The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1946-04-11
Famous Shooting Match
Nethkin VS.. Benson
Deer Park, Maryland
By r. GETTY BROWNING
Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh, North Carolina
In the early days of Garrett county,
one of the chief outdoor sports was
hunting, following which target shoot
ing probably took place. Due to the
isolation of this section Of the state,
or people were unable to take part
in other sporting events which no
doubt would have appealed to them
very much. They were out of touch
with professional football, baseball,
horse racing, boxing, wrestling, boat
,ng and other events of this nature,
although they did take part in all of
these sports to limited extent; con-
sequently they took a great deal of
interest in those sports which were
available.
There was a great deal of rivalry
! between the various marksmen and
frequently remarkable scores were
made between such individuals when
competing for turkeys or other prizes
at the various shooting matches which
we're generally held each fall in many
sections of the county,
While some of the shooting was
done with modern rifles such as the
Marlin, Winchester and the old model
1870 Springfield, in many instances
contestants used the muzzle loading
rifles such as were used by their an
cestors generations before. Two out
standing marksmen during the SOS
were William V. Nethkin and Ezra
D. Benson. Mr.. Benson was a very
skillful gunsmith who maintained his
shop at Terra Alta, w. Va, and he
was challenged by Mr.. Nethkin who
was also very fine marksman and
had spent considerable time on the
road doing difficult trick shots with
ore of the wild west shows. No doubt
/ both men were very proud of their
skill and quite willing to demonstrate
it, and under the circumstances it,
/
match. 1t was planned to hold the
match at Deer Park, Maryland, on
November IL, 1889 and the purse was
| $250.00. Each man was to fire five
shots off-hand at distance of 100
yards with rifle of his own selec-
! ton. The score was to he reckoned
by "string" measure; that is, the dis
tance from the edge of each bullet
hole to the center of the bulls eye
was measured and added to make a
/ total string for each contestant, and
each man was required to fire the
entire string without stopping. A coin
was Tipped and Benson was chosen to
shoot first. He was allowed to select
man to handle his target and he
chose Charles Cramer and Nethkin
chose John f. Browning to look out
for his target, and Senator Richard T. /
Browning held the stakes and was
to act as final referee in case of a
dispute between the judges. Accord |
ing to Abel S. Browning, who was
present at the match and who had |
learned his trade Of gunsmith in Mr. I
Benson's shop, the weather was cold
and raw and when Mr.. Benson pre-
pared to make his first SHOT, he aimed /
his rifle for short time and then |
took it down, saying that he could |
not hold on the target just to suit |
/ him. He then took small medicine
bottle from his inside coat pocket I
which contained small quantity of
whiskey and Jamaica Ginger. He took
q swallow or two Of this mixture, /
walked up and down fol- a few min
utes and then remarked, II think |
can do it," He then proceeded to fire
his five shots. When his target was
removed by the judges, Charles Cra-
mer and John F. Browning, the Meth
kin target was put into position.
Benson had fired a small muzzle load
ing rifle which he was making for
one of his customers and which at |
that time was not quite finished. 1t
was nice little rifle of about 25 cal
ibre and he had chosen it for the !
match. Nethkin used a 1880 single |
shot Winchester. He fired his five
shots without interruption and when
the Judges had completed their exam
ination and referred it to Senator
Browning, he announced that the
score stood: Benson 2-5s inches,
Nethkin l2% inches and the purse