The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 28, 1901, Page 9

THE SUNDAY CALL CHAMPION RIFLEMEN ARE THIN AND SPARE Personality and Individuality Count for Much in Actual Competition. hour on Tues July 23, shooting 11 ¢ ¢t in es from It was in this and of the consensus d's records of rifie decades were e in calm cor German home in hird National a sharply defined en- t long in memory and Sh Mound while these world’s marksmen were straining eye, e tell 2 full of im- te and his inges during ground out plati- the anship to the common- nd profusion out es burning s one phase of it. The ed at side was also tre length. the n interesting phase was indi- sona The men who rgets the live long day sned something more in rifie chronicles of sast mprint in the tabula- at will not soon be year rds t e target shooter of to-day is not the a8 the one of yesterday. He varies and under conditions that and higher class performs to the occasion and ele- tes himself to a platform helght over- oking the deeds of his predecessors who are enro! the book of sharpshooting me 4 improves. demand better ances he rises Adolph Strecker is the man of the hour, yet he knows that his hold on amplonship honars will be the matter of & few years at the most. He has hit that rang back the kingship but ke never expects to do it for on the horizon younger sharp- &gain shooters with equal skill and with equal nerve have appeared to steal away his honors so bravely and honestly won. Of all the echoes of the shooting fes- tival the one that is loudest is the dispute among the marksmen in regard to the ive merit of rapid sharpshooting or liberate, slow and postponed:rifie per- formances for the kingly honors. Adolph Strecker is a rapid sharpshooter, and he is king with a score of 334 on the point target. Louis P. Ittel of Pittsburg is a performer, a man that waits upon place circumstance before he > the lls for ‘work. When he shoots his boJdy must be attuned to the X him. He does not run strings out in rapid, successive order. ecker, on the other.hand, keeps up a fire, and in a singlejday finishes 200 shots for the highdst honors a v reach in America. William ves is also & rapid shooter. When he won the kingshipin his twenty strings were made in five hours. Think of it, 200 that space of time! Almost a shot a minute, which is marvelous work when the time consumed in filling, ramroding and loading is congidered. No wonder, then,- that after the glory is fought for and won the king is physically a wreck. Unkinged Willilam Hayes sald a few nights ago, when the air sizzled with gun- shot reminisce that a fedther blown against him three minutes after his king shoot would have laid him supine on the floor. Heyes is @ man of remarkable nerv- ous force and in'looks far more wiry and capable of muscular endurance than Strecker. The California king scouts every venture into the solution of the character puzzle. Thin and spare of fig- ure. he is a wonder for pure nervous force. After his remarkable shooting, ac- compiished in a single day, he was bright, strong and keenly alert to everything that was transpiring about him. Not the heavy msn nor the strong man makes the greater shooter. Go on the nd Jook at them and you will find record shatterers and the jbullseye pingers men of drawn faces and narrow physique. The shooters will tell you that when he puts on welght he is no longer as good as he was in the days of muscle without adipose. His nerve and the fine quality of precise muscular articulation seem to vanish. Much comment has been rife about the superiority of holding the gun one way or another. The most successful marks- re a elow time and n front of shots 1 < men have a crystallized grasp on the rifle. Sometimes they experiment, but .this is rare. As a rule every marksman handles his gun in a pecullar individual way. Years of shooting have taught their les- sons to these men, and after they pass the early stages of sharpshooting they form a style of their owfl and then seldom deviate from it. The accompanying pic- tures wil! show distinct grips and posi- tions of the hands, and injno two cases is an identity to be found. Although the great honer in the shoot- ing-at Shell Mound went to a local man, the Easterners did some excéedingly good work. They struggled under adverse con- ditions, not of light or wind, but of a too persistent hospitality. Shooting, like every other kind of physical competition, demands a conditioned body. The East- ern marksmen were the targets for the local entertainers. Rhine wine, cham- pagne, late suppers, parties in their honor at all times, were fastened upon the shoot- ers and no refusal would hold good. Shell Mound was a gay place during those ten days, and v an Eastern crack shot re- marked after the festival was over that he wished he had been a bit more careful of his stomach and nerves. Louis P. Ittel comes from the East, but for_him there was no revelry. He was here on business, and his work is its own commentary. There will be a lull in Schuetzen compe- titions for a week or two. Then the local marksmen will burst out again, In Sep- tember another big local competitive shoot will engage their attention. Again will Shell Mound resound with the flerce, hot play of the rifles in the hands of the sharpshooters. 5 ——————— Greatest Mule Market. According to our esteemed contempo- rary, the Commercial Appeal of Memphis, that city is now “the leading mule market of this country.” Most persons would have given that honor to New Orleans or 8t. Louls, It seems, however, that Mem- phis 18 now the great mule mart, the cap- ital of muledom. The mule has suffered from stale humorists, but has been nobly reinstated in honor in the last few years. An animal sagacious and patient, great in peace and in war. There is a pile of money in the mule business, and Memphis is now making the most of it.—New York Sun. + : How a Number cf Local Schuetzen Captams, the New King and the Sup- planted 0.d One "Grasp the Rifle. Handball Games. On the San Francisco handball courts the following games will be played Sun- day, July 28: W. H. Sieberst and P. Ryan Vs, G. B..Hayward and W. Fisher; G, McDonald and P. McKinnon vs, M. Mc- Neli and M. Maher: J. Feeney and D. Griffin vs. M. Dillon and G. Hutchinson; M. McLaughlin and J. Lawless vs. D. Connelly and M. Joyce; W. Walsh and J. J. Kavanaugh vs. H. H. Lissner and J. Brady; J. Glynn and T. Serres vs. K. White and- R. Regli; T. Foley and M. Kirby vs. J. Kirby and E. Barry; J. White and R. Linehan vs. J. Collins and M, J. Kilgallon, = -3 EFFRIES and Ruhlin is the cry until the tongue sticks out and lips crack. When will it cease? There was a time when talking and acting was in fashion—even when practiced by prize-fighters who were specially unfitted by nature for both these difficult arts. But that time has outlived itself. Prize-fighting reached its lowest ebb when the premier pugilist of the day turned orator and actor. In the old days the fighter evolved from the ring to the saloon business. Now he es through an intermediary condition. n he fights he is of interest to the public, which will pay cheerfully to see him perform. His acting days are gone, for which thanks shotld be raised to heaven. There 18 nothing left for the fighter but to fight, strange as it may seem. When a pugi has won' fame and morey he may tiit back his chair, put his feet on the table and tell the world it must come te him. Jeffries can do it, but not Ruhlin. The latter is pretty much like the beggar as far as relative condi- tlons go. Jeffries knows this, and he will enforce all the ancient ceremony before a match is made. In the meantime the tele- graph companies become a few cents richer every day, for the prize-fight clubs want men at once In the same ring. Three clubs in the local fleld are bid- ding up the stock. When the auction will take place nobody seems to know. It Is expected that the fight will occur in Sep- tember. Fancy prices have already been offered, and fapcler ones are likely to be forthcoming. Lack of Iiberality on the part of local entrepreneurs will not be the reason for the fallure of a match be- tween the big fellows. Palo Alto Is a Dead One. The open stake at Union Park on Sun- day last proved a great attraction, and it was 4 hollday crowd that saw the great sprinter Palo Alto give up first grab at the purse to the gamer and more willing Vandal. For many weeks Geary's black and white champlon has been held at choice over all comers in the stakes, and has made good often enough to repay his backers for their confidence. The occa- SPORTS .. EQHOES FROMM THE FIELD AND THE RANGES .. SPORTS COMMENT ON SPORT EVENTS OF THE DAY Jeffries and Ruhlin Fight---Coursing Notes Championship Tennis Tournaments. sional defeat was overlooked, and when at the season’s close Palo Alto's name was enrolled on theé scroll of coursing fame as the most successful money get- ter, and a great record breaker, too, it was the consensus of opinion that, far from havirg ireached the zenith of his glory, the champion was still traveling, and in his coming season would even surpass his great record breaking sgait. But a change, a sudden ch: has come. The idol of the wise bettor who ‘makes favorite picking his life’s study that has heen held at prohibitive prices the dog and odds-on choice for final honors—the hound that has enjoyed an puted title as premier sprinter, has been dis- graced. Not to detract from Vandal's great shpwing, but even though the trutn be whispered, Palo Alto quit. In stakes gone by Palo Alto has applied the incen- diary match to many a pile of ready money because of his habit of hesitating on his game and allowing an easy op- ponent to outpoint him. Fime alone, how- ever, can fade the vision of the awful ex- nibition of Pala Alto’s latest refusal. In the language of the admirers who were the victims in the champlon's last case cf arson, “The king is a dead one. Championship Tennis. The champlonship tournaments of the northern and southern parts of the coas are interesting the local tennis men at present. The Oregon State championship will commence on August 29 and will probably last about a week. The present champlon of Oregon & William Goss, who with Carl Lewls also holds the champion- ship in doubles. Dick Adams, the Stan- ford ‘player, visited Oregon recently and disposed of all the best players except Goss, who beat him one set: Goss played in one of the local tournaments and was beaten by Grant Smith. On August 7 the champlonship tourna- ment of Washington will be played. Louls Freeman, the ex-Stanford champlon, is the present champion of the State. The players in Washington rank higher than those of Oregon. The best players are Freeman, Foulkes, Goward, Hurd and Ruseell. Harry Wiehe and DicK Adams, the pony team who represented Stanford this ‘year, will in all probability take In this tournament and are strong favorites for first honors. Freeman and Wiene are very evenly matched. The most important tournament in thesa parts is the northwestern championshipy which is played annually on August 1% Play from both Washington and Ore- gon in this tournament. -Free- man i3 also champion of.the Northwest. Wiehe and Adams will also be seen In this tournament. Southern California will hold its champlonship tournaments, commenc- ing August 5. The present champion in ingles is Alfonso Bell. The doubles cham- pions are Reuben Hunt and Percy Mur- dock of Alameda. Grant Smith and Drum- mond MacGavin. two of the best men in the California Tenmis Club, will journey south and try for the championship. The championship tournaments to be held at San-Rafael in August and Septem- ber will be the biggest events in tennis ever held on the coast. Besides the locgl cracks the champions from both the north and south will take part. Particular at- tention will be paid to the events for women this year. Heretofore the women's tournaments have attracted but little at- tention, but this. year they will be mada one of the features. There will be tw> new events for women, the doubles and mixed doubles. The best lady players who are expected to enter are the Misses Sutton of Southern California, Miss Hall, the present coast champlon; Miss Kilston, champlon of Honolulu; Miss Hoffman, ex-champlon of the coast; Miss Hunter, Miss Haslett, Mrs. Kincald and Mrs. Du Ranier, all of Alameda. —_——— Race Winnings in England. “Tip,”” In the New York Press, gives some race horse figures; says the cost of feeding, training and attendants for a race horse Is not less than $2600 a year, Last year there were 1670 races run in England, and the horses contending num- bered 15,622, He says that horse racing in England directly supports over 20,000 peos ple. The convention and the races at Ascott alone briugs to the London and Northwestern Railway Company about $2,000,000 a year. The chief winners of 1900 were the Prince df Wales, $147,915; Lord Willlam Beresford, $112,615; Lord Durham, who made so much trouble for Sloan, $89,+ 125, and A. Musker, $83,435, contest The man who begrudges himself an ec~ casional hearty laugh is the worst kind of a miser. 5