The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1879-08-23
An Indian JugRler's Tricks.

There was nothing very remarkable in
the appearance or dress of our conjurcr.
An elderly man, short and sparely made,
dressed in dingy white cotton, with very
tight sleeves to his robe and very tight legs
to his drawers, he might have been re-
spectacle servant out of place, but actually
was a small land -ownar who had taken to
coDjuring for his amusement. When he
entered the room he spread a white cloth
upon the floor and sat down upon it with
his back to the wall, the door Of the room
being on his right hand. His spectators
were disposed of in the following fashion !:
hlr. Smyth sat on a chair nearly in the
middle Of the room, was sitting On sofa
near the door, the Parsee merchant stood
in tho doorway about arms length from me.
The servants stood about in groups, the
largest group being between the door and
the conjuror. AS soon rs he had settled
himself, he turned to the Parscc and asked
or the loan of rupee. The peddlcr at
first demurred little, but on being guaran-
ecd aga INST. loss, he produced the coin.
He was ding to put it into the conjuror's
isand, but the latter refused and told the
Parsee to hand it to Mr.. SAyth's bearer.
The bearer took it, and at the request of
the conjuror, looked at it and declared it to
be really rupee. The conjuror then told
him to hand it to his master. Mr.. Smyth
took 1t, and then followed this dialogue:
Conjuror-Arc you sure that is rupeoJ
Smyth-Yes.
Conjuror-Close your hand on it and
hold it tight. Now, think of some country
in Europe, but do not tell me your
thoughts. ...
Then the conjuror ran over the names of
- ,,11>o
Russia, Turkey and Amortization the ma
tive of India is under the impression that
America is In Europe. After moments
pause, Mr.. Smith said he had thought of q
country. ..} ..,
"Thcn open your hand" said the jug
gler; "sec what you have got and tell me
if It is coin of the country you thought
Of" 1t was a f1ve-franc piece, and Dir.
Smyth had thought of France. He was
going to hand the coin to the conjuror, but
the latter said, "No, pass it to the other
sahlb." Mr.. Smyth accordingly put the
five-franc piece into my hand l looked
closely at 1t, then shut my hand and thought
Of Russia When opened it I found, not
a Russian, but Turkish silver piece about
the size of a five-franc piece or of our own
crown piece. This handed to Mr.. Smyth
and suggested that he name America, which
he did, and found a Mexican dollar in his
hand. The coin, whatever it was, had
never been in the conjuror's hand from the
time the rupee was borrowed from the Par
see merchant. Dir. Smyth and his bearer
had both Of them closely examined the ru-
pee, and Mr.. Smyth and I turned over sew
eral times the five-franc piece, the Turkish
coin and the dollar; SO the trick did not
depend on a reversible coin Indeed t.
could not, for the coin underwent three
changes, rs has been seen. l need only
add, for the information of those who know
not India, that a rupee is only about the
size of a florin, and, therefore, about half
the weight of tivc-franc piece. The jug
gler performed several other tricks that
day, but they were of a commonplace kind,
and in no way comparable to the coin trick
which l have never seen rivallcd by any
other conjuror in India or Europe.