98 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
occurring so nearly in this manner, that I am led to doubt 
the inutility of the caution. 
One genius, having got the cleaning rod of his rifle 
jammed, so that he could not withdraw it, cocked the 
piece, took the rod in his teeth, pulled might and main, 
and finding that it still did not come, pulled the trigger 
with his toe. 
I am sorry to say that it is stated, although I do not 
altogether believe it, that the cleaning rod and ball both 
went out at the back of his neck, without doing him much 
harm. I say I am sorry, for if the story be true, such 
a fool ought not to live. 
In the other case, the sufferer wished to ascertain if his 
piece were loaded or not, by trying whether the air would 
draw through it. To this end he clapped the muzzle into 
his mouth, and began to suck; then, remembering that so 
long as the striker lay down on the nipple, that alone would 
prevent the ingress of the air, he proceeded to half-cock 
the lock with his toe. Of course, his toe slipped, and 
very naturally his brains were blown to the four winds. 
It must not be supposed, that these “modern in- 
stances” are either jokes or ‘weak inventions” of the 
author. The former anecdote appeared in the columns 
of the National Intelligencer, the latter in the New York 
Daily Times ; both relations bearing every mark of authen- 
ticity, the names of the sufferers, the time and place of 
their exploits, though not the verdict of the coroncr, which 
one might conjecture would run in the old style of “ sarved 
’em right, too.” 
Who shall say, after this, that it is unnecessary to 
