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William Ellsworth Cambel Robinson, 1861-1918,
who "played the role of a Chinese Magician 24 hours a
day" (Ogden 280), is well known through the tragedy that
was his death -- (Walman 141) He was one of at least 14 people
who have died preforming the bullet catch. On the saturday
his fatla wound he atempted the trick, having assistants,
Dan Crulee and Jack Grossman, fire two rifles at him. (Death-Defing
Feats) There, at the Wood Green Empire in North London, he
was fataly wounded in "one of the greates tragdies in
the history of magic." (Art of Magic 142)
There are many theories to his death includign
suicide and murder, but the cause of death is known. Investigator,
Robert Churchill, discovered that Chung Ling Soo's death was
a result of a failing mechanism in one of the two guns. The
rifles, which he used numerous times in 12 years, had been
worn out due to improper removal of bullets, by Chung Ling
Soo, which involved unscrewing the guns barrel's, which led
to considerable tread striping and his ultamate dimise.
The guns which were used had two barrels, one
with a harmless blank, and one with a real bullet. On the
night of the accident, one of the two rifles fired incorectly,
propeling a real bullet into Chung Ling Soo's lung.
On that night, the gun powder in one of the
guns fell through into the barrel containg the real bullet,
made possible through the stripped threads and the small grain
of powder he prefered to use. When the gun was fired the powder
in the barrel containing a the real bullet exploded propelng
a bullet, hitting Chung Ling Soo.
Yet this tragedy may never have taken a life
if Chung Ling Soo wore a bullet proof vest which was required
by contract. Nor is known who actually fired the faulty rifle,
perhaps, for the assistant, some unsolved mysteries should
remain so.
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Bibliography
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Walman, Carl and Layden, Joe and Swiss, Jamy
Ian.The Art of Magic. Los Angeles, 1997.
Mysteries of Magic Death-Defying Feats
Odgen, Tom. The Complete Idiot's Guide to
Magic Tricks. New York, 1999.
The International Museum and Library of the
Conjuring Arts - Ling Soo Artifacts. 9 April 2000 <http://www.dcopperfield.com/modc/lingsoo.html>
A Definitive Collection of Magic Net Links.
9 April 2000 <http://magic.about.com/hobbies/magic/mlibrary.htm>.
The Bullet Catch | MagicTricks.Com: The Magician's
Magic Shop. 9 April 2000 <http://magictricks.com/library/dangerous.htm>.
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