Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 May 1878 — Phenomenal Rifle Shooting. [ARTICLE]

Phenomenal Rifle Shooting.

Dr. Carver, of California, recently gave an exhibition of his wonderful skill with the rifle at Des Moines, lowa. His first feat was that of holding his rifle upside down on the top of his head and hitting a glass ball thrown in the air at a distance of about eighty feet from him. He then, while lying on his back, with the rifle turned upside down, hit a ball at the first trial. His next shot was standing with his back to the ball, and sighting from a mirror held in front of him, hitting the ball the first shot. The next shot was that of holding his rifle on his hip without aim. Four balls were thrown, the first two of which he hit, and the last two he missed. Then he attempted to hit 100 balls thrown rapidly in the and succeeded in hitting eighty-four. His next attempt was with silver coin. Being a Californian, silver is apperently of little value with him, and he shells it out liberally for targets. The first thrown were half-dollar pieces, which he knocked into fragments. The first he hit, the second he missed, and the third he knocked out of sight. Twenty-five-cent pieces were next thrown, which he hit the fourth shot. Five halfdollars were then thrown, each of which bo hit the first time. Three were recovered and two were lost. A glass ball was then thrown about fifty feet in the air. He loaded and shot twice at it, breaking it the second shot. Another ball was thrown in like manner, when he mado three shots, hitting it the third shot before it reached the ground. This feat was probably never equaled with a rifle. Ten glass balls were next thrown in quick succession, and broken in twenty seconds. From a distance of about 100 feet a ball was thrown straight at the doctor, who broke it before it got half the distance. The man who threw it is said to have dropped like a stone after delivering it. A nickel was then thrown up about thirty feet distant, and he sent it whizzing into space. The Doctor sent a bullet through the center of a nickel, and the coin was recovered. His last feat was to shoot at balls thrown up at the same time. He missed the first and second, but hit one of both balls until the eleventh and twelfth trials, when he broke both balls. It is understood that in all his double and rapid shots he uses but one lisle, which he loads every shot. It is a Winchester, model of 1873, calibre 44, using forty grains of powder. He uses nothing but a common, plain open sight.