The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-12-26

boy was killed on the spot. A more tragic
case was that of a murder brought about
by the bullet trick. 1t occurred about
fifteen years ago in a then unsettled por-
ton of Australia A conJurer was an
nOunced to give an entertainment one
evening. the great turn being the bullet
trick. The bullet was selected and mark
ed by one of the rough men of the au-
dience, dropped into the pistol and ex-
traeted by means of the ramrod in the
usual way. The audience waited breath
lessly while one of their number, dead
shot, took aim and fired. When the smoke
cleared away the magician was seen
smiling, With the marked bullet between
his teeth. Just as he was bowling in ac-
acknowledgement of the applause, a man
jumped on the stage and pointed a pistol
at the conjurers head. If you are 50
good at catchin' bullets, catch this he
cried as he pulled the trigger. The man
fell dead"
Mr.. Watts also told of a case of delib-
crate suicide. A man named Sartelle
loaded the pistol himself with a real bull
let and took his stand at the end of the
stage for one of the audience to fire at
him He asked that his mother should
be informed of what had happened if he
were killed. which the audience regarded
as good joke. but the significance of
which they naturally understood when
he fell dead narrow escape from
death was that Of a magician named
Billy. He had prepared the pistol and
nad asked a stupid looking young man
to come up on the stage and fire at him.
He walked to the end and took up his
position: all was ready when a man
cried out 'StopI" and jumped on the
stage in an excited state. He declared
that he had seen the young man drop
something into the barrel An examina-
ton revealed a brass button, which
would have done the work as deadly as
any leaden bullet
The most sensational shooting trick in
10 of introduced 1x-
Alexander Hermann a year or two be-
fore his death. He had cOrporals guard
of four soldiers march into the hall to
shoot at him. Four bullets were selected
and marked; the guns We're inspected and
found to be in good order. The bullets
we're placed on tray and handed to the
men. It seemed that deception was quite
impossible. When the smoke cleared
/ away Hermann stood smiling on the
Stage holding the four bullets in his hand.
While this is a simple feat it is never
theless an extremely foolhardy one. and
has within the last five years caused the
death of at least seven performers. In
the novel method employed by Hermann
the result of the experim ent depended
entirely upon the cartridges containing the
solid bullets being exchanged for car
trjdgeS containing imitation bullets. These
! imitation bullets were made. as in HOu-
din's feat. of wax coated with plumbago
4 The officer in command of the file OF
| soldiers was confederate He would
/ take the cartridges that had been exam
! ined by the audience and exchange them
for the dummies, which were the ones
4 afterward loaded into the rifles. The
genuine cartridges were handed to ar
assistant who extracted the bullets and
gave them to the performer, who. wher
the soldier had fired at him. would allow
them to drop on plate that he held il
his hands The danger in this method Of
performing the great shooting trick lies
in the liability of the officer who handle:
the cartridges not changing a sufficient
number. or getting them mixed, and il
/ has been known that even the soldiers
| would substitute a real cartridge for {
dmmmx.-Rochester Post EXprsss.