, 1884-09-27
midas JUGGLERs.
Two Of their EHcks shown to be
Frauds.
The Mysterious Basket la which =
= Child IL Murdered = The
mango-Grow-
ing Trick Exposed.

Hon John Swift in San Francisco Call
The one class who interested me particu-
nriy IN India was tho iugglsrs. l have al
ways had a fancy for prying into the secrets
Of prestidigitation, and l lost no opportunity
! OF seeing these slight-of-hand gentry AT their
tricks, and found occasion to witness many
Of their performances in different parts OF In
pia- Nv Investigations lead me TO state pos
itively that the most remarkable stories told
about them are ~fictions, based upon I o Aims
lest foundation of fact. The great majority Of
people like TO be deceived in such matters, and
will shut their eyes 10 palpable evidences OF
fraud, while travellers who eagerly sieze upon
svery chance to pad their narratives with
sensational points naturally throw n veil of
mystery around the tricks Of the Indian Jug
glers.
Let Us take, for instance, the two perform
ances that have been most frequently and
most marvelously written up-that IL to say,
the mysterious basket and the mango-grow-
ing tricks l have seen both Of them
over and over again, and have found
the same easily detected frauds to exist in
every case The baskets are bell shaped and
ave a false bottom betweon which and the
exterior wall Of tho basket there Is ample
room for a small child to stow itsolf away.
The spectators are not allowed 10 touch,
or oven to come very near to the
basket, and at q casual glance at tho in
terror one Is not apt to detect the false bot
tom. Tho basket is placed over the child,
who squats upon the hard ground, and after
sufficient time has elapsed for the youngster
TO csnwl into It's place Of c~onccalment, the
jugglcr hoirifes his audiences by passing HIS
sword through the basket, and then upon up
sottlng it, shows that tho child has disap-
pearcd. Meanwhile a duplicate child that
closely resembles the first one enters upon
the scene from the background, and the won
dcrfnl trick Is ccmplsted-
h famous mnngo-growing trick Il even
xllier than thiE You nave OF course read
how a man Of mysterious arts plants n
mango seed ina flower pot and then makes a
dwarfed fruifIblaring tree spring up froIz
that seed. The facts Of the case are simply
these; The seed is planted and the pot Is then
placed under n sort of tent, whose volumlnous
folds must not be touched by any
but the iuggler. The latter then
wAten the earth in the pot and docs
u lot OF manipulating while his
hands are concealed IN tho tent. Meanwhile
a fellow iugEler is performing a series Of
other tricks 70 amuse and distract the atten-
ton Of the spectators. When juggler number
one has had time to change the pot for another
that is hidden In tho folds OF the tent, no
opens ono Alue OF tue canvas a little AMI tho
second pot can DO seen with a half-grown
mango tree In IT, After another interluds OF
the same sort the tent door Is again opened
and a third pot Is disclosed. which contains a
little tree bearing a mango. The whole thing
Is such a weak attempt at deception that a
person after studying 1t once or twice can
only wonder If any one has ever been really
deceived by it | almost enjoyed the palming
performances Of the clever j~ugglers, for their
skin and rapidity Of action were something
extraordinary. but their Undertaking. tricks
were such palpablo absurdities that there was
actually no fun in detecting them.