153

Dangerous Amusement.

Those present at Fulton Hall on Saturday
evening will remember that part of the performance
where Buffalo Bill shot a potato resting
on the head of Miss Cody. Thursday night,
a Mlle. Volante, a trapeze performer, held an
apple in her head and Jennie Folwer, known to
the stage as Miss Franklin, shot at the apple.
The shooter stood with her back to the mark,
taking aim by the reflection in a mirror. The
rifle was discharged and Mlle. Volante fell to
the stage, shot in the forehead. On Sunday
night she died. Now, we have no doubt that
"Buffalo Bill" is a far better marksman than
Jennie Franklin--and in fact one of the very
best shots in the county--but we agree with
the Harrisburg "Independent" that this by no
means gives immunity from accident, which
might occur at the critical moment, in a hundred
ways never thought of by the very best of
marksman. The fact is, as the "Independent"
says, that such exhibitions of rifle practice
should be forbidden by law; and indeed we are
inclined to believe that by a strict construction
they are already prohibited by the statute
passed a few years since prohibiting the pointing
of firearms at people, whether loaded or
not. If this is the case, the law should be enforced,
and if there really is no legal restraints,
then the practice should be abolished by the
potent voice of public opinion. Lives are too
precious to be sacrificed for the mere exhibition
of a marksman's skill.