The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-08-02
eats With
RevOIvers


lionaire sportsman, who is making ar.
rangements for the deadliest shots in
the world to exhibit their skill in
London, is himself perhaps the most
phenomenal marksman living today.
Indeed, his feats with revolver and
rifle are so amazing that they border
on the miraculous.
Some years ago at fete at Bagshot
he gave some very astonishing exhibit
tions of his craftsmanship for the en-
tertanment of the visitors Among
other equally wonderful feats were the
following: He sent bullet after bullet
clean through the center of the ace of
hearts held at a distance of a dozen
yards, never once missing its tiny
bull 's-eye, during the whole afternoon.
He repeatedly shattered glass ball
placed on the glass of his watch as it
lay face upward on a table; and out
of six visiting cards placed edgewise
before him he cut five in halves with
six consecutive shots.
But perhaps his most remarkable
performance was that at the Brighton
rife gallery a few years ago, when,
I1l1HS InIIt GhObb
with a revolver at a target sixteen
on bull 's-eye only three inches in
diameter, scarcely as large as the palm
of man IS hand
Walter Winan Is rifle shooting, by
the way, is quite as amazing as his
craftsmanship with the revolver, and
the stag which can escape, at any pos
Ia hic dao httI
let is exceedingly lucky. He has killed
as many as 103 stays IN single season,
including the record number of twelve
in one stalk, while some years ago he
had accounted for 1000 stays. The
record feat of killing dozen stays in
a single stalk was performed by crawl
ing up to a herd before they could
escape out of range! On one occasion,
too, Louis Winans, who is little less
clever than his famous brother, laid
twenty stays low with as many con-
seeutive bullets.
Walter Winans, who is as modest as
he is clever, always declares that the
late Chevalier Ira Paine was much
deadlier shot than himself, and he tells
how, on one occasion, the chevaiier
killed blue bottle fly which had set
tied on the white part of target
twenty yards away. This performance
ranks as quite the most wonderful in
the annals of shooting-and no wonder.
But there have been many famous
shots before Paine and Winans handled
a revolver, and one of the greatest or
them all was Capt. Horatio Ross, who
was in his prime about eighty years
ago, and of whom remarkable stories
are told.
On one occasion the captain wagered
800 with George Foljame that, with
a pistol firing single ball, he would
kill ten brace of swallows on the wing
in one day. The feat seemed humanity
impossible, but Captain Ross actually
polished off his twenty swallows before
an early breakfast.
Almost equally remarkable was con-
test between Captain Ross and a ia
NOUS Spanish marksman for $50 side.
The match was held at the famous
Red House inclosure, the distance was
IL wards, the number of shots so, and
the target an ordinary playing card
with a bull s eye, the exact size of
sixpence, marked on it's back. The
captain, who proved an easy winner,
actually hit the diminutive bull 'seye
% times out of the last % shots.
John Tharp of Newmarket was an
other adept Of these longgo days.
One of his favorite feats was to shoot
at coins flung high in the air; and on
one occasion, for a wager of fl00, he
actually struck 81 pennies out of 100.
A few years ago a Frenchman, NJ.
CASTOR Bordeverry, gave an extraOrdi-
nary demonstration of shooting skill III
Paris. A piece of sugar was placed on
his assistant s head at a distance of a
dozen wards, and VI. B0rdeverry shot
It off with a revolver bullet without
touching nair of the man s head.
When a fifty-centime piece (about the
size of sixpenee) was substituted for
the lump of sugar it was removed just
as eleverly; and at greater distance
a visiting card was cut Clearly in two.
These facts are wonderful enough,
but nothing compared with what follow
I'd. Standing ten yards from piano,
and taking several repeating carbines,
Monsieur played with his rain of bull
let's. in brilliant style, a difficult selec-
ton from "Cavalleria Rusticana,' the
words being sung by a
quartet of vocalists. During the entire
piece not single bullet missed its
proper note on the Piano.
Almost as wonderful were some feats
performed not long ago by an American
cowboy, known to fame as Captain
Hardy. At a distance of 80 feet he
sent five consecutive bullets through