
er are bugaboo of a rival, and often
| times the better man is beaten in a
| friendly contest at the traps.
Because of the uncertainty that how
ers over and about the sport, opinions
vary on awarding first place to any one
| OF Worcester's many good guns. There
are half dozen men in one or another
| OF the local gun clubs that are capable
of shooting close to 80 per cent, Fer the
| supremacy among these the argument
is never ceasing.
| Charles E. Forehand is admittedly
one of the fastest men in Worcester and
a red-hot favorite for first place in the
| outcome Of his coming match with E..
| 9. Griffith of Pascoag, r. l., to be shot
at 100 birds on the grounds of the Wor-
| cester Sportsman's club, Aug. 26, has
| begun, and in the opinion of host of
men, Griffith must shoot close to a per-
| feet score to win.
| Forehand's match with Jack Hull last
| fall. when the Worcester man shot neck
and neck with the man from Meriden
and won out in the last ten targets
| thrown, convinced local followers of the
sport that he is one of the finest and
surest match shooters in the east.
| The handling of a gun comes as nat
| urally to Forehand as eating to can
nibal. He was brought up among fire
arms and is as much at home behind a
double Forehand gun as he is behind
| his PAGER, Tom In a match race he is
possessed of an abundance of that great
requisite, nerve, and is as cool as the
traditional cucumber right off the ice.
The present season Forehand has
practically done no shooting. I'm
der the professional rules of
the Interstate Association, he is
| barred on the ground that he
is engaged in the manufacture and
sale of firearms, and, finding no salts
faction in following the circuit for the
amusement of shooting for the cost Of
| targets, he has shot but little except an
| occasional crack at the clayS at the Bay
State Gun Club, of which organization
he is president.
The championship of Worcester coun-
| ty is matter of friendly argument
| between Jay N Smell and Forehand
Smell, in the brush, is acknowledged by
| the generality of hunters the fastest
man that hunts. He can, perhaps, Kill
more birds and do it handily, than any
man Worcester has ever boosted. AT
| the traps too, he is by many consid-
cred eligible to the title of champion.
/ He and Forehand have never yet come
| together in an up-and-up match race
| to settle the long standing debate, and
| both appear to allow honors to lest
easy, although both have said that
they are willing to try conclusions.
However, they have not yet met, and
| there is reason for argument. Smell is
| one of the coolest men that ever stood
| behind a gun in a close place. 1t is said
| that he knows no such thing as nerv-
BUSINESS, and whenever he shoots, he
| shoots to win. Last year in the Grand
American handicap which calls to-
gether the pick of the best trap shots
of the country for the greatest shooting
event of the world, Smell landed well
within the money being one of a IA
vored Is winners from a list of over
200 contestants.
Along with Smell and Forehand there
march a half dozen topnotchers at the
traps. Frederick Bueklin, one of the
best brush shots in the country, is one
of the best of them He shoots pump
gun and is the only prominent trap
shooter in Worcester that pins his
faith to the magazine. In the last
grand American handicap, Bucklin was
inside the money, being 1 of 20 men
to get share of the big stake out of
300 entries, and nearly as many shoot
erS.
Arthur W. Walls, secretary of Wor-
cester Sportsmans Club, is shooting
more this season than any other local
follower Of the sport. He is a hard
men to be mustered in Worcester for
team race. His name appears promin-
emily in the sweeps wherever and
whenever he shoots, and he is known in
every part of the east where targets
are thrown. w. l.. Davis, although not
shooting this season as much as form
erly, is recognized as one of the best
men that ever faced the traps in Wor-
cester.
Charles H. Goodell w. H. Buck, Ell
mer Buck, George w. Russell, A. B. f.
Kinney, George B. Mcclellan, H. f. A.
Lange and half dozen others in Wor-
cester, are old hands at the game and
fast men, too.
The announcement that Worcester
Gun Club and the Sportsmans Club
were to meet in five-men team race
came as good news to local followers Of
the sport, and would have given an
opportunity to size up the best guns in
Worcester, as they have never before
been estimated. The race is now APP
parently off much to the disappoint-
ment of followers Of the sport.