Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1878-03-07
Job Pennypacker's Egg Trick.
BY NARY KYLE DALLAS.

/ When whacker. 'the Magician" last
! visited our town. he found no greater sd-
mirer than job Pennypacker. Job himself
had dabbed. in an amateur manner, In leg
| erdemain. had made quarters disappear at
the crv Presto. changer' could make six
balls fy about in the air with the ease OF
an Indian juggler, and even while bobbing
about. vanish, to be found In the pockets
| OF innocent by-standers. And Mr.. Whack-
| er's mysterious performances were viewed
by him with the sympathizing pleasure Of
| brother artist
| The "egg trick which WAS, to be brief
| a seemingly inexplicable power Of taking
eggs out of anything. in any number and
under any circumstances. particularly
charmed him; and seeking an audience
with Mr. whacker, he persuaded him to
teach him the wonderful art. and soon
found himself capable Of deiishsing and as.
.tonishing his acquairtances. He took eggs
out OF his grandfather's hat and his moth
er's work basket, accused the postman of
having brought him a dozen In q letter and
proved II on the spot: caused the servant
girl to give warning. by fishing eggs out Of
her band-box; frightened ignorant people.
and puzzled smart ones to his hearts con.
tent, and once or twice played the old stock
trick Of the magician upon some market
woman by buying eggs OF her which he
broke IN her presence, taking from the
shell, not yolk. bot a golden eagle, and
so setting her to smashing her whole stock,
believing them to be the production of the
veritable hen that laid the golden eggs.
But even a wonderful trick loses It's
charm when il has been played upon hum
dred times Therefore, that the time and
money which he spent on the acquisition Of
the egg trick nigh. not be wasted. Mr..
Pennyparker turned his attention To the
general public and upon the occasion OF a
long journey, practiced It upon car con
dnctors and fellow passengers TO an aston
ishing extent.
II was upon Jersey railroad. not far
from the Hackcnsack station. that he at last
came upon as tempting an opportunity "a
had ever been offered TO him Opposite
him rode an elderly woman with basket
full Of provisions, radishes, turnips. lettuce
| and uew-laid eggs. and near her sat a stu
pid-loosing young man, with his mouth
wide open. his eyes about shut. and both
hands plunged In the pockets OF a coat sew
eral sxes too large for him. Mr.. Penny
packer chuckled. Now he would play ma
gicisn on a larger scale than ever before.
He would begin mildly. and the plot
should chicken" a. he went on. Accord
| ingly he stopped and apparently picked up
/ an egg from the floor, which he handed to
/ the old lady with an Indifferent Here.
/ ma'sm. you've dropped this out OF your
/ basket"
/ Thank We. I'm sure" said the woman.
and settled the egg comfortably among its
fellows.
I In moment more. however. Mr.. Penny
packer stopped again.
! II must say madam" he said a little
sharply" that you are very careless with
such brittle things as eggs. Here are three
more on the floor
Il want to know" cried III. old lady,
why. there mussbe a hole In the basket.
/ Why. thank you. wonder they aren't
smashed"
/ But there was no hole In the basket. and
I finally the old lady decided that there was
mo accounting Tor them eggs getting out. y
aud thrust them carefully under the lettuce
ans, radi-hes.
( By this time the attention OF all the other
passengers was aroused and now was the
moment for the final effort.
-. The mos, singular thing. ! ... eyer .,.. heard
now-Don't you feel ashamed OF yourself.
sirT aud he frowned and nodded at the
stupid voung man with the big coat. who
scowled at him in return.
II ashamed. haven't done nothin
"Do you call it nothing to rob this lady
Of her eggsr cried Job, -with An air of vr-
tuous disgust. "You have been doing
nothing else since you entered the car, and
you have dozen in your pocket a. this
/ moment"
You're tellin' lies" cried the young
man. what do want Of raw eggs?
You'd better search me and see whether
I've got any eggs on to me or no."
~ will then, sir. | will" said job. land
call son my fellow passengers to be my
witnesses. All. thought so! Two eggs
In your vest pocket. What, Two more in
madam take them-bless me. his coat
pockets are full OF them Here, hand them
over to the old lady some one. One, two,
I three. four. -six-ten-a dozen"
ale ought to be ashamed of himself '
cried one Of the passengers.
Its perfectly dreadful" exclaimed an
I other-a woman.
Il feel COLI chills all over me when
think Of IT, sobbed The old lady.
Put him OUT yelled chorus. I'VE
don't want thieves herer'
Il haven't taken solitary egg" said the
Young man. evidently trembling. This
here fellow is the devil. that's what he Is
Well. find more eggs in my pockets viii
you?'
mo more in your pockets, friend, said
Mr. Pennypacker, but your hat. All, ha
| thought So"
lie snatched off the soft hat and looked
into it with a stern eye, and began to take
from its crown one egg after another. " lille
the old lady's astonishment and the indig
nation of the other passengers grew great
er and greater. and the conductor looked
on with much interest.
just at that moment the brakeman open
ed the door and shouted:
"Hack-en-sackr r The whistle Shrek ed
the car slowly came to a stand still.
Il amt goin' TO stand this no more.
yelled job Pennypackers victim. "Lemme
go!" and wrenching himself from the ANA
teur magician's grasp he rushed from the
car sprang to the ground and was seen &c
dartiup the road at a tremendous rate only
passing on the platform for a moment to
pick up his hat. which his tormentor threw
out Of the window after him.
The whistle screamed again, the car sped
on.
1T becomes my duty to explain" said
Job Pennypscker. rubbing his hands and
looking conceitediy about him That
Young man is as honest as any OF US
You've all heard OF Whacker, the magi
clan? All. | see YOU have; and of his IA
nous egg trick.
We'll. ladies and gentlemen, learned
that trick of Mr.. Whacker when he was
performing in New York, and | thinh
you've seen enough to know learned Il
tolerably-very tolerably-fOr an anna
teur."
..Astonishingy cried one.
Astonishing echoed the rest Of the
passengers. But now the conductor. q
large man, slow Of speech and sarcastic Of
smile, put in his word IS he took Jobs
ticket.
We'll. I suspected something OF this
sort" he said. but wasn't sure. You see
that fellow you tackled is q weil-kuowr
pick pocket and he is capable Of stealing
eggs or anything else. Perhaps you had
better examine your own pockets. He's
very adroit. and if you've got of without
losin. anything, after being so:close to thai
fellow. you are a magician.
With pale face. Job PenDypacker be
gan to dive first into one pocket and thei
into the other. With paler one he sal
down, leaving them turned inside ont and
| emntv His handk erchief was gone his