The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-09-29
SHOW THROATS AND LEGS
The Man Who Swallows Swords and
Canes and Has Gastralgia.
Remnant and "Reminiscences of the Kir-
aIfys - Stewart and His Charities
Simply a Memory.
Correspondence of the indianapolis Journal

and considerably thicker at the joints. Its
surface is not so smooth as it was before the
hard, natural gloss became abraded by use.
Its characteristics of growth give it sue
cession of bulges from end to end, and the
ferrule is battered and worn. The only
curious thing in regard to my cane is the
fact that man swallowed it. [ am an coca
sional patron of the Bowery variety theaters.
If you go to that kind Of show, you may
possibly have seen the sword-swalower
whom [ thus fed, but to me he was new. He
thrust six long blades down his throat, singly
and then all together, their thnness and dull
ness detracting from the difficulty OF the
feat. Next, he used q sword whic h, though
thick at the edges, had a sharp point. This
he ran down his throat, into his stomach
and seemingly below, judging by the length
OF steel that disappeared. 1t was clear
enough that there was no trick about it.
sat in a private box mot an extravaganza
considering that the price of seat there was
only 70 cents), and was thus so close to the
man that he could not have deceived me-
HAT somebody's cane to lent me?''
Carlo Benedict is a Swede, and his foreign
accent looks as well as sounds contortive, for
his mouth twists queerly when he speaks as
though a persistence in a metal diet had in
Jured 1t for other purposes. 1t was not
cane-carrying audience. Mine was the only
one that saw.
''Swaller de club" cried gallery boy, al
luding TO the baton that an officer was toy
ing with in the main aisle.
The performer preferred the inequalities of
bamboo to the bulk of the locust, however,
and so my cane was swallowed almost whole
or, to be exact, was slowly thrust down his
gullet, until only few inches of the top re-
NAMED outside.
Subsequently, learned that Benedict is
a fool as well as a freak. Nature did some
thing toward qualifying him for sword-swal-
lowing, by giving him a capacious passage
from mouth to stomach, but it is chiefly by
a maltreatment of himself that he accom-
plishes his feats His throat and gullet are
kept in a dangerous state of inflammation.
and at times, unable to endure the pain of
further irritation, he is compelled to forego
It, his stomach, too, resents the rude in
trusions, and chronic dyspepsia frequently
develops into acute gastralgia of the most
terrible kind. 1t is altogether likely that he
will eventually die of the diseases which his
misuse of his organs has caused Already.
besides suffering as l have described his
speech is impaired by the injury done to the
vocal chords.
And how much does he get for all that"
Twenty i've dollars a week, with board
and travelling expenses" was the reply.
He loses time occasionally. and l suppose,
counting in the board, his work is worth
about thirty dollars a week to him on the
years average"
Danger is always popular element in the
show business. The trapeze has been rem
dered nearly vaueless in this city by the en-
forcement of the law for a netting under
meath it. New forms of peril have therefore
been devised to meet the demand On the
same stage with the swOrd-swallower was
an athlete who evaded the statute and i'm
peried his neck by backward somersaalts
from tables which were placed one on an
other until a height of twenty five feet was
reached. From that unsubstantial platform
he bent back and dropped striking with his
hands hard on the protruding top of the
lower table, and thereby completing turn
of the body and finally striking on his feet.
The performance was utterly devoid OF
grace, difficulty, or any other attractiveness
except the possibility that the man would
be killed. I found, however, that he was
far from reckless.
"If l should miss the bottom table with my
hands" said he, my head would strike
where my feet ought TO, and it would be all
up with me-"
do you expect to miss it?''
well, l wouldn't be surprised to, any
time But of course, l don't mean to- And
| can't help feeling little shaky since John
ny Gallagher died. Do you remember the
Lorellas? Well, Johnny was the little one"
. l did recall the Lorellas, for | had seen
their performance only few weeks before.
Probably You have seen them-the two long,
slim fellows, dressed in black tights, with
their high kicking and grotesque coutortionS,
ard the smaller third, in the guise of girl,
whom they threw about, doubled up, and in
various other ways surprisingly treated. Do
YOU recollect how, in the midst of their pre-
liminarv ?, when the boy was 50 cleverly
initiating the coynesS and gentilty of
maiden, they lifted him high by the arms and
let him drop with tremendous chug IN a
sitting posture? His expression of mingled
amazement resentment and physical in
convenience. was very funny. Nothing in
the wide world is more laughable than
woman taking a seat on a chair that I'M
expectedly isn't there. This was a success
full dramatization of that realistic idea. 1t
made audiences laugh so inmoderately for
years that the Lorellas never omitted it, and
Johnny Gallagher was prosperous with his
dull thud until finally it killed him. I'm
agine yourself dropped four feet to bare
floor. square and hard, and you will Under
stand the conclusion that your spine would
sustain. There is brain at the top OF every
backbone; even that of a grotesoue dancer
and there came drop for young Gallagher
which proved fatal. He was taken suddenly
i'll with paralysis of the brain, after perform
ing in the Devils Auction in Philadel-
phia, the other day, and died within a few
hours.
THE KIRALFYs AND THEIR THEATRE.
One big family of violent dancers has
emerged safely from the peril, except as to
one stray member. Ten years ago the Kir-
ally troupe was hard at work. kicking, whirl-
ing and executing terpsichorean feats that
required as much main strength as they did
of skill. There weresthree young men and
three girls. They were Hungarian
Jews, bearing so close re-
semblauce that their blood relationship
could not be doubted. Their first appearance
here was in a production of The Black
Crook" The girls married, one by one, and
ceased dancing as soon as they became wives.
Two of the brothers, Imre and BoloSsy also
eased their lees by going into theatrical man