The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-17
GEORGIA SCENES.
THE SHOOTING MATCH


died two-and-twenty years ago, and
haven't heard a word from her since"
What! and you never married again?'
Never, as Gods my judged" "a sol
emn asseveration, truly, upon so light a
subject)
We'll, that's not my fault
mo, nor it's not mine nither," said the
squire.
Here we were interrupted by the cry
of another Ransy Sniffle. Hello, here!
All you as wish to put In for the shoot n
match, come on herei for the putin in
riddy to begin"
About so persons. including mere spec
tators, had collected, the most of whom
were more or less obedient to the call of
Mealy Whitecotton-for that was the
name of the self-constituted commander
in-chief. Some FASTENED and some lott
cred, as they desired to be first or last on
the list; for they shoot In the order in
which their names are entered
The beef was not present, nor is it ever
upon such occasions; but several of the
company had seen it, who all concurred
in the opinion that it was good beef,
and well worth the price that was set
upon it-S11. A general inquiry ran round,
in order to form some opinion as to the
number of shots that would be taken;
for. of course, the price of shot is
cheapened in proportion to the increase
of that number. 1t was soon ascertained
that not more than 20 persons would
take chances; but these 20 agreed to take
the number of shots at 25 cents each.
The competitors now began to give in
their names; some for one, some for two,
three, and a few for as many as four
shots.
Billy Curlew hung back to the last and
when the list was offered him, five shots
remained undsposed of.
How many shots left?" inquired Billy
Five" was the reply.
well, 1 take EN- all. Put down four
shots to me- and one to Lyman Hall,
paid for by William Curlew.''
| l was thunderstruck; not at his propo-
sition to pay for my shot, because
knew that Billy meant 1t as token Of
friendship, and he would have been hurt
IL l had refused to let him do me this
favor; but at the unexpected announce
ment of my name as a competitor for
beef, at least 100 miles from the place of
my residence. l was prepared for a
challenge from Billy to some of his
neighbors for private match upon me;
but not for this.
| I therefore protested against his put
ting in for me, and urged every reason
without wounding his feelings.
Put 1t down. said Billy, with the au-
thority of an emperor and with look
that spoke volumes ineligible to every
by-stander Reckon I don't know what
I'm about p Then wheeling off, and NUT
tering in an under self-confident tone,
Dang old Roper" continued he, "if he
don't knock that cross to the north
corner of creation and back again before
a cat can lick her foot!
Had 1 been king of the cat tribe they
could not have regarded me with more'
curious attention than did the whole
company from this moment. Every inch
of me was examined with the incest
scrutiny, and some plainly expressed by
looks that they never would have taken
me for such bite. I saw no alternative
but to throw myself upon third chance
shot; for though, by the rules of the
sport. would have been allowed to shoot
| by proxy, by all the rules of good breed
ing I was bound to shoot in person 1t
would have been objectionable to disap-
point the expectations which had been
raised on me. Unfortunately, too, for
me, the match differed in ore respect
from those in which I had been in the
habit OF attending in my younger days.
In olden times the contest was carried
on chiefly with shotguns, a generic term
which, In those days, embraced three de-
scriptions of Observation-Disclosures Ga
long. cheap, but sometimes excellent
kind of a gun that Mother Britain used
to send hither for traffic with the In
dians), the large musket, and the shot
gun; properly so-called rifles were, how
ever, always permitted to compete with
them under equitable restrictions These
were, that they should be fired offhand,
while the shotguns were allowed a rest
the distance being equal; or that the dis
| lance should be 100 yards for rifle to 60
for the shotgun, the mode of firing being
equal.
But this was match OF rifles exclusively,
and these are by far the most common
at this time.
Most of the competitors fire at the
same target, which is usually a board
from nine inches to a foot wide, charred
on one side as black as it can be made
by fire, without impairing materially the
uniformity of its surface; on the dark
ened side of which is pegged a square
piece of white paper, which is larger or
smaller according to the distance at
which 1t Is to be placed from the marks
men. This is almost Invariably 60 yards,
and for 1t the paper Is reduced to about
two and half inches square Out of the
| center of 1t Is cut a rhombus of about
ally; this is the bulls-ey or diamond.
as the marksmen choose to call it; In
the center of this is the cross. But every
man is permitted to fix his target to his
own taste; and, accordingly, some re-
move one-fourth of the paper cutting
from the center Of the square to the two
lower corners so as to leave large angle
opening from the center downwards
while others reduce the angle more or
less; but 1t Is rarely the case that all
are not satisfied with one of these fig
ures.
The beef is divided into five prizes, or,
as they are commonly termed, five quar-
lters-the hide and tallow counting as
one. For several years after the Revo-
lutionary war sixth WIS added-the lead
which was shot In the match This was
the prize of the sixth best shot; and it
used to be carefully extracted from the
board or tree in which it was lodged,
and afterwards remoulded But this
grew out of the exigency of the times.
and has. believe. been long since
abandoned everywhere.
The three master shots and rivals were
Moses Firmly, Larkin Spivey and Billy
Curlew; to whom was added, upon this
occasion, by common consent and with
awful forebodings, your humble servant
The target was fixed at an elevation of
about three feet from the ground; and
the judges (Captin Turner and Squire
Porter took their stands by it, Joined
by about half the spectators
The first name on the catalcg was
Mealy Whitecotton Mealy stepped out.