Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-05-21
A J%uecLER's TRICKS

a JueeLER's TRICKS.
Ahe TWO Inimitable Performances Nv .
Wonderful Artist of India.
when ne entered the room he spread
a White cloth upon the floor and sat
down upon it with his back to the wall.
the door of the room being on his right
hand. His spectators were disposed in
the following fashion,: MI. Smyth sat on
a chair nearly in the middle of the
ROOM L was on a sofa near the door, the
farsee merchant stood in the doorway
about an arms length from me. The
servants stood about in groups, the
largest group being between the door
n tle coniuror. AS soon as he had
settled himself he turned to the Parsee
ana asked for the loan of a rupee. The
peddler at first demurred a little, but.
on being guaranteed against loss, he
produced the coin. He was goinp to
put it in the con jurors hand, but the
latter refused and told the Parsee TO
hard it to Mr.. Smyth's bearer. The
bearer took it, and, at the request of the
conjuror, looked at it and declared it to
pc really a rupee. The conjuror then
Ioa nm to hand it to his master. Mr..
Smyth took it, and then followed this
dialogue:
Conjuror-Are you sure that is a
rupee?
fSmyth-Yes.
Conjuror-Close your hand on it and
hold it tight. Now think of some coun-
try in Europe, but do not tell me your
thought.
Then the conjuror ran over the names
OF several countries, such as France,
Germany, Russia, Turkey and America
for the native of India is under the
impression that America is in Europe.
After a moment pause, Mr.. Smyth said
he had thought of a country.
,''Ihen open your hand" said the
Juggier; ''see what you have got, and
tell me if it is q coin of the country YOU
thought Of"
1t was a five-franc piece, and Mr..
Smyth had thought of France. He was
going to hand the coin to the coniuror.
but the latter said:
.No, pass it to the other sahib."
Mr.. Smyth accordingly put the five
franc piece into my hand; l looked
closely at it, then shut my hand and
thought of Russia. When I opened it I
found, not a Russian but a turkish sill
yer piece, about the size of the
tive-franc piece, or of u WI
crown piece. This 1 handed to Mr..
smyth, and suggested that he
should name America, which he did,
and found a Mexican dollar in his hand.
The coin. whatever it was, had never
been in the conjurer's hand from the
time the rupee was borrowed from the
Parsee merchant. Mr.. Smyth and his
bearer had both of them closely exam
inc the rupee, and Mr.. Smyth and
turned over several times the tivc-franc
piece, the Turkish coin and the dollar;
80 the trick did not depend on a rever-
sible coin. Indeed it could not for the
coin underwent three changes, as has
been seen. need only add, for the in
formation of those readers who know
India, that a rupee is only about the
size of a form, and therefore about half
the weight of a five-franc piece.
He did another trick about equally as
wonderful. AS before, he was seated on
q white cloth, which this time, | think,
was a table-cloth, borrowed from the
mess sergeant. He asked some one
present to produce a rupee, and lay it
down at a remote edge of the cloth.
The cloth being three or four yards in
length, the conjurer could not have
touched the coin without being seen,
and, in fact, did not touch it. He
Their asked for a signet ring.
Several were offered him, and he
chose out one which had a very large
oval seal, projecting well beyond
the gold hoop on both sides. This ring
he tossed and tumbled several times in
his hands, now throwing into the air
and catching it, then shaking it between
his clasped hands, all the time num-
bling half inarticulate words in some
Hindostanee patois. Then setting the
ring down on the cloth at about half
arms length in front of him, he said,
slowly and distinctly, in good Hindo-
stance:
''Ring, rise up and 60 to the rupee"
The ring rose, with the seal uppernost,
and. resting on the hoop, slowly, with a
kind of dancing OF jerking motion, it
passed v the cloth until it came to
where the rupee was on the remote
edge; then it lay down on the coin. The
conjuror then said: ''Ring, lay hold of
the rupee and bring it to me-" The
projecting edge of the seal seemed to
grapple with the edge of the coin, the
ring and the rupee rose into a kind of
wrestling attitude, and, with the same
dancing or jerking motion, the two re-
turned to within reach of the juggler's
hand. | have no theory to explain either
of these tricks. I should mention, how
ever, that the juggler entirely disclaimed
all supernatural power, and alleged that
he performed his tricks by mere sleight-
of~hand. 1t will be observed that he had
no preparation of his surroundings, no
machinery and no confederate.-S. S.
Robinson, IN Boston Record.
VALUABLE POINTERS.
MAN.