Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-11-08
OFF THE STAGE.
A Glimpse at the Great Magician When
He Is Not Upon Exhibition.
Some Of Herrmann's Franks.

The great magician, Hermann ,mysti-
fed the Louisville Post people a few
evenings ago. The following is the
account oft:
After last nights performance at
the opera house, a party OF gentlemen
called on Hermann behind the scenes,
and found him almost exhausted BY
the efforts OF the evening. he said
he was very tired and wanted to smoke
a cigarette, so he quietly reached up
and took a package of Sweet Caporal
from the ear of one Of the company,
and pulled his care away. Then a lit
tie lunch was proposed, and the party
repaired to a restaurant, where eight
or ten gathered around a table and
stared with open-eyed wonder at the
miracles performed, in the most natu-
raj and off.hand manner, by the great
c%oniurer. He first picked UP the bot
tie of pepper sauce, and, after looking
at it an instant, remarked that it was
"a very queer kind Of bottle-a sort Of
a disappearing bottle"-so he tossed
it up into the air, and it van
ished from view. Before the wonder
could be expressed he reached over
the table and took the bottle out OF
the overcoat pocket OF a Courier
Journalist. Then he took a salt celler
and gently rubbed it out of existence,
but found it again in the back Of the
collar of the person next to him. Next
he pitched a plate into the air and 1t
vanished, but was regained again from
under the table cloth. Hermann
was all the while laughing and chat
ting, telling anecdotes, etc., and in
fact charming the company into an
almost blind belief that he vas really
a relative of his Satanic majesty, and
could call up invisible imps to assist
him at any moment.
He took q So bill out Of his purse
and crumpling it up handed it to the
gentleman next to him to hold. Then
he asked him to look at it and show 1t
10 the board, but when the bill was
unfolded it had changed in some mys-
way into a $l00 bill.
He took off the hat Of a young mar
next to him, and quietly ex
therefrom a full grown shoe,
much to the amazement of the youth,
who had never before carried anything
but his head and a brick in his hat.
He kept the table in a roar, and when
he lunch was over he extracted a few
,igars from the noses Of those who sat
iear him and handed them around.
He is past finding out and is alto
,ether wonderful. His conversation
s very entertaining, and always fasci-
rates his hearers. He is full Of anus
ng "reminiscences and anecdotes. and
has a good, fresh story to re-
ate.
He once had an engagement to meet
The Emperor of Brazil at 8 o'clock in
the morning, but, being delayed, bO
lid not appear in thellroyal reception
-oom until the hour of10. TheEmpe-
ror entered rather out of patience, and
said that when he made an engagement
he always kept it. Hermann assured
him that it was only 8 o'clock, and
pointed to his own watch and a clock
in the room: but his royal nobs was
sure of himself, and pulled out his
own watch and handed it to Herr
mann, who looked at it and then
handed it back, and showed the En-
peror that it, too, was only 9 o'clock.
Hermann laughs as he tells this,
and says, Il changed them all, and be
couldn't see me do it." He tells of
having ridden in a crowded Broad
way coach on one occasion with a
pickpocket, who relieved him OF his
pocketboOk, but he did not do it 80
quietly that he was not detected.
Hermann, however, did not say any
thing, but in a few seconds quietly
picked the p~ickpockets pocket and
left the coach.
A gentleman in his audience once
offered to bet $40 that he could not
take a rabbit out Of his 1.-THE auditor's)
pocket. Hermann took the bet, and
walked out to the fellow, and opening
his coat took from his breast pocket a
large white rabbit.
He also tells OF many mishaps that
befall conjurors, their apparatus fail
ing to work, etc. One very comical
instance was when a magician in the
first act Of his performance placed q
silver dollar in the outside coat pocket
Of a gentleman in the audience, and
after the curtain went up for the Sec
ond act he made a dollar disappear,
and then called on the gentleman to
know if it was not in his pocket. The
person addressed put his hand in
there and produced forty cents, and
arose explaining that be had found a
dollar there, but between the acts he
had spent sixty cents for drinks.
Herrmann's outfit is valued at $2j,
600, and he has to carry it about the
country in forty large trunks, made
especially for that purpose at a cost of
$1,000. He invents his own tricks.
and produces something new every
season.
Hermann was born in Paris. but
has adopted this country as his home,
and loves New York better than any
other city in the world. He says it is
the greatest city Of the world to live
in, and isas capable Of giving pleasure
as even the gay French capital. He
has been a prestidigitateur since he
was eleven years old, and has been at
work at the art for twenty. FIVE years.
Dyspeptic symptoms, such as retast-
ing Of the food, belching, heat in the
stomach, heartburn, etc, promptly
cured ty Browns Iron Ritters