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LOADED PISTOLS

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International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 23, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 24.

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LOADED PISTOLS.

DR. BUCKLEY tells in the Christian Advocate a story of his own boyish folly in handling a pistol, supposed not to be loaded, which ought to lead all boys and men who read it to decide firmly never to point a pistol at a human being as a piece of pleasantry. Here is what he says:—
“A long while ago I received a visit from a gentleman who spent the evening with me. During the time various incidents were narrated by him and myself. At last I told of a circumstance which had recently occurred. In the story an account was given of repelling, by the use of a pistol, an assault from a man under the influence of delirium tremens.
“In the course of the narrative, I took a single-barreled pistol from a drawer, and pointed it at my friend to illustrate the scene described. This pistol I was sure was not loaded. The pistol had but one barrel, and I had shot the load out of it and placed it safely in the drawer; so I was certain that there was no danger in its use.
“I pointed it at my visitor at a distance of about two feet from his face, and went on with the story. He looked at the pistol and at me, and said, ‘Don’t point that at me, my friend.’
“‘Oh,’ said I, ‘there is no load in it; I shot the load out of it myself a few days ago.’ And to prove that it was safe I turned it toward my own breast, and though it was cocked, I pulled upon the trigger with all my might.
“‘Oh, well,’ said he, ‘if it isn’t loaded, go on with the story.’
“So I pointed it at him again, and continued with the story, unconsciously pulling still on the trigger, when, horrible to tell, it was discharged, filling my friend’s face with powder, the bullet grazing his face as it passed, and sinking half an inch into a mahogany writing-desk on the other side of the room!
“Who loaded that pistol after I had emptied it, I never knew. Why it did not go off when I pointed it at my own breast, and did my best to snap the trigger, I cannot tell. That it was the merest accident that I was not pointing it full in my friend’s face when it did explode, I very well know.
“Two badly frightened men were there, and as thankful as they were frightened. Realizing the folly of my conduct, I asked my friend not to mention the occurrence for ten years.
“It has been nearly thirty years, and lastsummer, as I entered the Methodist Episcopal Church at Greenland, N. H., I found that the pastor was absent, and saw that very man, Rev. C. N. Dinsmore, in the pulpit preaching the sermon. A most vivid recollection of a narrow escape from suicide in the first instance, and homicide in the second, diverted my attention for a few moments from the discourse; and I thanked God for my escape and for his.
“Never point a pistol, even if you think you know it to be empty, at any person. I had never done it before, and you may be certain I have never done it since. But in two years afterward I counted two hundred and four instances recorded in the newspapers of persons accidentally shot, and seriously or fatally wounded, by just such a foolish fellow as I was.”