Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1852-11-25
The Wizard Unveiled.


The Wheeling people, who were astonished in
more ways than one by the 'miraculous feats'' of
Herr Alexander may like 70 IeSd the following ex-
pihnation offhe mode of performing them, from the
Chicoga Journal: q ~
ssiBEFoRE AND BEHIiSp THE CuRTkiN,' '-HefT AZ
e4aader, the selfstyled 'fwiEzard Of the world"
some time ago left Chicagoin great and forgot
to settle certain items of whichhe lad
contracted there for printing and other ct ceteTas
Icennected with his magic shows. In the hurry for
departure he unluckily left at the depot number
of large boxes, which the creditors Of his wizard
| ship immediately pounced upon and which were
found to contain thtimplementS Of his trade. STU
more unhtckilyfur professors of dial these ar
ticles reveal the Hodus oprrdnd Of their business
showing how 1t is done-and how 1t isn't We
beg pardon of all "wizzardS' ifoTlettipg the pub
lc into their secrets, butas we are not sworn to
privacy, we cannot be reproaohed tor violation OIL
confidence, and moreover as the knowledge gained,
is Of such Stupendous consequences we deem 1t
duty to give it for the "cause of public enlight-
ment.n
:, The most cumbrous article of this '''stock in
ltrade," is the large copper kettle, in which d.
Faustus and the Devil were wont to boil their din
| ners This Kettle is suspended before the audi
dience, and into it are thrown several pailsul o:
water, which is suddenly converted into solid ice,
\ or mysterionsly metamorphosed into half dozen
pigeons, rabbits, &C., &C., which, on removing the
cover, hurry away in every direction. All this IS
/ the SillieSt piece Of humbuggery in the world TO
such as can perceive that this mysterious kettle Is
4 made with double sides, with vacancy between
them, into which the water passes, and thence is
drawn upwark through the bail and suspending
rods, which are hollow, and passes of IN the man
ner of Syphon TO tub below the stage. The
cover is sufficiently large to contain the birds and
rabbits, which, by turning the knob Of the cover
are let down, together with the sepaIarX that con-
| cealed them, into the kettle. ...
The, celebratedSbottle feat'-of pouring great
variety 0rwineS and liquors from common glass
! botte-is no less simple, and when understood,
| no less silly than the foregoing. The common
glass bottle borrowed from the audience, is OF
course not the one used on these occasions, but is
exchanged for another made of japanned ii and
furnished internally with TeceptaceS for the differ
cnt kinds ofliquOrs. Each receptcle has valve,
and these valves may be opened and closed at plea
sure, by stops the onslde o the bottle, arranged
for the fingers like the keys Of musical instru-
ment. The compartments having no connection
with the mouth Of the bottle except by the valves,
the bottle may at any time be rinsed with ~ater'
and then more liquor poured out. There are Il
couple of those 'inexhauStible bottles IN tue
present collection both of which are soon 10 be
sold to the hIghestbidder. We advise parties go
ing to California or the lumber regions to buy and
take them along=-they may thus carry n reSpecla-
BILE retail liquor shop in each pocket.
i The ETHEREAL Suspension is another trick of
the ugglers, at which people with large marvellous
ness were staring with open mouths, and elevated
eyebrows, short time ago. The strong ron ma,
! chinery for Suspending the body in horizontal
position, is among the articles disclosed by the
| opening of AleXander's boxes.
| A small niece of brass ordinance, calculated for
the use ofgold watches, canary birds, &C., for am
muniton, is another ofthls interesting collection.
There are also, great variety of other articles,
numbering altogether, some fifty or sixty, designed
| for various uses III the black art.
| Notice will be given OF the time Of sale OF the
goods of Hen Alexander.