[Ads-l] Antedating "the whole shooting match" (1871)

[Bonnie Taylor-Blake]

Several years ago I went looking for early appearances of the idiom "the
whole shooting match" and came up with a few from the early 1880s [1].

And now I find this one, from 1871, which I love.

"A surprise party was given Mrs. C.O. Morse at the residence of her sister,
Mrs. George Kirby last Thursday evening. The following people were present:
Misses Blanche Waller, Maisie Marshall, Alice Pritchard, Alice Pocock,
Carrie Sparrowhawk, Messrs. A. Batchelor, Jim McIntyre, C. Rankin, Chas.
Streeter, Bob Sparrowhawk. The city marshal came near arresting the whole
shooting match for disturbing the peace so we presume they had a good
time." (From "Local and Personal Notes," The Wakefield [Kansas] Herald, 1
April 1871, p. 2.)

-- Bonnie

[1]
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2013-October/128771.html

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