The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-12-27

OF composition which crumbled on
being rammed home; but by mischance
a real bullet was used and the boy was
killed on the spot. A more tragic case
was that of q murder brought about by
the bullet trick. It occurred about if
teen years ago in then unsettled por-
tlon OF Australia. A conJurer was an
nouneed to give an entertainment one
evening. the great turn being the bull
let trick. The bullet was selected and
marked by one of the rough men of the
audience, dropped into the pistol and
| extracted by means of the ramr0d in
the usual way. The audience waited
breathlessly while one of their number,
a dead shot, took aim and fired. When
the smoke cleared away the magician
was seen smiling, with the marked bull
let between his teeth. Just as he was
| bowling in acknowledgment of the ap-
plause, man jumped on the stage and
pointed pistol at the conjurer's head.
If you are so 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 de-
liberate suicide A man named Sartelle
! loaded the pistol himself with real
bullet 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 hap
pened if he were killed, which the au-
dience regarded as a good joke, but the
Significance of which they naturally I'M
derstood when he fell dead. A narrow
| escape from death was that of ma
gician named Blitly. He had prepared
the pistol and had asked stupid look
ing young man to come up on the stage
and fire at him. He walked to the enr
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 examination revealed a
brass button, which would have done
the work as deadly as any leaden bull
let
The most sensational shooting trick
in the history Of magic was introduced
by Alexander Hermann a year or two
before his death. He had a corporars
guard of four soldiers march into the
hall to shoot at him. Four bullets
were selected and marked; the guns
were inspected and found to be in good
order The bullets were placed on o
tray and handed to the men. 1t seemed
that deception was quite impossible.
When the smoke cleared away Herr
mann stood smiling on the stage hold
Ing the four bullets in his hand. While
this is simple feat it is nevertheless
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 Herr
mann the result of the experiment de-
pended entirely upon the cartridges
containing the solid bullets being ex-
changed for cartridges containing imi-
tation bullets. These imitation bullets
were made, as in Houdins feat, of wax
coated with plumbago. The officer in
command Of the file of soldiers was q,
confederate. He would take the cart
ridges that had been examined by the
audience and exchange them for the
dummies, which were the ones after
ward loaded into the rifles. The genu-
inc cartridges were handed to an as
sistant, who extracted the bullets and
gave them to the performer, who,
when the soldier had fired at him,
would allow them to drop on plate
that he held in his hands The danger
in this method of performing the great |
shooting trick lies in the liability of the |
officer who handles the cartridges not
changing a sufficient number, or get
ting them mixed. and it has been
known that even the soldiers would |
substitute a real cartridge for rum
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