Phillips County herald., 1923-01-11


Once on the range. after the rudl-
ments had SO fur advanced rs to per
init Of actual firing. those who had not
mastered the ancient lure sought the
aid Of khaki.colored patch to wear
over the left eye when firing. There
were many such used In the recent
matches. Another quaint turn came
when, either by chance or good hold.
ing, the crack Of rife was rewarded
by the flashing Of white disk signal-
ing bulls eye on the target.
The Haitian peasant is simple
minded person, full Of superstitions
! and odd beliefs. The gendarme who
once scored bull pulled serenely nj
his trigger the next time, confident that
whether he held at the bottom or the
top Of tile target, he would score an
other bull. He reasoned that the first
shot had followed groove in the air
that led to the heart Of the black bulls
eye. The next bullet had only to find
that groove. Time brought dislllusion-
ment and then the gendarmes, corps
full Of esprit, settled down to straight
shooting. True, in place of certain
superstiti0ns that the American rife
man is prone to, he was apt to consult
the harmless charms of the witch doc
tor 10 bring him luck.
Learns Secret Of Shooting.
All this time, however, he was learn
ing the secrets of the trade how to
sight on mark, to fire without finch
Ing or closing both eyes, to apply
windage and change Of elevation
when shot Indicated the need, to
hold the rife like wise with the rife
sling cinched tightly about his upper
arm, to hug the ground and expel the
! air from his lungs and keep them
empty until his shot had gone. He
had learned the Joys of competition
and absorbed like a sponge the wis
dom that his white officers impaired to
him in his own native creole.
Slowly, MS the jungle recedes before
the patient, unremitting strokes Of the
machete. the gendarmes were learn
ing to shoot. 1t was then that General
MacDougal sought and won the inter-
est Of President Borno In the project
! OF an individual match to correspond
with the Presidents match, and an
elght-mnn team match from the four
departments 10 correspond with the
National team match, the classics Of
I the American rife range.
/ The American high commissioner.
Brig. Gen. John II. Russell, was thor
oughly In sympathy will, the idea. so
MacDougal led up 10 the Mg matches
! with department matches In October.
I From these competitions came full as
surance that the big matches would be
: highly creditabic IN their standard of
SKILL ana from them the eight best
shots of each department We're formed
into a team nnd placed under expert
training. One of them, the department
of the south. for instance. was coached
by Capt. II. l.. smith, whose team of
Ientliernerks won the national match
at Camp Perry In 1921 from the hest
field In the United States.
The matches began with the 40 hest
shots In the scndnrmes competing for
the Presidents match. Sergt. Astrale
holland uf Jere,nie. n keen. soldierly
rcn.larme. Smiths hest bef. won II In
spirited competition with the total of
2aa1 points out of II possible 30.
Prizes for Winnera
| At the conclusion Of the match.
witch wns Witnessed by President nnd
Niue. Horne, members of the Haitian
cabinet and council of state. High Com
missioner Russell nni Brigade Com.
inan,ler Theodore 4. knAe and their
siafrs. and the rnnking officers Of the
gen,lnrmrrie. the President presented
Roland with handsome gold watch,
I u medal. mn autographed letter and the
equi,aicni of u months pny To take
hack to ndmIrlng Jeremie. Incident
ally, ROLAND Ia now learning 10 read
I time.
On the following day the national
team match got under why with the
fur teams firing Ia relays. one target
4 io each team. slowly the department
] ~ ~. south bernn io forge ahcnd and
won out with The score of LIS. or an
average " III points out ~ 2IN. The
other teams finished with the respcc-
[ tNt N'"T'N ~ tssN>. isoit hiiu tss's"
Arnln Asirnlc nolInnd demonstrated
his right to the crown with the high
gun of 23i out of .,:<p. closely pressed
ms he was. In n speclnl match for the
benefit Of President Eorno. now u cor-
iirncd rifle enthusiast. and whose right
shoulder * M stranger To the iinpnci
of a Springfield, Holland met fadael of
ih. Presidents own Palace guard.
Fadn.l irInmphrd in the ten-slc'
match prone. scoring ~ io I.ollnnd's
~.
Al he conclusion of this match
President I,orno. IN happy little
speech sompiImcniing the men on
their application nId SKIN. presented
each with n medal and cnsh prize
a