he was called, performed for P.T. Barnum, Czar Nicholas, Queen Victoria, and Prince Albert and toured in the United States and Australia, thus bringing the bullet catch into mainstream magic illusions. At least four of Anderson's rivals adapted and imitated his trick in their own performances. The American magician John Wyman, also known as "Wyman the Wizard," purchased the technique from Anderson and began performing the trick himself, popularizing it to such a degree that the bullet catch was for a time known as "Wyman's gun trick." The bullet catch is arguably one of the most dangerous and daring illusions that a magician can attempt, even when performed in a controlled situation. Legends surround the trick, claiming that more than twelve magicians have been killed while performing it. Although there are few documented cases of death, there are several accounts of the performer being shot. The number of deaths surrounding the bullet catch has given rise to a story that the trick carries with it a curse to those who attempt to perform it, though in reality there have been far more successful performances than fatalities. These magicians often include stories of death, dismemberment and curses as part of the staging of many tricks in order to build up hype. Thomas Frost in his 1876 book The Lives of the Conjurors wrote of two separate performers in the 1820s, Torrini De Grisy and De Linsky, who were responsible for the deaths of their son and wife, respectively. In 1869, a performer by the name of Dr. Epstein was killed when the tip of the wand he was using to ram the charge into the gun broke off inside and was subsequently launched at him when the gun was fired. The best documented instance of a performer being killed while performing the gun trick is the case of Chung Ling Soo, who was shot dead when a firearm malfunctioned in London in 1918. This event ended the popularity of the bullet catch trick for nearly 70 years. Escape artist and daredevil Harry Houdini considered performing a bullet catch, but Harry Kellar convinced him otherwise. American mentalist Theodore Annemann presented a dramatic outdoor version of the bullet catch throughout his career in the 1930s until his death in 1942. German magician Ralf Bialla started to perform the bullet catch in the 1950s for a fee of 2,000 DM a performance. He wore