The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-05-02
FOR TARGET, A LIVING BOY
With 20 Wounds i'm Body,
Will Probably Die.
BULLET PUTS OUT EYE
Lads With Air Guns Show Helpless
Comrade No Mercy-Now Say
Yiey Are Sorry.--I5oy Pcrched In
Yrec Shot To Ground by Cruel
Companions.

Trenton, N. j., May with his
right eye shot out and with a score of
wounds In his body, Frank Pinak.
IL, II at the point of death in the
Mckinley Hospital. In this city, as
the result of several Of his playmates
uyiug him as a target for their pow
erfas air rifles. Pifak was
"peppered" numerically when in a
srsa The pellet in the eye brought
HIM TO the ground, and he was sever
ly Muised in a fall OF fifteen feet.
The wounded boys parents and
thafr neighbors have organized for
fhe punishment of the youthful of
eeasers. II was said that several
arrests were contemplated, and
that no more mercy would be
shown those marked for prosecution
thnn was shown to the helpless child.
PShak was one of twelve boys who
wsns into the country from their
huxnes in the city to amuse them
sclyes with the rifles. They pinned
y sheet of paper against the trunk
OK r maple, and for more than an
-
Then the boys scattered, more or less
Tired of the sport. Pifak was ambi-
iitMs to climb the tree, and with the
assistance of two of his companions
hs succeeded in reaching lower
Rusa, and drawing himself up. Once
ia the branches he found the climb
ing easy Creeping out on branch
~ gnt ri do Of 10 Il.
all the boys to watch him swing.
In a few minutes the whole band
UBS underneath the bough, and then
enc of the boys exclaimed:
Take a shot at him."
Instantly a rifle was leveled and
a pellet struck Piflak on the back OF
the hand, piercing the skin. In pain
and anger the wounded boy cried for
tigs nring ones to cease, but his cry
ogasy brought a hail of pellets. AS
quickly as the guns could be loaded
they were dircharged. In the haste
many of the shots went wild, but the
n8y offered q mark that could not be
easily missed, and he was struck in
all parts of the body. He endeav-
uged to turn his back as a mark, but
his tormentors formed wide circle
and made this impossible.
II was when trying to creep back
along the branch that he was struck
ia the eye. The pellet imbedded
iaseH in the ball of the eye, and,
forgtting his precarious position in
his sudden agony. Piflak raised both
his hands to his face. Instantly he
toppfed from the branch and fell fiat
on his back. He was knocked un-
Conscious by the shock. and all the
boys ned. A man who saw the boy
drop. however, hurried to the spot,
and carried Piflak into a house and
summoned a physician. After an ex-
ANIMATION the doctor said the boy
was probably fatally hurt, and ad-
yised his removal to the hospital.
An operation was performed on
tho injured eye, but without success.
Tho surgeons said that the sight was
destroyed. and that 1t appeared as
II the removal of the eye would be-
COME necessary. The pellet was re-
moVd, but not before the eye was
slit With knife. The little patient
gave the police the names Of four
boys who he said had fired at him.
One Of the boys, believed to be the
one Who shot out Pitiak's eye, when
Questioned. said he did not think
the pellets would hurt. In tears he
told Of his sorrow for his friend, and
pleaded that he might be taken to
the hospital to beg forgiveness for
hts thoughtless cruelty. But the pc
titan was denied. Pifak's condition
being too serious to admit of an in
teHyiew.