CHUNG LING SOO

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 922, 15 March 1930, Page 27

CHUNG LING SOO

MYSTERY OF A MAGICIAN THEORY OF SUICIDE A theory that Chung Ling Soo, the magician who was shot dead on the stage at Wood Green Empire in 1913, committed the most cold blooded suicide ever planned is put forward by Mr. Will Goldston, the founder of the Magicians’ Club. The magician was shot during his famous “catching the bullets” trick. If the trick had been performed properly, two live cartridges, after having been passed round the audience, would have apparently been handed to an assistant, who would have fired them at a plate which the magician held over his chest. Actually, the cartridges would have been cleverly smuggled to Chung Ling Soo. But this night, after Chung Ling Soo had loaded the rifle himself. he was shot. The bullets were never found, and the plate over his chest was not shattered. Mr. Goldston points out that the gun

had a sealed barrel to minimise the possibility of an accident, but after the tragedy the barrel was found to have been opened. He says that Chung was worried about domestic matters, and a few days before his death cleared up all his business affairs. At the inquest his wife, who helped in the trick, said that specially pre--1 ared bullets were substituted for those shown to the audience by means of a false bottom in a cup in which they were placed. It was decided that the shooting occurred owing to a flaw in a plug in the gun, which allowed the explosion to take place in the real gun barrel instead of a false one. Chung Ling Soo’s real name was William Elsworth Robinson. lie was variously described as a Birmingham man and as an American of Scottish extraction. He was apprenticed to an engineer, using his training to invent tricks, and during his travels acquired a knowledge of Chinese. This gave him the idea of masquerading as a Chinese on the stage, and he was so successful that he even deceived Chinese. On the stage he never said a word, but merely smiled in Oriental fashion.