17

Well, we spent the night in Burlington, and next morning I got up and went out and lost myself. The town wasn't at bg as some places I've seen since, but it was big enough for one to wander around in for half a forenoon and I wouldn't have found my folks here if they hadn't turned out to hunt too. I've been here several times since but I never got lost again."

"Yes, my father settled out in Nebraska. He was a determined Free Soil man and was bound that Nebraska should come into the Union a Free Soil state. He helped to lay out the town of Deavenworth and was quite prominent in the early struggle between the Free Soil and Pro Slavery parties. He was killed in one of the desperate fights that made all that section a land of sorrow."

"He must have come in contact with John Brown, then?"

"Oh yes. Indeed. Brown was a neighbor of ours and I used to see him almost every day. There are none of those western celebrities who have lived within the last thirty years whom I have not seen."

"What rifle do you use in your state work?"

"I use a common Winchester. I prefer that rifle becuase it is so rapid in the operation that I can give a more fancy exhibition with it. On the plains where I have room I shoot generally with my heavy revolvers or with a 44 calibre Winchester, and often with a shot gun. I have a line rifle that I use in long distance shooting, made by Higby, the famous Irish gunsmith. I consider it the most accurate shooting gun at long range that I ever saw. I can kill willow grouse with it shot after shot at two hundred yards. Willow grouse are smaller than your common prairie chickens are here. I am so constantly shooting at flying targets with my rifle that I can hit a smaller object when it is passes thorugh the air than I can when it is at rest. When shooting at a stationary object I wait too long. In shooting at an object in the air I pull just exactly at the instance my sights cover the [?]. In fact I am so acomstomed to that kind of work that I can go out with my Winchester and get twice as many prairie chickens in a day as any man can with a shot gun. I will knock one sitting and keep on knocking them until they are more than hundred yards away. I frequently kill chickens on the wing with my rifle at a hundred yards."

Which way are you bound?

I am now on a short trip from the east to California. I did not intend going out at all myself on the road, but joined the camp which has been playing without me, a couple weeks ago. I put this company out only be-

Well, we spent the night in Burlington, and next morning I got up and went out and lost myself. The town wasn't at bg as some places I've seen since, but it was big enough for one to wander around in for half a forenoon and I wouldn't have found my folks here if they hadn't turned out to hunt too. I've been here several times since but I never got lost again."

"Yes, my father settled out in Nebraska. He was a determined Free Soil man and was bound that Nebraska should come into the Union a Free Soil state. He helped to lay out the town of Deavenworth and was quite prominent in the early struggle between the Free Soil and Pro Slavery parties. He was killed in one of the desperate fights that made all that section a land of sorrow."

"He must have come in contact with John Brown, then?"

"Oh yes. Indeed. Brown was a neighbor of ours and I used to see him almost every day. There are none of those western celebrities who have lived within the last thirty years whom I have not seen."

"What rifle do you use in your state work?"

"I use a common Winchester. I prefer that rifle becuase it is so rapid in the operation that I can give a more fancy exhibition with it. On the plains where I have room I shoot generally with my heavy revolvers or with a 44 calibre Winchester, and often with a shot gun. I have a line rifle that I use in long distance shooting, made by Higby, the famous Irish gunsmith. I consider it the most accurate shooting gun at long range that I ever saw. I can kill willow grouse with it shot after shot at two hundred yards. Willow grouse are smaller than your common prairie chickens are here. I am so constantly shooting at flying targets with my rifle that I can hit a smaller object when it is passes thorugh the air than I can when it is at rest. When shooting at a stationary object I wait too long. In shooting at an object in the air I pull just exactly at the instance my sights cover the [?]. In fact I am so acomstomed to that kind of work that I can go out with my Winchester and get twice as many prairie chickens in a day as any man can with a shot gun. I will knock one sitting and keep on knocking them until they are more than hundred yards away. I frequently kill chickens on the wing with my rifle at a hundred yards."

Which way are you bound?

I am now on a short trip from the east to California. I did not intend going out at all myself on the road, but joined the [ } which has been playing without [ ] a couple weeks ago. I put this company out only be-