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Show jj A Millionaire 'Marksman .'''- MMBPIiBHK rlN'jpRcW ! KB AIMING THkVJGH ELL!? vr: 11 r. T ffJW ' ,.'0 FLoVB BAfcBEL WJ1". " ' FTloT TML- 1A1P Coleman K. Sober, manufacturer, lumberman, lum-berman, stock raiser ami millionaire, is the, champion gentleman fancy marksman of tho United 8tates. I'ntll recently Mr Sober had a standing stand-ing offer to meet any gentleman marksman marks-man In tho world In his peculiar stylo of shooting. In tho past twenty years ho has rejected all sorts of Inducements to enter tho professional field, but ho has never for a moment considered such Offers. His reasons, of course, are obvious. ob-vious. He Is wealthy and beyond tho need Of becoming a professional, besides he shoots solely for love of tho sport. Mr Bob t I noted as a hunter throughout through-out central Pennsylvania, In whoso remoter re-moter recesses largo numbers of bear, deer and wild cats aro still to bo found. For w.eks during the open season IIS v. HI desert his office, abandon the Industries Indus-tries with which ho in connected, and selling th" seclusion of tie- torests ill' mountains accompanied usually by his frh-nd Dr. H H Warren. Palry nnd Food Commissioner of Pennsylvania, another an-other not. d sportsman, will spend a large portion of the hunting season In rudely constructed camps far from the haunts or men. Some tlmo ago Mr. Sober, at the request re-quest of personal friends gi've a private exhibition of his remarkable, skill as a marksman. Less than a dozen persons v.,., present and the exhibition toolt place at Mr. Sober s country placo, near Lewlsburg, Pa. The farm hands brought from tnc mansion and stables a motley collection of articles. Including oap boxes, powder kegs, flour barrels, und drawing-room card table. Holts had been bored through tho boxes and other paraphcmaUa of sufficient size to admit the barrels of his gun. A trap containing a number of birds was placed at a distance of fifty yards . . , Mr. Sober f-Uthts by instinct. It would bo Imnot-slblo for him to sight tho regular way for two reneons; first, the various obstructions placed on the lrrel of his gun which effectually prevent It. and second, ho almost invariably fires from ll" hlP .... V. I His first feat was to push tho barrel of his gun through two holes In an empty powder kea Tho keg was nln-j inches in diameter. At tho word tho trap was sprung and S bird fell before. It got ten feot. The second shot was with the soap box. eighteen Inches square and twe nty-four Inches long, on his gun. TWO birds wero brought down. Then followed fol-lowed in rapid succession exhibitions er firing with sn empty flour band on the gun: through the flour barrel with a powder keg balanced on lop, and a num ber of fancy shots with his hftck to the trap ami sighting Ic. the ribl of a minor The difficulty of tho latter feat can bo appreciated by sportsmen. It Is no uncommon un-common thing to see professional marksmen marks-men on the vaudevillij stnge or with traveling trav-eling shows, crack china eggs nnd similar objects with a mirror sIkM, but aiming at a trap with u bird which is liable to take any one of half a dosen directions as n target, makes tho vaudeville vaude-ville act very trilling In comparison. The two most difficult feats which Mr Sober accomplished, and ho had prac-tlceel prac-tlceel no fancy shots for months, was that of killing a bird with his gun piercing pierc-ing a flour barrel and tho weapon held trigger upward at arms' length above bis head. Tho other was killing two . birds with tho card tablo resting across his gun nml with tho fiour barrel and soup box balanced on top of it. Bpeaking of his feats, Mr. Sober said: "My ability to make difficult nnd unusual un-usual -hots Is. I think, a mntter of her illtv My parents wero pioneers In central Pennsylvania. My father was a gun-maker anel my mother was In her day a noted shot. Whether gunning in tho forest or making fancy shots such as you havo seen I aim by what von would call Instinct. "Of course it Is a matter of angles parallels and elevation, but I seem to know Inst how to hold my gun without the necessity of sighting along tho barrel. Even when on a hunting exhibition It Is a iare thing for m to raise my gun to my shoulder I usually fire with tho weapon at the height of my waist." |