South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-12-29

1 love him. Louey discovered in me
Gas he in later years confided) latent
shooting ability, which he deter
mined 70 develop. His first lesson
was accuracy, care and safety.
Take no chances" was his motto
and slogan. Afeld. the stars were
his signal lamps. the touch Of a tree
give him direction. the darkest night
was an open book 10 him Louey
was my ideal he taught me 10 shoot.
hunt and fish. Explained the Sc
crets of the forest and introduced
me TO Dame Nature. He was the
moving spirit that put me in the
shooting world
My First Victory.
My first special trap success was
the winning of the Mercer county. III,
championship in 1876. 1 still have
that trophy and prize it highly. I
have never won a cup since that
looked as large TO me, although the
! height was only about four inches.
After that date l was in many tour
naments, shooting tame and wild
4 pigeons, glass balls, LgowsN clay
] pigeons, Peoria black birds. etc. In
/ 1891, as a member of the Northern
team, toured the south, visiting the
| principal cities, and returned unde-
! feated. Z. S. Rice of Chicago in
! 1897 organized a team of II western
/ shooters and entered them in the
/ Grand American handicap (the pre-
mier shooting event Of the world.
which was held in New York No
western team had ever won tbs an
nual contest His team were DR..
] Carver, Grimm. Williamson, Dun
nell, Merrill, Powers, Vorhis. Bing-
ham, Budd, Gilbert Stannard and
myself 1t required three days to
| finish the shoot. From start to fin
ish the shoot From start to finish
the western contingent were in evil
dence. At the conclusion I had won
the premier event and was the only
contestant TO turn in perfect score.
The following year CS98) the event
was captured by Mr. Ed Fulford
of New York, who won the honors
for the east. Mr.. f. s. Rice in 1893
organized a second party with 65
shooters in line to again attempt the
capture Of the Grand American
championship.
Winning the Championship.
I was also a member of this party.
This was another three day affair.
with 263 contestants facing the
| traps. Eight men tied for first
place, Of which I was one. The tie
was shot off on miss-and- race
The honors again fell to my share
on the 33rd bird. 1 had captured
the premier trapshooting event Of
| the world for the second time No
other shooter has ever duplicated
this performance. In 1901, The All
( American people TO compete in the
International shoots. It was my
I honor to be elected captain Of the
team. We met all corners and re
turned to America with an uninter-
rupted SUGGESTIONS of victories. OF
this trip I will write more later.
Since my return with the All
American team have been and am
at the present writing, actively en-
gagged in the rapshoOting game. At
tending all Of the interstate and
many Of the state tournaments. Am
personally acquainted with the
major portion Of the trapshooters,
who have been connected with this
sport for any length Of time, many
OF them I have not met in recent
years. ] now desire TO extend the
glad hand OF good fellowship
through the columns Of this paper
10 all of my old and prospective
friends
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
QucstiOn-Is trap-shOOtin% being
attempted on the battleships? Is IL
possible for man to shoot with any
accuracy aboard ship?
! JAMES BURMINISTER.
| Answer-Yes. there is a great
deal OF interest manifested in the
navy in the sport Of trapshooting.
Many ships have formed teams and
some holly contested races have
been pulled off. officers are en-
| couraging the men TO adopt this
sport. as Il engenders accuracy.
| It is possible for a man TO shoot
accurately from the deck of a boat.
When the All-American team was
aboard we shot a race in midOcean
at the request Of the captain Of our
/ boat. for the entertainment OF the
passenger, II was little conIuS-
! ing for the first five or six shots,
but the team soon caught on and
calculated the swing Of the vessel so
closely that excellent scores were
made.
Almost every United States steam
er carries a hand trap. There re-
Gently was a race in Guantanamo
Bay. Cuba, under the auspices Of
the Red Cross Gun club Of the
United States steamship Solace. F.
p. Williams, paymaster, won the
trophy with I0@ out Of 125. T. R.
Holt OF the United States steamship
Louisiana. was second with 81.
Thirty-two officers and men par