(Special to the Dispatch.)—THE GREAT BLANDO, whose thrilling exhibitions of physical and mental courage have drawn record audiences to Heptagon Gardens this season, was injured last night during a particularly hazardous passage from the poet James Hogg, the “Ettrick Shepherd,” as he is known to lovers of literature and acrobatic recitations.

Spectators who witnessed the event say that Blando seemed in fine form moments before his tragic mishap.

 

Poster for last night’s performance [click to enlarge], showing that the Great Blando was well aware of the hazards of reading Hogg in public.

 

One witness recalls: “He was just about to say ‘That’s the way for Billy and me’ for the third time [in Hogg’s poem “A Boy’s Song”] when he pitched forward—he was sitting right on the edge of his chair, you know—and fell flat on his face.”

Other witnesses reported that Blando’s safety net, which was intended to prevent such mishaps as this, appeared to be of no avail in stopping his fall from the seat of his chair nearly three feet to the wooden stage below.

A waiting ambulance whisked Blando to Memorial Hospital, where he is reported to be suffering from multiple bruises and a paper cut.

“If we hadn’t had that ambulance standing by, I shudder to think what might have happened,” said Blando’s manager, the Hon. “Wiggy” Bastion-Cauliflower. “He might have bled to death from that cut.”

A spokesman for Memorial Hospital reported that physicians there are keeping a close eye on the Great Blando, but are guardedly optimistic that he may be able to make a full recovery and resume his performances before the end of the season.