ta with a Winchester rifle at
glass balls. He challenged me to shoot three matches: First, 100 glass
balls hanging still from the limb of a tree, fifty yards distance.
Second match at 100 balls, 10 yards rise, thrown by hand. Third match,
each to shoot 100 glass balls laid on the ground in a circle 200 feet
in circumference, balls two feet apart, shooter to stand in the center
of the circle, the one who broke the balls in the shortest time to win,
but neither of us was allowed more than 133 shots in which to break the
100 balls. I had heard a good deal said of this man, over Nebraska
everywhere he was spoken of as a fine shot, and in the first match I
was really afraid of being beaten, for I never had practiced a great
amount at stationary targets, but on the whole I was not afraid, for
the party who won two out of the series of matches was to be declared
the winner. In the first match I broke 100 balls in 206 shots, while my
opponent broke 82 in the same number of shots; this made me easy winner
of the first match. In the second match all kinds of tricks were
resorted to, to beat me. My opponent's friends tried to rattle me by
offering to bet that I would miss certain balls, but when they failed
in this, the party throwing the balls would first throw a ball four
feet high, then one 20 feet high, while my opponent's were thrown
uniformly. Notwithstanding the fact that I was treated very unfair, the
score stood a tie on 83 balls out of 100. In the third match at 100
balls in shortest time, I won easily, breaking the 100 balls in two
minutes and three seconds, shooting 127 shots, while my opponent broke
61 balls in 133 shots, time four minutes, forty-two seconds. In Fort
Smith, Arkansas, March 21, 1889, I shot on time at 100 glass balls
against five men with shot guns, I using a 32-calibre Winchester rifle.
I broke 100 balls in ninety-five seconds, while the five men broke 100
balls in three minutes and two seconds. Ravena, Ohio, July 4, 1890, I
broke 250 glass balls in four minutes and sixteen seconds. At Newark,
N.Y., July 4, 1891, I broke 81 glass balls in seventy-four seconds, 31
of which I broke in sixteen seconds, which is far the best record ever
made with a rifle. In all of the matches I had assistants to load. I
have hit 39 44-calibre cartridge shells out of 110 thrown up, 67
22-calibre cartridge shells out of 110 thrown up. The most difficult
feat I ever performed was hitting 7 balls thrown up at one time. This I