The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1879-05-15
An Indian Jngrler,s Tricks.


There was nothing very remarkable
in the appearance or dress Of our con-
Juror. An elderly man, short and sDarely
made, dressed in dingy white cotton
with very tight sleeves to his robe and
very tight legs to his drawers, he might
have been a respectable servant outof
place, but actually was a small land
owner who had taken to coniuring fol
his amusement. When he entered the
room he spread a white cloth upon the
floor and sat down upon it with Ills back
To the wall, the door of the room being
on his right hand. His spectators were
disposed of in the following fashion
Mr.. Smyth sat on a chair nearly in the
middle Of the room, 1 was sitting on a
sofa near the door, the Parsee merchant
stood in the doorway about arms length
from me. The servants stood about in
groups, the largest group being between
the door and the cOniurOr. As soon as
he had settled himself he turned to the
Parsee and asked for the loan of a rupee.
Tie peddler at first demurred little.
but on being guaranteed against loss, he
produced the coin. He was going to put
e into the cOnjurOr's hand. hut the
latter refused and told the Parsee x
hand it to Mr.. Smyth's bearer.
The bearer took it, and at the request
of the conjurOT, looked at it and de-
clared it to be really a rupee. The con
Juror then told him to hand it to his
master Mr.. Smyth took it, and then
followed this dialogue:
COnjuror-Are you sure that is 8
rupee. g --... ..-...--
Smvth-Yes. -"A-e
Co1juror-Close your hand on it and
bold it tight. Now, think Of some
country in Europe, but do not tell me
your thoughts.
Then the ConjUror ran over the names
of several countries, such as France,
Germany, Russia, Turkey and America
for the native Of India is under the i'm
preston that America is in Europe
After a moments pause, Mr.. Smyth said
he had thought Of a country.
Then open your hand, said the Jug
gler; "see what you have got and tell
me if it is a coin of the country you
thought Of" It was a fVe=franc piece,
and Mr.. SmYth had thought Of France.
He was going TO hand the coin to the
cOniuror, but the latter said, ''No pass it
to the other sahib." Mr.. Smyth accord
ngly put the five-fTanc piece into my
hand I looked closely at it, then shut
my hand and thought Of Russia. When
I opened it I found, not Russian but a
Turkish silver piece about the size Of a
fve-franc piece or of our own crown
piece. This I 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 Parsee merchant. Mr.. SYmth
and his bearer had both of them closely
examined the rupee, and Mr.. SmyCh
and I turned over several times the FIVE
franc piece, the Turkish coin and the
dollar; so the trick did not depend on q
reversible coin. Indeed, it could not,
for the coin underwent three changes,
as has been seen. I need only add, for
the information of those who know not
India, that a rupee is only about the
size of a form and therefore about half
the weight of a fve-franc piece. The
juggler performed several other tricks
that day, but they we're of common
place kind, and in no way comparable
70 the coin trick, which I have never
seen rivalled by any other conjuror In
india or Europe U5aiUersity Magazine.