How the Kentuckians Handle a rifle.
--An intelligent correspondent who lately left
Baltimore for
Harper's Ferry and other points in
Virginia, gives the following account of his observations in a private letter:
At
Harper's Ferry, a Kentuckian challenged a Virginian to shoot with the rifle.
The distance was a hundred and fifty yards. Old Kentucky covered his six bullet holes with a half dollar, and Old Virginia was obliged to get a small tin cup to cover his; but he claimed the victory, on the ground that his bullets were twice the size of his adversary's--Twenty-eight men shot on the same day, at three hundred yards, at a log the size of a man, and 22 bullets pierced it. These shots were all off-hand.
There is a company here who practice at double quick time — a full trot — and they seem to do nearly as well as those who fire standing.
They are terrible fellows, and seem to have a most insatiable desire to fight.