Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-03-07
CLEVER TNfKS.
Lecturer Shows How Mssieians Deceive
the sight.
lRronklYn IalIe


of the Young Mems Christian Assocla-
ton Of this city belize a large au-
dience on the subject of "Magicians
and Their Ways" lie began by say
ing:
am going to tell Jou exactly how
they do these things. or course, |
shall not tell you everything, because
do not know myself. There is saying
that the quickness Of the hand de-
ceiyes the eye" ] don't know who
said this, but it is net true. The quick
ness Of the hand never did and never
can deceive the eye. am going to be-
gin by changing one article into an,
other. IIereis goblet Of INK. | shall
change it into water. You see this
little wand in ray hand. had
almost forgotten what m1gi-
clan never would have forgotten.
For every effect there Is a cause
and the magician has recognized this,
and has met it by telling you that it IS
his wand that changes one thing into
another. Here you see is a goblet of
ink. dip this card into it, and you
see it is black on that part which
touched the fluid. So you see it is
really ink. Now cover the goblet
with a Handkerchief, and | wave the
wand. and now ! take off the hanGker-
chief, and you see that ink is changed
to water. This. appears to be what has
happened, but it is not. The water
never was ins. Here is the ink, the
piece Of BLACK cloth which fits in the
goblet. Blu. you saw me put white
card in the ink and take it out part white.
Well, simply turned the card around
like this, and there you see 1t is hall
black on one side. Then Mr.. spice got
two young men to come on the platform
with him and hold two marked coins,
one an English penny and the other
ffty-ceat piece. Though the young
men stood the width Of the platform
away from each other, ne made their
coins change places, so that the man
who bad held the fifty-cent piece found
himself with the Eng!ishpenny, and rice
rcrsa. He did this, he explained, by
having three coins. The tifty-cent
piece he got from the audience, but
the penny was given to him by
his assistant on the platform. lie
really got two pennies from this source,
and palmed one Of them. lie gave each
Of the young men a marked coin to
hold. Then to be sure no mistake was
made he carried the 50-cent piece and
the marked penny across the platform
from ore man to the other. The trick
was performed in returning the coins.
In place Of giving the marked penny to
the man who had previously held 1t
Mr.. Spice palmed that coin and substi-
tuted The unmarked penny. The holder
did not examine this, because he had
previously satisfied himself that the
coin was all right. Going to the man
who had held the j0-cent piece, Mr..
Spice held that coin up and asked
him if he recognized it. " Yes, he did. -
Whishing out a handkerchief Mr.. Spice
covered the 50-cent piece and appa-
rertly gave it to the young man to
ho'a. lie did not, though, for unler
The. handkerchief he changed the 80
cent piece for the marked English
penny. COncealing the j0-cent piece
and crossing the platform, Mr.. Spice
next exchanged it under cover of a
handkerchief for the unmarked penny
which the young man in front of him
held. Then waving his wand he order
ed the coins uncovered, and the men
found to their establishment the change
that had taken place. Not knowing
ANYTHING about the third coin they
could see no way Of accounting for the
change.
borrowing a handkerchief from a
young lady, the lecturer next pretended
to burn it and yet restored it whole.
This was a very simple trick, but 1t
deceived every one, for they failed to
see the piece Of cotton to match the
handkerchief which the lecturer drew
from the top Of the clenched hand in
which he held the borrowed article.
Mr.. Secretary Wilkes handk erchiei
was borrowed, and after being shown
to the audience the lecturer hung 1t
over the back of chair, and coming
forward shook his coat and rolled up
h- sleeves to convince the spectators
that there was nothing concealed in
them. He whisked the handkerchief
of the chair and squeezed out half q
pound Of candies from it. This wa,
done, he explained, by having a white
linen bag hanging by hairpin to the
back Of the tidy on the chair over which
he had hung the handkerchief. This
bag was kept so wide open by spring
Of whalebone that the sides Of the
mouth were drawn tight, retaining the
candy till the springs were squeezed
The bag was hung up by the bottom
ard picked up mouth downward
After being emptied it was palmed.
Next a tea-caddy with three compart
ments was shown to be empty by open
ing one compartment at time and cx
libitiDg it to the spectators. Bean:
were put in the central compartment
and the caddy was set on table or
one side Of the platform. On the
other side Of the platform cylindrical
box was set on another table. A hand
kerchief was put in this. Mr.. Spice
waved his wand, and returning to the
cylindrical-box, fouriShed it in the air
and poured the beans out Of it. From
the tea-caddy he took the handkerchief.
Then he closed both box and caddy,
waved his wand again, and produced the
beans from the caddy and the handker-
chief from the cylindrical-box. Then
he showed how it was done. The
cylindrical-boX was double-ended, with
a partition in the middle. 1t had beans
at one end and a handkerchief at the
other end. The tea-caddy also had beans
and handkerchief. A slide fitted in 1t,
and while one compartment was opened
at a time, the slide was dropped
with its freight into one OF the closed
compartments. 4 2j-cent piece was
next marked. and a small boy with a
large grin mounted the stage to assist
in the coming trick. The regular as
sistant produced ball of white