The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-12-01

body whips out his pistol, flourishes
1t around in the air and then brings
it down to level with his opponents
head and fires it, thinking. doubtless,
that the head is the best place at
which to aim. Then the defects which
| have mentioned get in their work
and the recoil elevates the revolver
above the would-be victims head and
the bullet sails merrily up into the sky
Or ceiling, as the case may be-.
Now, that is all wrong The head
is the smallest part of the body, and,
Of course, presents the poorest target.
The best place to shoot a man to put
him out of action and the place where
you are surest to strike him-where, in
fact, you can scarcely miss-is the low
or part of his body in the region of the
stomach. Instead of flourishing a re-
volver around in the air and bringing
t down, the way to do is to quietly
draw the weapon from the pocket, drop
1t toward the ground, then make an
upward motion with the weapon,
catching a line along the ground or
1oor up your opponents leg, stopping
at the stomach, where there is little
or no protection against q pistol ball
and the chances of recovery from
wound are small. Here you have the
whole vital region of the body In range.
IL you happen to shoot a little higher
than you intend you are pretty certain
to strike vital spot and disable your
opponent, and If you shoot lower-say
in the groin-you have him in about as
bad shape. In handling revolver in
this manner you get rid of the unnec-
essary downward motion. Another
advantage is that the movement can
be executed so quickly and easily that
1t catches a man off his guard. He
does not have time to prepare himself
for the attack
DO the secret service officers have
to furnish their own revolvers?" Capt
Halls was asked.
No" he replied, "the government
supplies the weapons to us and they
are the best makes to be obtained"
How long does a revolver last you?"
was the next question.
"A good revolver handled with care"
he answered. will, of course, last for
years. but where a man carries it con
stantly, especially If he rides on the
railroad and horseback very much
there is tendency for the barrel OF
the weapon to become loose in the
hinge just in front of the cylinder. and
this detracts somewhat from the accu-
racy of the shooting. As soon as I
find my pistol in this shape l lay il
doiut anu get new one.
Il notice that your revolver is not
nickel or silver plated" was suggested
to the secret service officer.
MY favorite weapon" he replied,
has always been the kind that has a
blue barrel. and this for several rea-
sens, the first being that with nickel
or silver-plated revolver the sunlight
reflected from the shiny barrel gets In
ones eyes and interferes with the cor
rectness of the aim. Then, at night,
man often desires to protect himself
without advertising the fact that he is
carrying a revolver. and he could not
do this very we'll with a weapon that
gave off a glitter whenever the light
fell upon IL.
Among the improvements that have
been made in revolvers," continued
Capt. Halls. ARE the loading of shells
with smokeless powder and the dis
carding of the hammer. The latest pat
terms of revolvers are not only self
cooking, but hammerless as WELL and.
in addition. they have a safety device
which prevents the weapon being dis
charged by any accident, such as drop
ping IL on the floor or ground.
"A revolver Is a very dangerous wea-
pom" said the officer In musing tone.
but / would rather face a revolver any
time than knife in the hand of an
enraged man. A knife in such Il situa-
ton is the most dangerous OF all wea-
pons and the hardest to guard
against"
AS he said this. Capt Halls face
took on such an air of solemnity that
his visitor instinctively scented" an
experience. Did you ever face a man
with a knife in his hand?" was asked.
II did" was the reply land / shall
never forget the experience I once
had occasion to attempt the arrest of
a desperate named Barker. had been
told that Barker said he would kin
me on sight and / knew he would do
il II he could, for he had previously
made such threats good. When