Horseshoes

There is a peculiar expression which is seen on the faces of people pitching horseshoes. It is an expression dreamy yet intense, a good deal like that worn by anyone who is composing poetry or worrying about his digestion. This was the expression which through a warm afternoon last week in St. Petersburg, Fla., appeared on the face of Charles C. Davis of Columbus, Ohio, and was not noticed because it also appeared on the face of his opponent, a young man named Bert Duryee of Wichita, Kan. Without taking off his cracked and faded straw hat Davis tossed horseshoes at an iron stake driven into the ground 40 feet from where he stood. Duryee was not quite so calm; the crowd seemed to bother him and before he got going Davis had a lead of nearly 20 points which he held to the end of the game, beating Duryee 50 to 30, and so winning a diamond studded medal, $300, and, for the third time in succession, the horseshoe pitching championship of the world.

Some say horseshoe pitching developed in imitation of the more courtly game of quoits. Perhaps, so far as it concerns the codification of horseshoe pitching as a formal sport, this is true, but it is certain that in the beginning quoits developed out of horseshoe pitching. Followers of both games argue the question at great length. Horseshoe pitchers point out that, next to ringing church bells, throwing horseshoes was the sin which most tempted the tinker, John Bunyon, before God was made manifest to him. Now there are pitching courts in the public parks of most big cities. Quiet, sunburned old men throw horseshoes in the yards of Florida hotels. They are the ones who like the game best, but the young men are the champions. The headquarters of the National Horseshoe Pitchers Association is in Akron, Ohio. A horseshoe pitcher uses two horseshoes, each weighing 2 1/2 Ibs. He tosses them at an iron stake 40 ft. away, protruding 8 in. above a bed of potters clay. Then his opponent does likewise. The shoe that lands nearest the stake scores 1 point; a ringer 3 points; a double ringer 6 points. The first player to score 50 points wins the game. In championship matches, calipers and a straight edge are used to determine accurately which horseshoe is nearest the stake. But in casual bouts a player often shouts: "My horseshoe is two fingers nearer than yours."