The Washington herald., 1916-08-06
Women Enjoy Trapshooting
More Than Any Other Sport
Some Remarkably Clever Trapshots Have Been
Discovered Among School Girls During the Past
Season and the List Is Growing.
ny PETER p. CARNEY.

A few weeks ago women trap-shooters
representing the Portland tOre.) and
Spokane CWash) Gun clubs engaged in
q team shoot by telegraph and. even with
Mrs. Ada schilling in the Portland line
Up, the Spokane Dianas had the better
of the match.
The result of the contest has really no
bearing on this story. but Il shows the at
tention that members of the fair sex are
giving to trap shooting. When women
take to shooting by telegraph" they are
Intensely interested in the sport Women
are making great inroads on the members
OF the sterner sex In the sport of trap
shooting, and II oehooves the men to keep
hustling II they desire to keep in the
van.
In the vernacular Of the day women
have taken to trapshooting like ducks to
water. They take to the sport because of
Its fascination and its wonderful health
benefits. The more the women engage in
outdoor sports the less need they have
for physicians. and trapshooting is the
finest OF outdoor pastimes. 1t isn't as
strenuous as tennis or some of the other
sports, and no woman need be afraid OF
gun kicking" any more. The kick
Is thing Of the past.
There are now several thousand women
shooters in the United States and Can
ada. and the army Is increasing rapidly.
Quite some has been written about the
fair Dianas OF the traps Of late, but
there is much more to be said and written
as to the ability Of many of them. Every
one, or nearly everyone, knows how good
shot Mrs. Topperwein is, and how
Annie Oakley used to break 'em a score
OF years ago, but there are many other
women who can pulveriZe the targets
besides these two.
Some of them are still in school. but
that doesn't prevent them from knowing
a great deal about the sport alluring." :"
At OIL City, Pa. recently. Helen Walsh,
l3 years old, broke IA targets out of %
thrown from 16 yards. She used a little
90-gauge gun. While this performance
is very good. 1t doesn't compare with the
shooting OF fair young lady of Green
Bay. Wis. This young woman is Lucille
Meusel. She has just turned her four
teenth year Miss Meusel would feel rath-
er peeved II she didn't smash 30 per cent
of her targets. On several occasions she
has broken Il targets in a 50-"brd''
match.
Miss MeuseTs father is practical
trapshot and he grasped the idea that
along the lines of physical training for
his daughter nothing could be more ben
eflcial than outdoor life with a gun afield
or at the traps. So he purchased tn
pound l2-gauge gun which he taught her
to handle at home before she was per-
mitted to face the traps She swung.
sighted and handled the gun until the
muscles necessary for its successful ham
ding were developed and hardened. With
dummy shells she was taught to load the
gun. so when she made her first appear
ance at the traps Miss Lucille acted the
part OF an experienced shot.
Mr.. Meusel had explained to his daugh-
tar ha IN
quired a small fraction Of time, both to
start the load and for the load to con-
meet with the swift-fying object at
given point, thus putting in the day
light" This the young lady had understood
and reasoned out She got straIghtaway
targets with wonderful success and then
turned to angles. Now she stands at the