The Ottawa free trader., 1876-12-30
Facts Concerning Fire-Eaters.


] Nine de Sevigue. He waited upon her from
( Vitry, and dropped INTO his mouth melted
, sealing.waX las if ii had been so mucn cold
water" without the slightest semblance OF
pain, nor did his tongue show the least sign
| of burning or injury whatever The lively
! letter-wrter, while treating the display al
most AS a miracle nevertheless asked IN a
half bantering tone what would become OF the
proofs of innocence, SO much depended on In
tormer ages, from the ordeal by Are, Rich
ardson probably exhibited his marvels III va.
: rous parts Of Europe, for Evelyn was present
at one such display at Lady Sutherlands,
e After dinner, the fire king devoured flaming
, birthstone by way of dessert; chewed and
swallowed burning Goals; melted n bcer'glass
and then ate it up, or drank 1t down; put a
live coal on his tongue, placed an oyster on
the coal, blew this strange substitute for a fire
place with the bellows, ana so continued until
the oyster was roasted or scalloped; he melt
ed pitch and wax with sulphur and drank of
the mixture in flaming state; and finally
held thick piece OF red.hot iron between his
teeth A learned French publication, the
,IJOurnaI des SaUanS, gave detailed accounts of
many of Richardson's marvelS; and in the
same journal NJ. Ponthot afterwards explain
ed how they were done, according to revela-
Itions made to him by Richardson's servant.
The exhibitor rubbed with some chemical
substance the hands ana other parts OF the
skin to be exposed to the fire, the powerful
LIQUID hardened the scarfskin into a kind of
leather; and after repetitions of the expert
ment this hardening became permanent.
Some blacksmiths, it is known, can handle a
piece of iron nearly redhot, the skin OF the
hand having become lndurated by long praC-
tce at the hot trade In roasting bits of steak
and raw oysters on his tongue Richardson is
said to have secretly placed thin slice of
veal between the tongue and the burning coal,
and that this and the moisture of the mouth
shielded him from injury. AS to swallowing
such dainties as flaming sulphur aud pitch,
he was wont TO retire Immediately from the
audience, drink off warm water and oil, and
so obtain relief by an emetic.
Early IN the last century a fire-eater named
IIeiterkeit exhibited In London; but all we
hear of him is that he had the honor of ap-
pearing beforG three or four members of the
royal family. About the middle Of the GEN.
fury the great hero in this line was Powell,
who was visited and described by Strut. AL
though eighty years of age, this man would
take burning Goals from the fire and eat them ;
place a bundle f lighted matches in his
mouth, and blow out the sulpAur-umes
through his nostrils carry red-hot heater
around the room between his teeth; broil a
h piece of beefsteak on rt &. hot charcoal placed
on his tongue; and drink with an iron spoon
a deectable beverage consisting OF blazing
hot pitch, wax, birthstone and lead. There
was a little waggery in some OF the descrip-
tions of Powell's tendencies: His common
! food is birthstone and fire, which he licks up
as eagerly as hungry peasant would mess
of pottage. He feeds on this extraordinary
diet before princes and peers TO their infinite
satisfaction; and such is his passion for this
terrible element that il he were to come hun
cry into your kitchen while a sirloin was
roasting, he would eat up the fire and leave
the beef" We may fairly surmlse that Pow
ell adopted some such precautionary meas
ures as his predecessor Richardson.
About the same time, the beginning of the
reign of George Ill, several scientific men
made some valuable experiments to ascertain
what degree of heat the human frame could
endure for short time with impunity-apart
from any sophisication or secret preparation.
MN. DuhaMel and TissOt recorded their OBJ
servatlons on yohng girl, who entered an
oven and remained there ten minutes at a
temperature of 2SS degrees Fahrenheit, and
on another who braved a heat of 325 degrees
Fahrenheit for five minutes. DR.. Solander,
first clothed and then unclOthed, remained for
some minutes in an oven at 2l0 degrees; Sir
Joseph Banks at little higher temperature; !;
anu Ut. DldUupu dl -cU utBTcBS. Eggs Nclc
at he same time roasted hard in a few min
utes, and beefsteak baked (for it was really
baked in about half an hour. The expert
menters could not touch any of their metal
buttons or buckles without burning their fin
gers. All the temperatures here named, ex-
cep. one, greatly exceed that OF boiling water.
Sixty or seventy years ago there was Sig
nora Girardelli who asonished the sight seers
of London by standing with her naked feet
on plate of red.hot iron, drawing a similar
plate over her hair and tongue, washing her
hands in boiling oil, putting melted lead in
to her mouth and keeping it there until it
IsOliditied-or 50 1t seemed 10 the spectators at
any rate.
famous man was NJ. Chabert, the fire.
king, tireeater, and "poisOn-swalower, rath-
er less than half century ago. BY trade a
baker at Paris, he gained much notOriety
by his fireressting qualities According TO
the stories told of him he would rush into a
burning house and bring out the inmates.
Once, passing smiths forge, he took white
hot piece of iron with his naked hah /, placed
the end on AN anvil and bade the smith ham
mer away; the son of Vulcan, too much scar.
ed, ran away, fearing that CeniZen OF the
're.her regions had made his appearance.
For time Chabert was inspector OF the royal
kitchen at the Tuilerles but he was prone TO
go into the heated oven and give out the dishes
of baked viands with his hands; the king,
fearful of sad results from such procllvlties,
discharged him with a small pension. He
west to Vienna, and, in the presence of the
imperial family, sat in tar-barrel flaming
and smoking until he was blackened like II
negro. Coming to England he exhibited at
the White Conduit house, where he entered a
huge oven, took in leg of mutton. shut the
door, sang some French songs, and came out
with the mutton baked. On other occasions
he bore the heat raised to 500 degrees Re-
lpeatedly he swallowed PHOSPHORUS and prus-
sic acid, or appeared 10 do so, but when Mr.
Wakely, editor of the Lancet, proposed to al
minister the last named powerful poison as a
test, Chabert refused TO comply. This and
other circumstances led TO the failure of the
ilrc.king as profitable exhibition. There is