Wow Randy - what a find!
May 16, 1896
Sporting Life
https://digital.la84.org/digital/col...oll17/id/47116
FIRST OPEN COMPETITION for the “E.C.” Inanimate Target Championship Cup was held May 5-8, 1896, at the Guttenberg racetrack, above Weehawken, N. J. Noel E. Money, then secretary of the “E.C.” Company, and Elmer E. Shaner, were the moving spirits in the management of the tournament, Mr. Shaner, of course, running the shoot on lines devised by him and which even at that time had reduced tournament management to a science. The first event on the program for the first day had over one hundred entries, a record entry then, although entry fees were stiff, and professional and amateur shooters were allowed to shoot for the cup. The list of aspirants for championship honors gradually simmered down until only 26 finished their strings of 300 on the last day, and Gilbert, the shooting star, who had risen above the horizon the year previous, when he won the du Pont pigeon trophy at Baltimore, WAS HAILED AS CHAMPION.
The match at that time consisted of 100 targets, unknown angles, from known traps; 100 targets, unknown traps and known angles (commonly called expert rules - At expert rules, one man up in the centre of five traps, pulled unknown, according to an indicator); and 50 pair of doubles.
Gilbert’s score (using a Smith) at that time was 266. Fulford (Greener) and Elliott (Winchester) were next with 261, while Heikes (Winchester) came in third with 258. Capt. A.W. Money used a Smith
GUNS USED
https://digital.la84.org/digital/col...oll17/id/47117
Smith - 42, Parker - 32, Winchester - 16, Greener - 7, Francotte - 6, Lefever - 5, Daly - 3, Scott - 3, Colt - 4, Cashmore - 2, Forehand, Spencer, Burgess & Baker - 1 each.
The history of the "E.C." Cup starts here about 1/3 down
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...Rp99wVEBQ/edit