 |
||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||
|
Centennial Souvenir Program, 1954 Gun clubs were very popular around the turn of the century. The Shiloh Valley Gun Club was organized in 1881. The first officers were: George Crosby, president; Col. Adolph Englemann, vice-president; and Albert C. Reuss, secretary. Their grounds were in the pasture at the Ferd L. Reuss farm, about half a mile east of Shiloh. Among their members were the best shots in the country; George, Will, Tom and Ned Crosby, Albert and Ferd Reuss, Col. Englemann, Fred Herbst, Carl Jaeger, John Haase, Adolph Schott, William Bug, Rudolph Ochs, James Curry, Charles Glaser, Guy and John Pierce, Herman Bergfeld, Adolph Weil, Herman Hoppe, Thrift Quick, and Charles Herbst.
Shortly before Crosby left for the 1901 meet in England, he won the DuPont trophy and a world's championship event in the shoot-off of a tie of three perfect 100s at the annual tournament of the Illinois Sportsmen's Association in Springfield, Illinois. In July 1905, he took top honors in the first day's preliminary of the Grand American Handicap in Indianapolis. He broke 199 out of a possible 200, missing his first target. Until 1924 the American Trapshooting Association, now known as the Amateur Trapshooting Association, was controlled by manufacturers of guns and ammunition, and Crosby was in the employ of such manufacturers as a professional trapshooter. Following are some of the stories on Crosby which appeared in the Belleville Daily Advocate concerning his participation in international competition in 1901 in England and Scotland: Friday, May 31, 1901--William R. Crosby of O'Fallon, and other members of the American trapshooting team, selected to represent the United States in the match with British experts for $2500 a side at the Middlesex Gun Club near London on June 11th, and following days, sailed from New York for Liverpool on Sunday, on board the steamship, Canadian. The match will be at 5,000 inaminate [sic] targets a side, the Englishmen to have the use of both barrels and the Americans to use but one barrel. Friday, June 14, 1901--In the Anglo-American trapshooting meet, the Americans defeated the Britons in the leading events. As usual, William R. Crosby, of O'Fallon, made a record for himself and was ranked well up among the very best shots of the contest. In the team shoot, Crosby took 19 out of the first 20, and 17 out of the second 20. In a preliminary sweepstake, Crosby tied for second with 22 out of 25. Friday, June 21, 1901--In the individual championship event between the members of the American and British teams of trapshooters which took place at Hendon, London, last Monday, William R. Crosby was the most successful contestant, taking the world's championship event and winning a gold cup valued at $500. Friday, June 28, 1901--The match held Saturday at Glasgow, Scotland, between William R. Crosby and the Scotch champion, Faulds, for 100 pounds, resulted in a victory for the American. The conditions were 100 pigeons from ground traps and 40 pigeons from tower traps. At the ground traps, Crosby scored 97, while Faulds had 93; at the tower traps Crosby got 42 birds, Faulds 41. The world's record: as held by Crosby: 345 straight at inamimate [sic] targets, 193 straight at live birds, and 110 from the 31 yard line. The O'Fallon Gun Club was organized in 1904 with Ned Crosby as president. The club continued to meet and sponsor shoots until the late 1930s when it disbanded. At various times the club had shooting grounds on the John Louis farm, Schwaegel farm, Christ Porter farm, and the Klein farm on Route 50, east of O'Fallon. Persons who were members at various times were as follows: Ernst Linde, Ben Amann, John Schneider, Ned Crosby, Adolph Ohlendorf, Sr., Louis Plab, Walter Thomas, Charles Buckles, Alfred Tiedemann, George, Edward, Joe, Nap, and Ted Willard, S. E. McGeehon, Robert Ruth, George Scheibel, Ben Schmidt, L. Ernst Tiedemann, and Lyman Joseph. ---52-53---
On to Page 53, Additional Sports |
 |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||
William R. Crosby won national and international championships in trap-shooting. Old issues of the Belleville Daily Advocate give details of the various championships as follows: In 1899, he won a state championship at a meet in Peoria and also won a $200 purse at Kansas City, Mo. The 1902 files show that the professional star carried off championships in Atlanta, Georgia, Asheville, North Carolina, and Vicksburg, Mississippi, capturing a $1,000 purse at Blue River Park, Kansas City, Missouri, and was second in the Omaha, Nebraska meet.
