SHOT AT GEORGE III.

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3794, 12 August 1936, Page 6

SHOT AT GEORGE III.

theatre incident IN lilt. The revolver incident which occurred when King Edward was riding past Hyde Park Corner on July 16 recalls an event in 1800 when David Moses Dyte, a Jew, seizfed a mart named Hadfield in the pit of the old Drury Lane Theatre after he had discharged a pistol at George HL who was seated in a box. When Dyet died, an obituary notice in the “Gentleman’s Magazine,” London, for October, 1830, describes him as “the person who prevented the death of George 111 by seizing the pistol from Hadfield in Drury Lane Theatre.”

A more picturesque account, preserved by Picciotto in his “Sketches of Jewish History,” says, after relating the facts, “but probably they are not aware that Hadfield, an exsoldier and lunatic who fired at the

King, missed his aim because some man near him struck his arrti while in the act of pulling the trigger. This individual was a Jew named Dyte, and to him in all likelihood the king owed his life.”

Hadfield was tried for high treason. Dyte’s evidence reads as follows: David Moses Dyte sworn. Examined by Mr. Attorney-General: Were you in the pit of'Drury Lane Theatre on the 15th of May?—“Yes, I was.” In what part of the pit were you sitting?—“lt was either the third or fourth row, I cannot say which: but it was directly above where the pistol was discharged.” Did you see the pistol discharged? —“I did not see it discharged, but I saw it in the prisoner’s hand directly after it was discharged.” Did you see the prisoner before?— “I seized him; I did not see him before.” Lord Kenyon (Chief Justice): Was that after Mr. Wright had seized him? —“When I seized him I do not know positively whether anybody else had

seized him. I was oh the left hand. At the discharge of the pistol I laid hold of him directly.” Mr. Attorney-General: Had you observed the prisoner before? —“I cannot say I had to my knowledge.” Corroborative details came out in . Byte’s examination before the Privy • Council, thus: “Mr. Dyte said he was the first v. ho seized the prisoner, being close behind him. The prisoner made no resistance, nor did he bite Mr. Dyte’s hands, as reported by some of the papers. The fact is that Mr. Dyte held him fast, and was going over the orchestra rails with him, when one of the spikes ran through his hand, and another into his thigh. This obliged Mr. Dyte to let go his hold.” Curiously enough the incident related above has been used as the basis of a one-act play, “Jew Dyte,’’ written by H. F. Rubenstein, and published by Jonathan Cape in a volume entitled “Israel Set Free.’