A YANKEE MARKSMAN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 113, 4 May 1876, Page 4

A YANKEE MARKSMAN.

Ap elderly man named Beckwith, residing in one of the Peninsular counties of Virginia, recently came to Richmond .on business. He. brought, with him an ; old-fashioned flint-lock rifle to hiaye & stock and lock put on. . On the cars he fell into conversation with a parly of three gentleman from Rich-. riSdndj when one of them, to test the reality bf some of the extraordinary feats of markmansbip he boasted of, offered Jiina ten dollars to repeat some of them, to which the other two added five dollars between them. The trial came off in a field, half a mile below Rockette, and was witnessed by about ft dozen persons. The old flint-lock was fired seven times, and only once missed its aim. The old gentleman, after making shots at small objects to ooe side, to get his hands steady as he said, handed his son a potatoe, and stationed him at fifty yards distance, holding the potatoe between his thumb and forefioger. The rifle cracked, and the potatoe fell cloven in three or four pieces. One of the larger pieces was then thrown in the air, the marksman keeping at tbe same distance, and again the shot told. An inch and a half augur was then produced, and a hole bored in the fence, behind which. was fastened .a piece of white paper. At a distance of 60 yards the marksman sent a ball clean through the aperture, piercing the paper. At the fourth shot, from 60 yards distance, the bowl of a pipei; which the son waa smoking, was crushed. At the fifth shot a copper cent was thrown into the air and hit. The sixth and seventh shots were delivered aj a blackened five-cent nickel piece thrown :up by the son, standing about 30 yards off. At the first attempt the

shot missed. The old gentleman showed considerable; mortification, and laid the j blame upon a bystander, who at the | critical moment sneezed loudly. The; next- attempt, however, was an entire, success. The old man ;. declined, any j further trials of his skill, and when! offered a sum of money to repeat his first feat of shooting a potatoe from bis son's hand be refused, saying he didn't care to try such experiments unless his weapon was freshly cleaned.. Tbe exhibition was more remarkable from the fact that the marksman was an old man at least ■ 50. His eye, however, is a cleat bright gray, and his appearance thatpf a poor farmer. The young man showed not the least tremor or, anxiety ' during the dangerous experiment upon > himsejf; The old man referring to his son 1 , said: " Bob can shoot just as well | as I can." — Richmond Whig: