Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1876-06-26
CONJURERs.


The conjurers led hard life in the
middle ages, and some of their tricks,
according to the tales told by their his
torians, must have been not only difficult
but unpleasant. Thus, for instance. we
are told that on dispute arising be-
tween Zelto of Bohemia. and German
conjurer, "the former, who was little,
defOrmed man, with very large mouth,
ended it by swallowing his rival, eject
ing his boots only. which were very dir
ty. He then withdrew, but in short
time returned, accompanied by the man
whom he had swallowed" About a Gen.
tury later Cornelius Agrippa performed
such terrible feats of necromancy. by the
aid, no doubt, Of his faithful attendant.
a black dog, that it is wonder that he
was allowed to die peaceably in his bed,
which he is supposed to have done some
years before the time when Faust was
carried off by the devil. In later age
the conjurers had the mob to fear as
well as the law, and there is DR.. Lamb
mentioned by Baxter, whose skill alarm
ed the people so much that they murder
ed him. In the last century several con-
jurers gained a considerable reputation.
There was Fawkes, who performed the
flower trick of the Indians Katterfelto,
sat his own wonders wondering" whose
black cat appeared at one moment with
tail and the next without any; Pinet-
ii, who introduced clairvoyant at his
entertainments and made an automatic
figure perform all the feats of the rope
dancers; and the celebrated Won Kem-
pelen, who invented the automatic chess
player. Then there was Cagliostro, a
great rascal of the type of Donsterwiver,
who cheated a wealthy goldsmith much
in the same manner as that knavish Ger
man cheated Sir Arthur Wardour there
was ROllin, who died by the guillotine,
and exclaimed, on seeing the warrant for
his execution, THAT is the first paper l
cannot conjure away" Nor should we
omit the mention of Robert, a clever but
impudent French conjurer, who profess
ed to raise the dead. The present age
has not been behind its predecessors in
skillful jugglers and magicians, nor has
it been wholly free from the supersti-
tions exhibited in early times. Chalon
transformed bird into a young lady /;
Sutton improved upon the trick by serv-
ing her up in an enormous pie; and
Ching. whose celestial origin is doubtful,
concluded his feats "by sitting in the
air, apparently upon nothing, like the
Brahim of Madras" Anderson, who
claimed to have received the title of
Wizard of the North" from Sir Walter
Scott himself, was one of the most sue
cessful of modern conjurers, and intro
duced several new tricks. In one OF
them he is said to have anticipated by
more than 80 years deception practiced
by the Spiritualists. He produced pa
per, on which three or four gentlemen
wrote their names, or any words, one ot
them burning the paper. Anderson ther
produced basket of eggs, sprinkled the
ashes of the paper over the eggs with the
gravity of medieval magician. anC
then requested gentleman to select al
egg from the basket. On the egg being
broken perfect fac-simile of the burn
ed writing was found in the inside. An
derson had an umbrella. on which wer,
engraved the words, "Great Wizard o
the North. This caused apprehension
frequently among the country folk. Oh
one occasion, while staying at an inn
no one could be found to enter his room
and his meals were placed outside th
bill was also delivered in the same fash
, ion, and great was the relief when th
awful wizard took his departure. At an
other time Anderson had taken lodging
at Forres, when the fatal inscription o.
the umbrella caught the eye of the land
lady. "a Weezard. are ye ?" said th
, afrighted widow. Then, for the love Q
/ gudness, gang cot o my house wadn
, lodge ye for ae NIGHT under my roof IA
for a. the world. For the love O. heay
4 en-, gang wa, and tax your umbrella VI
| ye." Anderson did not escape from th
old lady 50 easily. for. on throwing bin
/ the money be had deposited, she e.
A claimed that it burned her fingers. an
r fell down in a sWeon. La her fall sh
cut her face and caused it to bleed. Th
p neighbors declared Anderson had mu
E dered the woman, and it was not till a
ter spending night in the Jail that b
!. obtained his release.
! A CUBAN LEADER.-l learn from pa