Shots in Church

As he was leaving Lima's socialite Miraflores Church after service last week, President Luis Sanchez Cerro of Peru drew his pistol and pointed it at one Jose Melgar, for the good reason that this tall, pale youth had just fired a bullet into the President's chest.

Such "scratches," as he calls them, have never bothered President Sanchez Cerro. He has been scratched several times. Revolver in hand, he was just about to shoot it out with his assailant when a Presidential aide put his pistol to the youth's neck and fired.

Amid spouting blood and socialite shrieks, Youth Melgar fled the church clutching his neck, and President Sanchez Cerro walked out of the church with a great red stain on his vest. "I require no assistance," said the President, "but rush Colonel Rodriguez to a hospital." The Colonel, chief of the President's Military Household had (it then became known) received in his right thigh a second shot fired by Youth Melgar while the President was drawing his pistol.

When captured, Youth Melgar (who by this time also had a broken arm and a fractured skull in addition to his neck wound; said: "My action was entirely personal." The police, according to Lima newsgatherers, were at first determined to lynch Youth Melgar, desisted only under stern orders from their superiors.

"The President," announced the Presidential surgeon, "will be back at his desk in a few days."

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