PROFESSOR PAYNES PRIVATE EXHIBITION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6936, 9 February 1884, Page 5

PROFESSOR PAYNES PRIVATE EXHIBITION.

ACCID&NT TO ME. 'W. Si PULFORI>i Strokg doubts having been expressed by several gentlemen aa to .the. genuineness of Professor Payne's reputed fancy shots, a private exhibition was arranged yester*day, to which a numbei. , of pressmen and other' gentlemen .were* invited. The .' testa. most complete. The Professor took hie, rifle to pieces, also the target, and fired with_ marked bullets. ' Among other experiments he fired at an apple placed upon the hea3 of Mr.-Payne, jun.; split' a coin stuck upon a stick, :tnd struck an apple fixed upon a nail, while lying cpon his back'and firing otsr hi» shoulder at it. One of the employes of t'ue Opera House next offered to allow the' apple' to be ghott upon his head. It. was duly placed there, and the Professor bringing his rifle to the present, fired, cutting the apple clean in* two without touching the man. 'At this stage Mr. Barry O'Neill began to interchange some badinage with Mr. W. S. Pulford (of the Intercolonial News Agency), and remarked that the latter was not game to endure the eatne teat as fiarwood. Mr. PuUord>a<tdepted the challenge. The apple had been placed on his head, and .he awaited the shot with coolness,, when just. as the Professor was taking aim he instinctively took a long breath,' which raised his figure a little, the result being that the bullet while striking the. apple; also ; grazed "the scalp for three and uhalf inches. The bullet ploughed the skin for about'an inch, and then passed out in its flight. ' The wound was not of a serious charaoter,' and Dr. Tenuent, who. was just across the street at the time, came over and bound it up. Dr. Richardson was subsequently called in, and he does not apprehend any danger to Mr. .Palford'except in case of erysipelas or cold. All who were present were perfectly satisfied that no blame was attachable to the Professor, but' that the accident was solely owing to Mr. Pulford in voluntarily bracing himself up at the critical morherit. Mr. Palford has been several times under, fire, and repeatedly wounded, in encounters with bushrangers in Western Australia, and during yesterday's experiment stood.the test with considerable composure and coolness.

In : hie evening entertainment Professor Payne referred to the acoident, and 'gave further , evidence of his accurate shooting, by firingat a 'percussion .cap on the target oq the platform from the body of the hall, and striking it the first shot; splitting an apple on his brother's head while lying on his back, and firing over his shoulder ; splitting a halfcrown ; held s between his brother's fingers; and .knocking first, the aab.and, then the fire,- , out of a cigar his brother was iimoking ; and finishing up by cutting the , ci{;ar in two, ae" he held it in hie months These feats excited great astonishment. The Professor has split an apple on his brother's head. 800 times in succession duriDg his profestiional career, without once wounding or even grazing him on the head. One of the-bullets last night went through an inch and a-half of wood planking, so that hot a shadow of a doubt was left in the minds of the audience as to the genuineness.of the experiment.