3-003-705 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The National Rifle Association meeting on Wimbledon Common: the markers at the butts, 1861. 'By an ingenious application of electricity a target has been constructed so that the result of successful shots may be recorded on a dial close to the point of firing...in the contests for the prizes the hits were indicated by markers, who, ensconced near the butts, in their iron or stone strongholds...could mark where the shot struck, and, by means of coloured flags, signal the intelligence to the marksman and the as anxiously-expectant crowd around him...Each target was six feet high, by four wide, with a bull's-eye of eight inches diameter...Every man is the picked shot of his regiment...he comes up to shoot for the honour of his town or his county, his regiment, and himself. He loads at the word of command, steps to the front...stands by the side of the shooting-screen, takes aim, and fires. The ping of the bullet is heard; a moment, half a moment - not more - yet how long it seems before the flag denotes what is to be scored. If a red-and-white flag is shown from the iron mantelet-where sits the marker ensconced in perilous proximity to the fatal Minié bullet - with what an exulting flush the countenance of the volunteer is lighted up. From "Illustrated London News", 1861.