Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 November 1876 — The Fire-Arm Fiend. [ARTICLE]

The Fire-Arm Fiend.

•an any philosopher explain how it is that children playing with fire-arms never fail to shoot and kill somebody ? It appears as if some sleeping fiend m the gun is wakened by the touch of a child’s hand, seizes anebnakes it the medium of a certain death to satisfy its thirst for blood. The weapon, however old and rusty, and apparently harmless, always goes off, and never fails to reach Some vital spot. Family pistols that have been lying and rusting for years in neglected drawers, and would be deemed no sort of defense against a sudden inroad of robbers, and sure to miss fire in such an emergency, are equally sure shots in the hands of little playful children who happen to waken the presiding death fiend in their chambers. The last proof of the invariable rule was given in Cincinnati a few days ago. The experiment was made by a ten-year-old girl named Lizzie Creedman. Lizzie was assisting her mother in clearing up the house one morning. In a bureau drawer, the contents of which she was arranging, she found a little single-bar-reled pistol—a very innocent-looking plaything. It tempted examination. They always do. The little shudder occasioned by their cold touah fascinates. The fiend was awakened by the gentle fingers, and directed the muzzle against the child’s breast. Of course, the pistol was discharged. The little thing ran to the next room, where her mother was, gasped—- “ Mamma, I’m shot,” and fell dead. The doctors found the ball lodged in the heart. Let children remember that firearms in their hands never miss fire, and that somebody is sure to be killed by their touch. Do not waken the sleeping fiend. —St. Louis Republican.