Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 229, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1918 — GARLAND STILL THE CRACK SHOT [ARTICLE]

GARLAND STILL THE CRACK SHOT

RENSSELAER CAPTAIN CONTINUES IN THE FOREFRONT AS A MARKSMAN.

The following is an extract from Everett C. Watkins’ article in the Sunday Indianapolis Star: One of the division’s crack instructors in rifle Shooting has been Capt. Jerry B. Garland, of Rensselaer, Ind. He is a wonder both with the pistol and the rifle. Capt. Garland won the national pistol shot contest in 1915 and he was second in pistol shooting in the 1916 national competition. He was fourth in the United States in rifle shooting'in 1913. He is so accurate with his shooting that when he used to go rabbit hunting in the country about Rensselaer he used a pistol instead of a shotguh. Capt. Garland first became a member of the Indiana National Guard ten years ago. Col. George H. Healey, of the 151st Infantry regiment of this division, then captain of the Rensselaer company, had advertised in the local newspaper for recruits. Jerry Garland, a farmer boy, answered the newspaper notice. He decided that military training was a good thing and enlisted as a private. Then for four years, though he lived four miles in the country, he did not miss a single drill night. As a farmer boy he had been a successful squirrel and rabbit ‘hunter, but until he enMsted in the National Guard he never had fired an army rifle. He became interested in the rifle, however, and took advantage of every opportunity to go on the range. He soon became the guard’s crack shot both with pistol and rifle and, indeed/ one of the country’s best shots. Captain Garland answered the call to the colors more than a year ago as the commander of the Rensselaer company, but after having spent seven months as instructor in rifle shooting at the camp he has been assigned to command a company of the 149th (Kentucky) Infantry of this division.