, 1886-11-20
THE WONDER OF TO-DAY.
The Trick of The Vanishing Lady"
How II is Said to be Performed.

How IL Is said to be Performed.
The vanishing lady is the wonder OF
the town. She was invented by Latter
de Kalta, n Paris conjurer, and sire has
been performing at the Eden theatre
there. She is also pulling the public
in London and Berlin. The secret Of
her illusion has been kept in those cities,
and scientists have written theories
about her as learned and conjectural rs
those which Poe devoted TO the Chess
Automaton. The inventor has an agent
in New York to sell her nj 800 per copy.
He has made Il dozen sales. Every pur-
chaser is astonishcd by the simplicity oil
the trick he has acquired, ana puzzled
anew to command the manual skill TO
utilize it. Dcxtcrously performed, the
feat is like this. The ap
pears in full dress. a pretty girl nccom-
panies him He talks to her pleasantly
while lie moves about the stage. and
presently he picks up n chair. With
seeming carclcssncss he places il in about
the middle of the stage on an open
newspaper. The girl seats herself,
assuming the ordinary, womanly, restful
position. From n table he takes II large
piece of foulard silk, n fabric not trans
parent, hut sufficiently soft To show the
form of the girl nfter ii has completely
cnycloped her and the chair. sui talk
ing. he in nm instant quickly lifts the
veil. The girl is not there. The chair is
left exactly as it stood before she sat in it;
the newspaper Is beneath it, precisely rs
it WAS placed. No sounds have been
heard in the meantime; there is no
d%arkcning Of the stage; even the silk
covering has shown no shrinkage, but
preserved its form up to the momen it
vas lifted by the fakir.
IT,..s - II .I.ras Wary lirnu1R EN.rN-
body correctly gucsscs that II trap is used,
but the investigator stops there, defeated.
The chair, the newspaper, the trap, the
confederate below the stage, and Il bright
slim girl are the things hat are used.
The chair is not, rs it looks, an ordinary
article. II is of the heavy old fashioned,
mahogany kind, without rounds, thickly
upholstered on the seat, with an open
back. 1t is 50 built that by touching II
concealed spring the seat is made to drop
down from the rear on n hinge, leaving
the girl free to sink down the trap, which
is manipulated by the confederate below
the stage. There being 10 rungs on the
chair the girl has an easy job. When
the il%lusionist has seated her he throws
over her head the silk veil. At the mo-
ment she feels herself completely covered
she works another spring, which causes
II thin wire framework TO rise up from
the back Of the chair and spread itself
about her form, thus preserving undis
trubed the outlines of the cloth and de
ceiving the audience into the belief that
She is still seated.
The mystery Of the open newspaper
spread under the chair, to kill any sug
gestion Of II trap, is evcs simpler. The
paper has been deity cut so rs 10 contain
II trap opening in itself. 1t is SO handled
by the operator US to reveal the slit and
when he gathers it up after the trick he
is careful to fold it, partly ut least. His
own work consists, first, in spreading the
newspaper SO that the trap cut in it shall
cover exactly the trap in the stage, and,
second, in setting the chair precisely over
both traps. lie ought to he clever in
talking to divert the spectators attention
from both newspaper and chair, and the
more he speaks of the absence of II trap
the better he can puzzle those who are
watching him. OF course he cannot
submit either the chair or newspaper to
inspection. The trap used in the stage
is the ordinary demons drop of good
size. After the girl has passed through,
IT, confederate below the stage puts his
hand mp and springs to its place the
hinged seat in the chair. Then he raps,
II the illusionist above knows all is
ready for him to pull away the veil.
Added mystery is gained by making the
girl run ont into the auditorium rs o
as She can. \ neat slcight Of hand man
can also cause the veil itself to disappear
up his sleeve after he has lifted it
Franklin File in Chicago Tribune