Omaha daily bee., 1902-04-05
FROM BIG SHOOT
Fred Goodrich Talks Of American Handicap
at Kansas City,
LARGE CROWD RATTLEs THE MARKsMEN
supRrstion that Hereafter There VIII
ne Two Handicap Meetings,
one In the Fast and
one in the west.

Fred Goodrich has returned from Kansas
City, where he entered the Grand American
handicap, but dropped out with many others
after the sixteenth bird had been killed or
missed. According TO Mr.. Goodrich the ma
1ority Of the men missed, and at the six
teenth bird only forty-four Of the 1913 men
who faced the traps at the first bird re-
manned with clean scores. OF these men
only one is a NebTaskan, +. H.. Beard Of
Herman, who shoots under the name OF 'B
a." The member Of the Omaha Gun club
scoring only one miss at the conclusion OF
the shooting Thursday were w. d. Town
send. Dan Brey Of Syracuse, F. Moore Of
Lincoln and John Taggart. These men still
have q chance for money. but two misses is
considered equivalent to a Knockout until
after the twentieth bird has fallen.
The western shooters are having the
best Of the meeting said MIR. Goodrich.
1.-The eastern men are practically all gone
and the men who arc In the front rank are
from the middle west. The birds arc
better than have ever been seen at
an American handicap. every one Of them
swift and strong. and the man who wins
with a clear score at this meeting will have
done some shooting.
The birds and the men are the only
things that are all right at the meeting.
The provisions made for caring for the
crowd are inadequate. 1t is impossible to
get a seat and the shooters have to stand
up all the time or be crowded so that they
are ratified when they go to the traps. The
grounds are new and damp and are very
uncomfortable Many complaints are heard,
but no one expected such a large number
of people at the shoot.
May Be Division Hereafter.
People have seen at Kansas City prob
ably the largest number OF trap shoot
ers which will ever be brought together in
America. There are more than twice as
many as were ever assembled on a like &C.
casion, and for this reason this is probably
the last meeting OF the Grand American
Handicap as at present organized. Leading
men at the meeting say that the country
IS too big to hold one national event OF this
kind and that hereafter there will probably
be two handisaps, one held in the east and
one in the west. At the present meeting,
when there is the slightest delay there Is
serious trouble, as the number Of men lined
up is so great and the time so short that
everything must move perfectly In order to
carry out the program.
lone peculiar circumstance was the large
number OF people who missed their first
bird. They seemed to be excited at the size
of the event and sixty-three men let their
first bird escape. OF the Omaha club
George simpkins and Haefer of Council
Bluffs had the worst luck. They killed
their birds, but after the pigeons had set
tied down to die quietly something scared
them 80 that they again arose and few out
of bounds before they could be retrieved.
"The best score so far made by a Me-
braskan is that OF Farmer Burke of Elgin.
any. holding two straight scores in events
preliminary to the handicap. Then he got
ratified and is out OF the race, having missed
two birds, In the first hfteen,"