The Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1846-1852, 1850-08-30
fFrom tle London Mornine chrOniols. !

was carpenter and allowed me to 60
with the tumblers. continued tUmbling
until my feet we're knocked up, tum-
bled twenty-three or twenty four years
1t was never what you call a good bus'
ness, only living. got s3 a week
certainly. al nne time. and sometimes ia;
but you had to live up to it, or you were
nothing thought of-thati is to say, II you
keep good company" Now. there Is
not living to,be made at the trade DIX
aud twenty years ago began to practice
sword swallowing against the celebrated
Ramo Samee, wha was then getting ee25
or sf30 per week. first practised with
a cane, and found it difficult to get the
cane down. When first did it with the
cane. thought was dead man There :.
an aperture in the chest that opens and
shuts; and it keeps opening aud shutting,
as | understand it; but know nothing
about what they call anatomy. aud never
thought about such things.
Well; if the cane or sword goes down
upon the aperture when it is shut ii can
81 no farther, aud the pain is dreadful.
Ifit is open, the weapon can go through.
The aperture closing or the weapon. The
fist time put down the cane got it
back easily, but put my head on the table
aud was very sick. vomiting dreadfully.
| tried again the same afternoon. howev-
er. three ur four times afterwards; aud
did without pain, did it two Or three
times more. aud the next day boldly tried
il with a sword. and succeeded. The
sword was blunt, and was thirty six inch.
os long, an iuch wide, and perhaps ar
inch thick. felt frightened with the cane
but not with the sword. Before the sword
was used, it was rubbed with handker
chief and made warm by friction. |
swallowed swords for fiureen years. Al
one time | used TO swallow three swords,
a knife and twO forks, of course keeping
the handles in my mouth. and having all
4 the blades in my stomach together /
felt no pain No doubt many Of The audi
ence felt more pain in seeing it than in
doing it.
wore a Turkish dress both in The
streets aud at the theatres | never saw
ladies faint at my periormance-no, there
was no nonsense of that kind. Gentle
men often pulled the sword and knives
by their handles out 0fmy month. to con.
, vince themselves il was real. and they
!, found it was real though the people t"
this day generally believe it ia not. I've
sometimes seen people shudder al my
Y performances. but generally had loud
a applause. used to hold my head back
NJ, with the swords in my stomach for twu
I or three minutes I've had a guinea day
l. for sword swallowing. This guinea a
day was only for few days at fair times
q | was with old "salt box" Brown, too. auc
!. swallowed swords aud conjured with him
e | swallowed swords with him thirty limeI
e a day-more than one each time, some
y times three ~ four. | had a third of the
=. profits, Brown had two thirds. We di
r. vided aftor all the expenses were paid
J. My third might have been 30s, a week
is but it wouldn't be half as much now if
|. could swallow swords well.
II | could swallow tea kettle now tn,
people would hardly look at me. Some
e times indeed, great many times. sa,
6 twenty...l have brou ht up oysters ou
g. Of my stomach after eating them, Just a
IL | swallowed them, on the end of th
ID sword. At oiher times there was blood
st on the end of the blade. | always fol
IS faint after the blood. and used To take gil
or anything could get at hand to relieve
e me, which it did foI time. AT last
q injured my health so much tina; was nb
n Iged TO 60 to the doctors. | used tn ca
a we'll, aud drink too. When felt nyse
> injured b. swallowing, had lost my ap
% petite, aud the doctor advised me to TAX
honey and liquids, tea, beer, and some
- times drop Of gIog. At three month
20 - end he told me if swallowed swords.
:" would be my death bat for all that | wa
- forced tn swallow swords to get meal
70 swallow. kept swallowing swords tire
., or four years after this, IN, feeling an
y" grea, suffering. then thought wouI
no swallow a live snake I'd never hear
" ', Of any one, Indian OF anybody, swallow
:; ing a live snake.
- :, 1t came into my head once by cate iin
'" a grass snake in the fields ia Norfolk
H. said to myself as held it by the neck
;" There seems no harm in ibis felIo v; l.
2" try if | can swallow him" tired the
und there, and did swaluw him. 1t fol
,f cold aud Shiny as it went down. diln'
n frol afraid, for kept tight hold OF hr
hv tha tnil and nn nuo hns auv Tiohl 1
!. be afraid Of grass snake When
i, brought the snakeup again, in about thre
II minutes, it seemed dead. After that
rs introduced snake swallowing into m
ID public perfurmances, aud did so for abou
four years. have taken SIS. and as lo'
- lis. when | swallowed snakes in tn
r. streets of London. catched my ow
10 snakes few miles from London and xii
70 ed very few through swallowing on en-
os Six snakes, properly fed on milk, aste
y. nae n year, The snakes never injured mt
>, aud shouldn't have given it up, but III
~, performance grew stale, and the peopl
:" wouldn't give me anything for it.
VI have Swall0wed swords in the street
S thirty To forty times in day, and snake
w rs often, both in town and country.
thought once | couldn't have folowe
'd' any other sort of life; you soe I'd been |
ng long accustomed to public life; besides,
may have liked it fac better than labo
en- as mos, young men do, but no labor CO
ri. be harder than nine has been, If II
father had been what he ought, he mig