PROFESSOR PAYNE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1803, 26 January 1884, Page 2

PROFESSOR PAYNE.

Those who attended at the Public Hall, Hamilton, on Thursday evening, to witness Professor Payne's entertainment came away some.vhat disappointed. Owing to some inexplicable cause, the professor's spiritualistic apparatus was* forwarded on to Cambridge, so that the performance was shoin of one of its most attractive features. It is true that the piofe&sor's feats in rifle shooting were of a stattlingly novel desciiption ; and might, had nothing el.ie been promised, have been considered as fully worth the money paid at the door. A small target was bet up at one side of the stage, and in front of this an attendant placed his head, on which was an apple. The piofessor taking his stand at the other side of the stage, fired at the apple, using a MartiniHenry rifle. The first bullet only grazed the object, but the fcecond smashed it to atoms. A second apple was knocked to bits at the first shot. The attendant then lit a cigar, and putting it in his mouth, held it in front of the target. The professor fired, knocking the end of the cigar off. Then a lighted candle was held in front of the target. The first and second bullets passed through the flame; the third put it out. A copper coin was held between the first and second fingers of the attendant's left hand, and Professor Payne sent a bullet clean through the centre. The remaining feats consisted in hitting, at a distance of ten yards, a percussion cap affixed to the target. The professor accounted for making so many misses by the fact that the heht in the hall was very bad. The remainder of the programme consisted of a song, " The Old Brigade," and a reading, " Bardell v. Pickwick," both by Mr Lissant. The professor will appear at Cambridge to-night, at Alexandra on Monday, and at Te Awamutu on Tuesday.