Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1874-10-29

/ terror and rushed out the door into n
street, where, in the public. place. NIB
osng his eyes m stupeEfaction and Won
derin8 how he got fkere. thev fonnd N.
young Moor. =
While in the interior Houdin gave a,
lopen air exhibition TO the Wild sons :,
the DESERT. He pretended that he "a,
lnvulnerable and offered 20 LET a Mar..
bout shoot ct him. There vas a orea,
terewd and : vindictive-look;np felIo-
lcame ont from il and claimed To hax<
lthe honor Of tsHing the. hated F,rr.h.
,4srkxsh District at z, l.. crALf
that the ve6x IeeFFe clear. .nu Nara
bout put in fair charge of powder and
drove the wad home. Among the bull
let's produced Houdin chose one which
he openly put in the pistol. and it was
also rammed down. By the same pro.
cess the second pistol was. loaded. Ev-
erybody watched with themost profound
solemnity. Houdin posted himself If
teen PAGES from the Marabout without
evincing the slightest emotion. The
Marabout Immediately seized one of the
pistols and on Houdin's giving the sig
nal, took a deliberate aim at him. The
pistol went of and the bail appeared
between the magician's teeth. More
angry than ever, the Marabout tried to
seize the pistol. "You could not injure
me-" said Houdin, "but you shall see
that my aim is more dangerous than
yours. Look at the wall" He pulled
the trigger, and on the newly white
washed wall appeared large patch Of
blood exactly at the spot where he aimed.
The Marabout went up to it, dipped
his finger in the blood, and raising it to
his mouth convinced himself of the re-
atty. When he acquired this certain
ty his arms fell and his head bowed on
his chest as if he were annihilated. II
was evident that for the moment he
doubted everything, even the prophet
This seemingly incomprehensible feat
Houdin performed by means Of prepar-
ed balls. With bullet-mold and BIT
of wax mixed with hmpblack he had
manufactured very fair imitation bul.
let. Another bullet of the same mate
rial he had filed with blood. Of course
it was by sleight of hand that he changed
the bullets forced upon him by the Mar
about and substituted his own. An old
trick enabled him to get the real bullet
between his teeth while the waxen one
was shattered to pieces. So with the
second ball, it was shattered upon strik.
aasla. inS TIE VAL sHa has spse. Of blood was Pre-;
this part it would be quite as wonderful
to most people as the phenomena OF
spiritualism, and could have been passed
off as good evidence of spirit agency.
When William II. Seward made his
tour around the world he witnessed some
performances of jugglers in India which
were quiet surprising. He saw a man
climb bare pole sixty feet high stand.
ing in the open air, and when he reach
ed the top he mysteriously disappeared
After while his feet reappeared, then
his legs and body, and he came down
He claimed no supernatural powers
How did he do it There was an In
dian juggler who had little den on the
Bowery. in this city, a few years ago
He was dirty fellow. and respectable
people were not much disposed to ver-
ture into his place. A gentleman told
the writer that, moved by curiosity once,
he went in. The juggler made him sit
on the floor. In a moment two figures
apparently human, rose out of the floor
in obedience to the wand Of the coniu.
rer. They grew to the ordinary height
of human being. The visitor made
a motion to rise, when the figures sanl
through the floor instantly. An exam.
nation of the place betrayed no visible
solution to the ingenious performance
The writer, while looking up these
facts, interviewed well-known Spir.
itualist, and presented them before him
asking him for an explanation. If such
feat as that performed before Mr.
Seward was but a clever piece of jug.
glery, why should more than that be
claimed for the appearance Of alleged
spirit forms in Chittenden and Phila-
delphia. The Spiritualist was not at
loss for an answer. He boldly took the
ground that the disappearance in the air
seen by Mr.. Seward was not piece Of
jugglery, but was the production OF
spirit Intervention. All phenomena which
could not be explained he relegated to
the realm of ghost work. He was not
to be put down. But mere assertion il
not going to convert the unbelieving In.
q,lirer who goes forth armed with the
facts related here.