Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-24
SPORTS IT FORT MYER
Many Events of Considerable
Interest e
ARTILLERY MEN WIN
OBTAIN MoR4pHIzEs THAN THE
cAvALRYMEN.
Rescue Race the Most Exciting of the
Day-Maaay Spectators wit
ness the Contests.


ness the Contests.
The members of the 4th Battery of Field
Artillery, United States army, managed to
do all sorts of things to the cavalrymen
stationed at Fort Myer yesterday afternoon
during the annual military athletic field
games The artillerymen captured first
money In each Of the three events in which
they entered in competition with the cav
airy in addition to putting up a magnifi-
cent exhibition Of experiences in their own
particular branch of military science The
work of the members of the battery yester-
day will go great way to heal the sore
caused by their failure to be selected as
the field battery to represent the army in
the military athletic games at Madison
Square Garden. beginning the 9th instant
AS the cavalry team from Fort Myer was
selected the honors are about even.
There were fully two thousand people sur
rounding the immense parade ground when
at go o'clock the pistol cracked for the
starting of the first event of the meeting.
The course for the meeting was laid out
on the side of the parade nearest the bar
rack buildings directly in front of the line
of tents which H Troop. I'd Cavalry. has
occupied during the winter. The day was
anything but pleasant for the spectators, a
cold chill wind blowing over the parade
that set the crowd shivering as 1t waited
for the performance to begin Chairs and
benches were supplied to a limited number
stand or to occupy the seats Of their car
riages and automobiles. The carriages
were drawn up on two sides of the parade
while the spectators who had no convey
ances and the automobilists were on the
other two sides of the square. The courses
for the various races and events were
marked off with white washed lines and
the crowd was kept back by detachment
from the regular guard. The meeting was
managed by committee of officers of the
two arms of the service that participated
Capt. Lloyd M. Brett acted referee and
Capt. Clark. with Lieuts. Parker and Pike,
were the judges. Lieut. j. w. Moore was
the starter
A Relay Race.
The first event was a relay race in which
five teams participated. The teams repre-
sented troops E, F. G and H of the I'd Cav
airy, and the 4th Field Battery. The relay
team consisted of four runners. The
course was two hundred yards A runner
started with a message, ran one hundred
yards and turned it over to another man;
the last man ran hundred yards and
turned his message over to another man
who started back over the same ground
and after going one hundred yards turned
the paper over to the last man of the team,
who brought it back to the starting point.
Sergt. Bratton, Corp. LAMA and Privates
Reilly and Bellows of the battery were the
ahead at every stage of the race and won
easily. The other entries were:
Troop E. Privates Butler, Lockwood For
sythe and McGinness; Troop F, Privates
Max. A Weber. John NJ. House, Joshua
Hawkins and Ernest Zubler; Troop G,
Wag Dennison. Privates Britton, Logan
Burkey. Corp. Thomas J. Shannon, Pri-
Yates Granville re G. swope and Edward J.
- Tent, Pegging Contest. /
The tent peggfng contest which came as
the second event. brought out the skill of
the cavalrymen. The entries In this event
were all from the cavalry and very pretty
exhibition was the result. The tent pegs
are large wooden pegs which are driven in
the ground over the course of 200 yards,
| at thirty-yard intervals. The contestants
were mounted on horses and were supposed
to pass down the line Of pegs at full speed
and pick the pegs out OF the ground with
the points Of their sabers. There were
dozen or more entries and the event result
ed in a tie between Farrier Mckinney of
Troop and Sergt. Armstrong of Troop H.
When the tie was run off Mckinney beat
Armstrong out by one peg. Other entries
were:
Troop E, Trumpt. Muller, Privates Eleer
and Bingham; Troop F. Saddler Frank L.
Campbell Prvates Sidney Randle and
Charles A. Mccormick; Troop G, Privates
Dennison and Dwyer; Troop H, Sergts. Ed
ward A. strachan and William McGrath.
Artillery Race.
The most exciting and spectacular event
of the day was the artillery race. Four
sections of the .4th Field Battery were en-
tered In this event. The course was laid
out at 200 yards. The guns and caissons
were lined up at the furthermost end of
the parade. At the crack of the pistol the
eight six horse teams were dashed to full
speed and came tearing down the course
The drivers were required to take their
carriages between pegs driven in the ground
eighty inches apart, there being barely
room for the heavy vehicles to pass. The
eight teams dashed over the course in per-
feet shape passing between the stakes
without touching on either side. On reach
ing the end of the field the guns were plac-
ed in action in almost a second and were
fired. Barely had the gunner coiled up his
lanyard when part of the crew dashed up
from the caisson with extra wheel, the
gun was held up by another set while one
wheel was removed and another put in its
place. The guns were limbered and the
teams started back again over the same
course between the stakes. The race was
run in record breaking time with the left
section commanded by Sergt. Feeney an
easy winner. This race was the most ex-
citing of the entire day and drew forth
cheer after cheer from the spectators.
| A Rescue Race.
The fourth event, a rescue race was al
most as exciting as the artillery race had
been. There were HVe teams entered IN tHe
rescue race, representing the four troops
of cavalry and the field battery. In this
race the teams consisted of two men. one
mounted and the other on foot. The dis
mounted men were armed with carbines
and were placed at the far end of the
| field prone upon the ground The men
| with the horses were at the starting point
! standing beside their horses and were
| armed with9 pistols. At the crack of the
starters pistol the dismOunted men began
|
while the men with the hroses quickly
mounted and charged toward the dsmount-
ed men, firing their pistols as they rode
When the dismounted men We're reached
the mounted men took their arms and helped
them to mount behind them and the horses
were raced back to the starting point with
| two riders LTheyrace is one of the prettiest
of the purely military feats of the day and