Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1873-05-10
WHOLE NO. 2,asI.
ILLUsIONIsTs.
Wonderful Transformations and As
tonishing Changes Optical Him.
sions by Two Thorough Ex-
perts at the Business.

Two illusionists, Maskelyne and
Cooke, are spoken Of in the London
papers as persons who have been for
some years astonishing provincial au-
diences by the cleverness of their de-
ceptions, and who have lately created
so much perplexity in the minds of
visitors to the Crystal Palace, have
now transferred their amusing enter
tainment TO the larger ST. James hall,
where their curious feats viii be found
well worthy the attention of all en-
gagged in testing the extent to which
the evidehc Of the senses may be trus-
ted. When a cabinet, raised above
the floor to exclude the possibility of
traps, Is carefully examined 6y any
scrutineers who Ochoose to come forward
upon the platform, and a large box,
being subjected to the same rigid in
vestigation, is carefully corded and
sealed, in the presence of the speeta-
tors, by any person who volunteers to
otficiate on the occasion, this ordinary
means of battling the vigilance of OBJ
servers would appear to be treated
with supreme disdain. Yet, even un-
der these strict conditions, Messrs.
Maskelyne and Cooke contrive to eff
the most astonishing changes. When
Mr.. e.. A.-Cooke, as a sailor, is locked
in the cabinet he vanishes, and when
the doors are again opened he appears
as gorilla. When the gorilla is put
into the box and his place of confne-
ment seems as secure as cords and a
lock and keycan make it, few seconds
suffice to show the incecurity of the
fastenings, fer on the next examina-
tion nothing is found but the sack in
which he was tied. In like manner,
when Mr. j. ~ Maskelyne, as Glou-
cestershire butcher, is enclosed in the
cabinet to encounter the monster, an
investigation made almost Immediately
shows the interior of the
structure TO be apparently empty, two
persons being thus disposed of by a
process which is certainly calculated
to pIque the curiosity of those even
most familiar with optical illusions.
The rapidity with which these changes
and disappearanees are effected implies
the attainment of singular dexterity
on the part of the chief performers,
who fairly enough invite the closest
attention, and even suffer entire stran-
gers to stand close to the cabinet in
which the mystifying metamorphoses
are completed. A shrewd guess may
be made at the secret involved in the
of both the cabinet and
Inc box, but the remarkable ingenuity
With which the plan of operation is
shows a marked advance on
hose mechanical eOntrivanees hitherto
employed for similar purposes. In a
ew observations preliminary to por-
ion of the entertainment purporting
o be an initiative display of the phys
cal manifestations of modern spiritu-
Ilism, Mr.. Maskelyne sensibly declines
living an opinion as to the reality of
)henomena ascribed to supra mundane
ources, but merely processes to show
low some CT the scenes said to be thus
can be simulated by simple
rickery. The neatest feat accom-
,lished by Mr.. Maskelyne is one in
into this county forty years
go by prestidigitator named Signor
3litz, and which is so difficult of at
ainment, that only two persons, since
hat period, have ever performed it in
ublic. BY the swift movement of the
myers, half a dozen china dessert
lates are made to execute quadrille,
nd go singiy and collectively, through
variety of curious evolutions. The
exterity of manipulations displayed in
his really elegant accomplishment
hows the unsuspected extent to which
he fingers can be educated, and those
Iholike to apply to practical purpose
he lesson thus gained may find that the
atience and perseverance enabling an
ntertainer to secure at will the caper-
ng of fcrockery, may possibly endow a
usiness man with the more valuable
leility of writing separate letters with
9th hands at the same time.