Dear Alastair,
The word-combination "free-shooting case" (as well as "thundering
libel case") does not seem to be a set expression, does it? So it
may well be an occasionalism of the Club wit and, as such, may mean
very different things (unlicensed sea mammal fishing, by way of
example). But your hypothesis, surely, seems the most probable.
I have found two articles about potentially relevant case in The New York
Times (March 7 and March, 15, 1892):
ROBINSON WAS MURDERED; VERDICT OF THE CORONER'S INQUEST AT YOKOHAMA.
HIS VICTIM'S FORGIVENESS DID NOT HELP BETHERINGTON -- EFFORTS OF
ROBINSON'S COMPANION, M. PORS, TO PREVENT THE TRAGEDY.
YOKOHAMA, Feb. 25 -- The inquest into the circumstances attending the
death of George Gower Robinson, a prominent Droller and society man,
shot by Liout. J.H Hetherington of the United States steamer Marion on
Fob. 13, was concluded on the 18th with a verdict charging
Hetherington with willful murder.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9807E1DD173BEE33A25756C1A9659C94639ED7CF
Full text of the article (PDF):
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9807E1DD173BEE33A25756C1A9659C94639ED7CF
and
THE YOKOHAMA TRAGEDY; SHOOTING OF ROBINSON BY LIEUT. HETHERINGTON. THE
DYNG MAN DECLARES THAT HE ONLY FLIRTED WITH THE OFFICER'S WIFE -- THE
WOMAN WHO HAS CAUSED ALL THE TROUBLE.
SAN FRANCISCO, March 6.-- Mrs. Hetherington sailed from San Francisco
last October on the steamer China to rejoin her husband. She is about
twenty years old and has one child, a year old. She is a handsome,
stylish-looking woman.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B01E4DF1438E233A25754C0A9659C94639ED7CF
Full text of the article (PDF):
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B01E4DF1438E233A25754C0A9659C94639ED7CF
"...Robinson was carried in the _United Club building_ where he lingered
until 11 o'clock Sunday night, Feb. 14, when he died."
With best wishes,
Yan Shapiro
AW> I am in the process of annotating for the NRG the nine letters in the
AW> above. And in Letter 5 'Some Earthquakes' I have come across a phrase
AW> which baffles me.
AW> In the Overseas Club in Yokohama, on the day that the New Oriental
AW> Banking Corporation suspended payment (leaving the KIplings stuck
AW> without access to cash), Kipling has the Club wit say grimly "We're
AW> doing ourselves well this year: one free-shooring case, one thundering
AW> libel case, and a bank smash."
AW> What is "free-shooting", as opposed to any other kind of shooting? From
AW> the sense of the sentence, it means some kind of manslaughter or murder,
AW> I assume: or is it an early manifestation of shootings like the recent
AW> one in Tucson, or our one in Scotland at the school in Dunblane?
AW> Anyone know, please? - it's not in the OED in the form 'free-shooting'
AW> though it may be amongst quotations, I suppose.
AW> /Alastair Wilson/
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