THE KING’S PRIZE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8930, 21 September 1907, Page 4

THE KING’S PRIZE.

Strange Finish at Bis by.

An Unprecedented Hitch

Dumbarton Veteran’s Hard Luck

Bisiey Bleating saw some unprecedented incidents from first to last, | and on the closing day there were J two outstanding incidents —the one ' almost pathetic, the other dramatic. The situation was, briefly, thus : Armourer-Sergeant Lawrance, Ist Dumbarton, hy an act of simple carelessness, lost the chance of winning the King’s Prize for the second . time ; while Lieutenant Addison, of lbe Australian team, was enabled to i win the prize by the correction of a I range officer’s mistake. Lawrance, while shooting at ICOO yard?, put a magpie on the wrong target. Ilwd he put it or. irs own target he would i have won the medal, which was his as far back at 1882, His misfortune passed almost unobserved in the g eit excitement. He alone was the sufferer. More stirring and un paralleled was the incident which concerned the fortune of Lieutenant Addison, who in a sense benefited by the Dumbarton volunteer’s mistake. After an exciting contest, in which the chances of the marksmen varied so rapidly that it became difficult to discover even the probable winner, Armourer Padgett, Ist East Yorks Volunteers, finished with 319 points. That score beat that of Lieutenant Addison and that ot Private Hope, c£ the London Rifle Brigade, hy 1 point. It _ transpired, however, that after a miss at 1000 ya'ds P.-dgeit was allowed another cartridge on the. ground that his miss was due to a defective cartridge, ihe result was that his miss was turned into a magpie, wlvch put him at the top of,the list. The matter was the subject of a protest, and the Council decided that Padgett’s magpie ought to bo disallowed. This left a tie between Private Hope and Lieut. Addison The latter won the tie, and was declared the winner. DBA MATIO INC IDE NT S. Padgett avid Addison finished almost simultaneously. They were shooting at opposite ends ot the butt, and tho news that Addison had won with 318 eo.ncs ran down the range until it met, coming iu the opposite direction, the news that Padgett hud won with 819- -hero was aa instant rush on tho part of the crowd to where Padgett was lying, and as it became known that bis score could not be beaten bo was besieged by photographers and overwhelmed with congratulations. One of tho first to congratulate him was Lord Cheylesmore, Chairman of tho N.R.&. Council, and Lord Robert?, who engaged him in conversation for some minutes. A call was made for six Yorkshiremen to carry the winner on the chair, ond the baud prepared to strike up the stirring strains of “ See the Conquering Hero Come?.” Suddenly tho babble on tho ranges ceased. Bomeihing was wrong. The crowd was kept m silent suspense until by that mysterious medium which sends news through a crowd without official intimation it was learned that a protest had been lodged against Padgett’s score. Padgett, it was explained, had misled hi? last shot, and after a fruitless challenge he complained that tho c.-.rtndKs had b.on a bad one A sympathetic range officer, contrary :o all rule aad precedent, allowed bi n to firo ar,o ! bor round, and it brought- him a magpie, which was duly added to hi? score. A pi men, was lodged against Padgett’s score. The Committee con sidered ih» mailer on tho spot. It was mi anxious time for all concerned. H she protest was sustained it meant that a tie bad occurred between Hope and Addison. The Committee had no option but io declare that Pad-sett’s magpi-* should be disallowed. When the intimation wii< made, Padgett, who was "bout to bo in-;tailed in tho conqueror’s chair, quietly loft the range, in company with a friend, tho winner of the fifth prize instead of the first. Tho band and the cheers were not for him. As soon a? the excitement had simmered down Lieutenant Addison -and Private Hope were placed side by side to lira their tie shots at target No. 21. Hope was the first to fire, and he got an inner for his sight :r. Lisuten-mt Addison got the sainoHops for his counting shots scoied an inner and two magpies, making 10 points in ail; while Addison made himso'f winner with a bull’seye, an inner, and a bull’s-eye. Addison, who had merely to bit the target with his last shot to win, wag greeted with great cheering when the last signal in the competition was made. Despite the efforts of the police, the crowd, or at least a goodly portion of the ruder sort, surged on to the firing point. Some shook bands with the winner, and others concerned themselves with a scramble for the cartridges with which the tie had been shot. When a measure of order had been secured, Lord Roberts, for the second time, congratulated the winner, bit ibis time it was the real victor who received tho congratulations of the hero of a hundred fights. Lieutenant Addison was prasontdd to the Princess Christian, and afterwards ho was carried round the camp in the famous chair on the shoulders of his jubilant fellow Colonial?. The victory of the Australian was exceedingly popular, and although there is always sympathy for the losers, it is felt that no better remit could have been reached. The Australians have shot remarkably Well at the meeting, and have well earned all tho honors that Addison and other members of the team have brought them.