Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-13

- AhlNG a net gain or 30 points
AA and climbing from forty-first
lVA place in the list Of contestants
s.r to thirty-eighth place. the Ne
hSl412d braska Rifle team returned
- from the national rife match
at Camp Perry, Put-in-Bay. o.. we'll salts
fled with its participation in the tourna-
mept, despite the handicap OF having to
compete with service teams and 10 use
government ammunition, which did not
give as good satisfwaction as that used In
the preliminary work. The national match
was held August "A. % and 20 and was par
t~icipated In by fifteen men, with four off
GERS. from Nebraska, the crew OF twelve
active participants being taken from the
two regiments of the National guard of
this state.
Lieutenant Colonel o. @. Osborne Of
Omaha, second officer In command Of the
Second regiment Of infantry, Nebraska Ma
tlonal guard, went to Camp Perry at the
head OF the Nebraska team. which was
composed Of the following men: Lieuten-
ant Balderson, Lieutenant Hobbs, First
Sergeant Gill, Sergeant Brian, Sergeant
Nye, Sergeant Gibson, Artiflcer Blodgett,
Musician Nickel Private Mohr, Private
Rouse. Private Renkin and Private Ilgen-
fritz. Three alternates-Captain Ferguson,
Lieutenant Anderson and Sergeant Major
McDonald-also went with the team.
The twelve active participants in the
shoot, together with the three alternates,
were picked by the officers of the regi-
ment at the thlrty-day shoot held at Ash
land prior to the contest at Camp Perry.
The Ashland shoot began July 20 and con-
tinued until August 10 and the men who
made the highest scores in the state shoot
- aaIAaN.I a. 1-.... NT.A..aa.. -
the national shoot.
Lieutenant Colonel Osborne was captain
Of the team sent to Camp Perry, and the
other officers were Lieutenant Colonel
Birkner OF Lincoln, coach; Captain o. H.
Newman OF Aurora, range officer, and
Captain J. s. Johnson Of Stanton, spotrer.
The national rifle match was conducted
by the War department, which raid all
expenses, including the railway fare ot the
teams competing. The matches aro held
each year for the purpose OF promoting
rifle practice and encouraging the men
enlisted in the regular army and in the
National guards OF the several states TO
become more adept with the use of the
rifle. 1t Is not compulsory on the various
military organizations to take part IN the
tournaments, but most Of 1.-The ssl:es sre
generally represented, as there is 10 ex-
pense attached to 1t. The Ihen wlr) take
part are given an outing and there IS al
ways the hope of gaining one % the Six
valuable prizes offered by the government
for those teams making the highest SCORES.
Forty-three states, including the Dis
trict Of Columbia, five service teams,
professionals, and a team from Hawaii
competed in this years shooting tourna-
ment. making fifty contestants In all. The
service teams naturally ranked at or near
the top, four of the six prizes being won
by teams from the regular army and
another regular army team being seventh
in the race. The teams from Wisconsin
and Massachusetts, were fifth and sixth
In the race, respectively.
The forced competition with service teams
composed OF men of almost unlimited
practice with the rifle, being in the service
continually and with nothing else to do.
is considered a handicap by many OF the
National Guard teams, and in his report
to the a~djutant general, Colonel Osborne
of Nebraska recomends that service teams
be eliminated from the national rifle
tournaments and that the National guards
from the several states be privileged to
compete only with their peers. and not
with their superiors.
The service teams are professionals, and
the guard teams, with very few exceptions,