Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1885-05-16
THE MAGIC ACT.
Remarkable stories OF illusions and
Some Unexplained Tricks.

man and unprofessional prestidigitateur
TO Philadelphia Times man, 'that none
Of the shows and circuses that use so
many abjectives in describing what they
have got do not bring to this country a
really fine troupe Osfmagicians. 1t may
be possible that they will not come, but
it certainly would be paying invest
nent, as the people in the United States
have no adequate idea of the tricks that
are executed by some of the jugglers OF
the east. We are occasionally dosed
with the talking head and the accom-
panying looking-glasses, or the automatic
chess-player that anybody with any
sense at all knows must contain a dwarf;
but bey ond these we have not seen the
masterpieces of the black artists Where
have YOU the magicians who will step
ont uDon the Stage naked, with the ex-
ception Of a strip of cloth about their
lOihs. and allow himself to BE- perfectly
examined, and then produce all the
tricks with fishes, ete., that are their
stock in hand. 1t can't be done, or
rather they can't do it. You would
find inside pockets, the glass covered
with rubber that held the fish. and in
other pockets here and there the vari
Gus objects of his trade. so that the sole
wonderful part Of the performance
would consist in taking these things out
without being seen. Now with the best
mag clans that | have seen in the east
all this is done away with, and they even
court scrutiny, close at that.
MAGIGAN's THUMB.
"As n example," said the speaker,
direct your eyes upon my thumb" and
this member was held up in the air
within a foot of the listeners face.
"You see nothing? No' Don't re-
move your eyes from that nail" contin-
ued the owner of the thumb. "Now,
what do you see?'
The observer, who had not changed
his glance. read an Arabic word. An in
slant later it was gone.
You saw it?" asked the gentleman.
"Well. didn't paint it there or slip it
from my sleeve. 1t was done before
your eyes, and that is the way it should
be, if it is called magic"
"The finest exhibition ever witness
ed" resumed the speaker, was in
ALam. l was travelling through the
country with a party of German officials,
when We stopped one night at an inn,
where it CHANGED that number of ma
gicians were resting. There we're six OF
them, four men and two woman, all very
small, except one, who was a deshy
giant, resembling the typical wrestlers
/ soon made their acquaintance, as
WAS then greatly interested in
leger iemain. and soon won their good
will. They were very eager for me to
show them an exhibition of my skill
did so, but in every case they caught
me and laughed at my efforts, excepting
once. At that time-though it is not
known, of course, to the public-I Wa
the equal of any prestidigtateur in this
country, and had tried points with them
all. mention this 70 show how skillful
these natives were, as | tried some of oui
best tricks upon them, and, curlously
enough, the most stupid one Of all fooled
} them.
-. THE PHARos sERPENrs.
at was this. You remember the old
Pharos serpents that we're much in vogce
some years ago. They looked like
peas, but when touched with a match
began to grow and squirmed out into
snakes six or ten inches long. ad g
, lot of these made of large size, 80 thai
when they developed they were of TIE
exact size of my fingers and CT the same
color. which was then a dark brown.
had little cups on the end Of each fingel
Y to conceal them, and when l tried the
r trick. which was in the evening, in thu
a public room, stepped over to the candl'
# that stood on the floor and dehberatel.
4 put nv fingers into the flame. Thi
( caused a stir aIAong all assembled, as th
e expected TO see them burn, but | SAT-
e as heat made the plants grow, so 1t woul'
/, nv fingers. Then each finger began t
d Iengthen, slowly squirming out, inch b.
Z inch, crossing each other and twistin
in the mysterious way these objects d
{ until finally they were all fully te
inches long, presenting such a horribl
, appearance that the entire party starte
3 back and a number of the nativesleft tn
n room. Seeing that was going too fa'
u to last, by quick movement knocke'
: off the ashes and made my fingers a
h sumo their natural appearance. To sa
: the natives were astonished hardly e.
'' presses it. They begged for the seer
II and before | left exchanged it for th
n trick l showed you on the thumb nail.
TIE MAGIcIASs AT WORK.
l. after | had finished the doors We
!. closed and only those admitted vi
= paid a regular admittance fee-a sma
,e sum-and soon the apartment beil
,e filed The magicians began their pc
- forma ace. The audience sat on the 10