THEATRE SHOCK.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20313, 24 May 1934, Page 5

THEATRE SHOCK.

Blood Pours From Human Target’s Face. SENSATION AT BONDI. (Special to the “ Star.”) SYDNEY, May 17. Maurice Rooklyn, while carrying out his performance as a “ human target ” at a theatre at Bondi, Sydney, recently, was struck by a bullet on the forehead, but escaped serious injury. On March 8, in similar circumstances, he was shot in a shoulder at another theatre. Rooklyn, in his sensational act, purported to catch in his mouth a bullet fired from a military rifle by an assistant. In the presence of a committee chosen from the audience, the rifle was loaded, both bullet and shell being marked as a guarantee against substitution. A breastplate was then fitted j to protect Rooklyn’s chest, and at the last moment his mouth was examined with the aid of a torch to show that he had no bullet in it. On previous nights, following the discharge of the rifle, Rooklyn used a pair of pliers to extract the bullet from between his teeth, and shell and bullet were handed to the committee for examination and identification. The audienc§ on the night in question awaited with anxiety the firing of the gun. The assistant fired the rifle, and blood spurted from Rooklyn’s forehead, running down his face. The bullet had struck him on the top of the forehead, had torn its way across the scalp, and buried itself in the woodwork of the stage wings. The sight of blood pouring clown Rooklyn’s face created a sensation i Women screamed. A doctor who was | in the audience examined Rooklyn, ! who made light of the injury and de- I dined to go to hospital. The doctor j said that Rooklyn had a lucky escape; , if the bullet had struck the forehead half an inch lower he would have been ! killed outright. {