Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1908-08-01
American Marksmen
Are Proven The Best
In The World

BISLEY, Eng, July 11.-Scoring
sweeping victory in the interna-
tional rife and pistol matches, Amer
| lean marks men this afternoon won
the worlds championship titles in
both classes. In the rifle contest
they were So points in front of the
English shooters when the last shot
! had been fired, and in the small arms
event they mad so points advantage
ever the Belgium marksmen.
American sharpshooters scored an
aggregate of 1854 points in the rife
match. With 2,i96 John Bulls
marksmen finished second and the
Canadian team, scoring 2,i39 points,
secured third place. The scores of
lows: France, 2,272: Sweden, 2,213;
Norway, 2,192; Greece, 1886; Dem
mark, 1909.
Again in the revolver team compe-
iitioH ihe AH'tilCdnS StoIeu d NlCtUGy'
and an easier one than in the rifle
match. The invaders ran up 1,914
points to the l,S64 tailed by the Bel
GUM small arms marksmen. The
Englishmen had to he content in this
event with third place, totaling l.
SIG. France, Holland, Greece, and
Sweden were outclassed in the con-
test.
Won Individual Honors
Not only did the Americans as n
team defeat the marksmen represent
| ing the greatest countries in the
world, but they also won individual
honors. W. II. Lueshner of New
! York and Major w. B. Martin Of
New Jersey handled their rifles with
such skill that they led all the other
contestants On the aggregate score.
Both Americans scored 430 points.
Immediately the American victory
was announced the Swedish Crown
Prince shook Gen. Drains hand
heartily and congratulated him upon
the work Of the team. The General
received many other congratulations
from prominent spectators, and the
Americans We're loudly cheered when
their brilliant victory was announc-
ed.
Leading from the very first range,
! the Americans were never headed.
They took lead in the 200-yard
match. and with the exception of
the shoot ut 500 yards range they
scored higher totals for each of the
| six distances than the best shooters
on the Continent or British domains.
Springfield Is Superior
In a measure, experts credit this
brilliant shooting of the Americans
to the superiority of the national
arm, the Springfield rifle, over the
arms of the other competitors for in
ternational honors. In the revolver
contest, however, DR.. X. II. Sayre,
'ca plain OF the team. said that he
thought the Europeans had an ad-
vantage over the Americans in the
type of revolver they used.
The Continentals certainly had
the advantage over u.s." he said.
Most of them used longer barrels
than are permitted in the United
States and also hair-triggers. We
have to pull at least two pounds in
excess of them. The Continental
weapons are very superior for such Il
match as was shot today, but the
better craftsmanship of our team
counteracted everything"
Best Men Won
! Gen. Drain, in an interview after
the victory, said IF you ask what
consider was chiefly responsible for
our grand victory | say it was good
men, team work, and rifles and am
munltion. From the commencement
we felt, in consequence of the lack OF
skill of the Continental shooters at
the long ranges, that the real con-
test would be between the Canadians,
the Englishmen, and ourselves. We
felt that If we could only hold our
own on the shorter ranges we could
lick everybody at the long distance.
II cannot say too much of the
sportsmaniike attitude of the COM
petlng teams. All of course were
anxious to win. but all were desir-
Gus that every other team should be
given an equal opportunity.
English Team Strong
81 consider the English combina-
tion to be one of the strongest teams
ever known. The weather conditions
We're extremely difficult, and am
absolutely confident that the English
and American teams in normal
weather would have shattered every
worlds record made by service rifles