William Frank Carver - Carver Versus Bogardus

Carver Versus Bogardus

Almost from the beginning of his shooting career, Carver issued challenges to Captain Adam Henry Bogardus who was recognized across the country and around the world as the champion trap shooter. Bogardus was Carver’s senior by seventeen years, however, and had little to gain and much to lose by accepting a challenge from the newcomer.

In 1879 Carver set sail for a tour of Europe, where he shot in numerous exhibitions and matches, using shotgun, rifle, and pistol and shooting from horseback or from foot. He shot before the ordinary citizens as well as nobility, the most notable being the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII). Although he traveled to France, Belgium, Germany, and Austria, most of the tour was in the British Isles, where he was booked for a long-term engagement at the magnificent Crystal Palace, London, in the wealthy Sydenham Hill district.

Regardless of the considerable success he was having in Europe, the desire to stage a match with the great Bogardus was ever-present. So anxious was Carver to shoot against Bogardus that in 1881, in a challenge printed in the London Sportsman, he offered to pay $250 toward expenses if Bogardus would travel to London for a match. Bogardus ignored this challenge. Carver returned to the United States in the fall of 1882 and again threw down the gauntlet. Early in 1883 Captain Bogardus finally acquiesced and agreed to a live pigeon shoot at Louisville, Kentucky. The proposed match created a great deal of excitement in the shooting world and a crowd of nearly 1000 gathered to watch two of the world’s finest shooters compete. The Louisville Commercial ran the following article on February 21, 1883:

Captain A. H. Bogardus, the champion shot, arrived in the city yesterday morning, and immediately repaired to the Louisville Hotel, where his rival, Dr. Carver is stopping. Neither of them “recognized” the other, although they met several times during the morning and dined at adjoining tables. Captain Bogardus remarked to a friend in a fatherly way that the “young ‘un” seemed to be in fine form, and Dr. Carver was overheard saying as he blushed before a plate of potato salad, that “the old man was looking pretty well himself.” Once or twice they glared politely at each other, and the scene was rather amusing. Captain Bogardus would transfix a baked apple with his fork, and then cast a quick glance at Carver, who at that moment was sipping his ox-tail soup, timidly eyeing the Captain over the rim of the bowl.

Doc Carver won the match 83 to 82, giving Bogardus the nudge needed to issue a challenge for further matches. In Chicago, Illinois, they shot two matches, one at live birds and one at clay pigeons, Carver winning both matches. From there they traveled to St. Louis, Missouri, where they found a message waiting for them from the Ligowsky Clay Pigeon Company. If they used Ligowsky’s clay pigeons, the company would award a $7500 purse for the series of 25 matches. The match using clay pigeons that they had already shot in Chicago was counted as one match, another match was shot while they were in St. Louis, and from there they traveled to 23 more cities. Carver won 19 of the 25 matches and secured his position as one of the world’s best marksmen.