Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-10

-HE members of tho brigade rife team
who have returned Ju me city from
Sea Girt are huslly engaged in tell
ing their friends Just how it hap
pened. The explanation department
has been working overtime for several days
past and many OF those to whom explana-
tIon has been made are not the least blt
sympathetic Because the District guards
men wan The Hilton trophy Hy- dimes run
ming when 1t was the biggest thing in inter
state shooting, because ,he Solder of Mar
athon became so used to his quarters at the
local headquarters that IL WAS thought ne
had established Il permanent camp mere
and because for several reasons me letters
of congratulation Of tae President 10 the
man winning the ind vidaal championship
of the United States were addressed to
some one in Washington. y. C., the people
became inoculatcd with the idea that all
the District marksmen had IN do to win
everything was to point their guns at the
targets and pull the trigger. Their work
in finding the bulls eye tn times past-when
they had from three to SIX rlonths' practice
on the range-rrade them seem superhu-
man to the stay-at-homes.. Consequently
the manner in which the returned riiiemen
have been greeted is not IN the least friend
ly or cordial.
District Marksmen Lacked Practice.
AS has been pointed out before. the
marksmen of the District had practically
no practice for the events this year. The
team was organized late and the men did
not get To the range more trin four or nVe
times after the organization. The New
York team that won the national match has
been continuously on Tie range since last
summer 1t shot throushuu. he winter at
Creedmoor, the New York state range as
we'll as during the summer. The army
team that came second IN The national
match was on range ccI .nuousiy for
three months before so NJ 90 Sea GIrt The
men were not together tSs-t icaSth or Time,
but they were practiCins on ranges contis-
uous to the posts at which they were sta
toned. And three months practice for the
army means from sl.hrisc 10 sunset SIX
days in the week and four weeks in the
month so that three months army prac-
tice is worth a year or TWO of the best KIND
of practice national guard teams can get
The New Jersey and Ohio teams have both
been shooting more than a year in prepaTa-
ton for this match and the navy and Ma
rine Corps teams shot on the range Tor
months every day and every hour of day
light during the day.
What They Say About 1t.
The nlarksmen who have returned from
Sea Girt include Maj James O. Bell, team
captain, and Lieutenant Colonel ReicheIoer-
fer, the highest representative of the DIS
trict in the national individual match In
commenting on the work of the local men
at Sea Grit Major Bell said:
The scores recently made by the District
of Columbia rifle team in the national
match at Sea Grit. while greater than that
of the team in the contest at Fort Riley
last season. were Disappointing. in that 1t
left our boys in tenth place instead of be-
ing up among the winners. but when we
consider the amount of time spent in or
ganiZing and practiclng the team Tor the
important event as compared with that de-
voted to the winners, the result is vastly In
favor of and to the credit Oh the home or
ganization. Immediately after the return
of the New York state team 3rOm Fort Riley
last year it began its preparation for the
victorious team of the present season.
New York paper stated in its issue of last
Sunday that eleven months were devoted
to the preparation, selection and practice
of the team. 1t is well known that prac-
tice Is conducted during most of the winter
over the long ranges at Creedmoor. 1t
would be passing strange If a team so
trained should fail to be in first place. Cap
his entire time to hunting out and selecting
the best material out OF the large force en-
rolled in the National Guard OF that state,
and has been coaching them for months.
While the army infantry team has been
together as such but a short while, one of
the officers who was n member of it in
formed me that he had been on the range
nearly every day for the past three months,
and the same thing may be said of most OF
its team members
1.-The teams from the navy and Marine
Corps have been in camp on a rifle range
in constant practice for more than two
months under the direction of DR.. s. N.
Scott and his brother Walter both former
members of the District team, shooting I'M
der all conditions calculated to produce
good shots.
The Jcrseymen are continually practic-
ing on the Sea Grit range. and their team
is composed OF some of the best individual
shots In the country. This team is prob
ably the latest one to be selected as such,
but their constant practice and their intl-