The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-13
FACING DEATH.
The William Tell Act of Modern Days
A Wife's Nerve.

From the ST Louis Republican.
Did you ever stand up to be shot at:
Were you ever a living target for
marksman's bullets
Was it ever your pleasant lot to gaze into
the smoke-begrimed muzzle of a rifle and
to swat the dreadful moment when the
leaden messenger should issue from its
silent chamber, amid a burst of flame, to
hurtle harmlessly against a dead WALL or,
perchance, to crash through your brain like
a bolt from heavenG
Have you ever stood face to face with
death and joked with the old gentlemans
If you have you are a man or woman of
nerve.
Mrs. Ira Paine, wife of the eminent shot
who is at the Grand this week, does some
thing of this sort, and consequently Mrs.
Ira Paine is woman of nerve.
To certain extent she takes her life into
her own hands every time she steps upon
the stage, faces her husband and bids him
shoot
For even muscles of steel may relax, the
strongest nerves give way, and the best laid
plans go wrong. The possible is always to
be allowed for, and past immunity is not al
ways guarantee of future security. Mr.
Paine has shot at his wife thousands of
times and never harmed a hair OF her head,
but chance and change are ever at work
buSily engaged confounding the calcula-
tions of mice and men.
The living target business was first intro
duCed into polite European circles by Prof
Billy Tell about the first half of the four
tenth century, but it was not considered
tirst-rate attraction. 1t might have an
swered for one-night stands, but the blaSe
inhabitants of Berne, Basic and other
glacial cities of Switzerland did not take
kindly to it, and hence, Tell, after putting
an arrow into the man who first brought
him out, retired from the business
The shooting act gradually fell into a
state of innocuouS desuetude until revived
with spectacular adjuncts by Prof. Frank
Frayne i'll the last quarter of the nineteenth
century. A young lady played Albert to
his Tell, and the new version was received
with many acclamations until by an unfor
tunate combination ofaccide nts the bullet
that was intended for the apple on her head
found Judgment in the apple of her eye,
producing instant death. This sacrifice put
an end to the foolish exhibition. The ter
rible accident was necessary to call the
public'S attention to the foolhardiness of
the mirror shooting act.
Prof. Paine in shooting at any object
held by his wife does not turn his back,
throw his weapon over his shoulder and
shoot while gazing at the reflected image in
the looling-glass He will take no such
risk, as he thinks there is enough jeopardy
and there certainly iS-in shooting with
both eyes on the sentlent target But he
stands upon a wooden platform, which
might unexpectedly give way, and by dis
concerning him lead to fatal results, and
some of his feats are so risky that the writer
would not, in all candor, exchange positions
with Mrs. Paine for all that the world holds,
and much more besides
Anxious to learn the source of Mrs.
Paine's courage a reporter called upon her
at the Laclede. He found a well-built,
pleasant faced lady, whose appearance in
the parlor is not materially different from
that presented when she is on the stage.
Am frightened Not at all 1t never
occurs to me to feel the slightest twinge of
fear. / haveevery confidence in my husbands
strong arm-it is really a wonderful one in
its way-and in his intrepid GOODNESS, his
nerve if you will SO call it, Nothing can
disturb him, nothing alarm or dlsconcert
him. A cry of fire second before he dis
charged his revolver would not sway him
particle He is remarkably self-controlled.
AT first, though, you were naturally
alarmedl You shuddered, shut your eyes
and felt cold shivers run through your
body.'
Not at all. was as composed the first
time as am now. st. Louis hasn't seen
my husbands greatest achievement-hit-
ting an English walnut placed upon my
head. We may try it this week yet. Mr..
Paine shot at nuts placed on the heads Of
negro children in this very city nine years
ago. We didn't try this act in Cincinnati
last week because the Frayne tragedy oc-
Cured there, and the people are still horri-
fed over it. Our object is not to frighten
people, but to show them good shooting"
(Which act do you consider the most
dangerous, the one in which a cork is shot
from a glass ball which you hold1'
mo, the card feat. | hold the tray of
hearts and the bottom spot is not two inches
from my finger. Mr.. Pane stands twenty
five or thirty feet away. He is very care
full, you understand, and always aims
by lowering his weapon until he gets the
sight so that when he misses he always over
shoots the mark. An understood would
be fatal. He loads his own cartridges, as
he will not depend upon the manufacturers,
and uses the best of firearms, examining
each part in detail before using. What
makes Oh, he has Smith & WeSson, Rus
sian model, 44-calibre revolver, a 22-calibre
Stevens salon pistol (his favorite weapon), a
Winchester and a shotgun. He always
prefers American goods. Even it | did
move to the right or left l. would not affect
his aim, and as l would not be apt to rise
on my toes. there isn't so much danger after
ALL"
The reporter, who is Chased among the
extra first-class risks of the insurance com
panies, could not resist the temptation to
wonder what the insurance rate on Mrs.
Paine must be.
Mrs. Paine does not feel that she is en-
dowed with more than the usual feminine
allowance of nerve, and would probably
| leap upon a chair and draw up her skirts as
quickly as any of her sisters upon the first
appearance of a predatory rat. She is
native of London, and her husband of Mas
sachusetts. She has been in America two
wears. and is becoming fond of the country,
although she and the professor expect TO
return to Europe in October, to remain
three wears. She is no mean shot herself,
but never exhibits her ability on the stage.
Mr.. Paine was the inventor of the first
glass ball trap and of glass balls, but he has
discarded the former in his stage work. He
spends much of his time in the shooting gal
leries of the various cities, and is always
ready to engage in friendly shoot, not for
practice, but simply because OF his fondness
for the sport.
While there may be no doubt of the value
of Mr. Paine's work as an exhibition OF cool
ness and nerve, as form of amusement 1t
is rather dubious affair People do not
generally like an entertainment which is
likely to furnish real tragedy at any mo
menf. Every time the shootist misses the
audience expects to see Mrs. Paine reel and
drop. There is funereal element in the
thing which might be eliminated by substi-
s.:.19,- = ,,oodaa etapd for Mrs Paine as n