The Portland daily press., 1888-02-28
MASTERS OF MAGIC.
African Necromancers who Throw
All Rivals In the Shade.
tThe Cosmopolitan

| When Frederick Gerstaeeker accompanied
| the Duke Of Coburg to Eastern Africa the in
cognito of the sovereign friend was dropped
at Cairo, where a German banker treated
him to dinner of fatherland fare, followed
by an exhibition of local talent-fife concerts
Arabian dances and legerdemain. The ex-
ponent Of the latter accomplishment pro-
duced a copper dicebox. and repeatedly emp
tied it on the carpet, altering his throws with
predicatOns that were lost upon the foreign
ers; but after series Of similar prelimina-
les invited his audience to an open terrace,
and in the plain tight Of the evening sun
flung up number of transparent balls that
disappeared at an apparent height OF some
eighty feet above the esplanade. The globes
were colorless and pellucid, like white glass,
but as light as gum, and were repeatedly
submitted to the examination OF the specta-
tors. After passing from hand to hand they
were put in an open vessel, SNAPPED somewhat
like short-handled dipper,and leaning back
till his Outstretched arm nearly touched the
ground, the wizard then flung then straight
up in the air, where they could be seen gilt
tering for moment like icieles or large glass
pearls. But nobody ever saw them fall down
again though the scene of the experiment
was surrounded by large, level lawn; the
| air seemed to have swallowed them like
| globes of dissolving vapor. Could they have
| evaporated or exploded into spray oI MI
Rupert's drops'O? A sleight of hand trick
| was clearly out Of the question, but more
| tenab'e explanation OF the phenomenon
would have puzzled chemist as much as an
| optician. Gerstaecker tried in vain to bribe
| the wizard into hint on the composition Of
| his missiles, and was not much luckler IN
| Batavia where Parsee juggler treated the
| Dutch residents to a novel mantanZa, or
| killing show, in the circus OF the old city
| bull-ring.
| ours which their owners. or captors had
brought along with the distinct understand
| ing that their entries would not survive the
| incidents Of the performance. with no
weapon but light stick possibly a tube
| some six feet long by one inch In diameter,
| the performer entered the arena, and then
| invited bis patrons to start their pets one at
a time. A lank hound, almost hairless with
mango, opened the festivities by making a
rush around the ring, but stopping short at
finding his way barred by the still lanker
professor, and retreated after displaying his
few remaining teeth. The necrOmancer
held his staff at arms length, still facing the
dog, who presently began to stagger, and
two minutes after had expired in eonTul-
sions. A second cur managed to run the
blockade by leaping over the extended stan,
but soon after began to show signs OF ulS-
tress, and before the end OF the third minute
had shared the fate OF his predecessor. Dog
after dog entered the ring In quick success
sion, some of them stopping in surprise and
shifting at the cOrpseS of their doomed fore
runners, but all finally approached the pos
SCISSOR of the fatal secret, or even snapped at
his naked shins, and not one of one thous-
and spectators saw him strike the fatal blow
or defend himself in any way suggesting
mechanical explanation of the uniform re-
suit. He would merely lift his staff with a
gesture or permit a blockade runner to
| touch it in darting by, but in no instance
| was there occasion for repeating that touch.
| The victims had hardly time to complete the
circuit of the ring before their gait under
went a peculiar change; they would drag
| themselves along and stagger or start as un-
| der a sudden blow, and then roll over and
| die in the commissions characterizing the ef-
| feets OF certain yhulent drugs. They had
| evidently been poisoned-but how? A post
mortem inquest failed to reveal as much as a
scratch or puncture. A poisoned arrow
| could not have entirely disappeared, while a
| gaseous poison would have betrayed itself by
| its odor or by It's effects on the person of the
| performer. After the conclusion of the ma
| tanZa MIR. Gerstaecker secured private in
| teryiew with the artist, and in vain offered
| him liberal indueement to explain the me-
| dus operandi of his trick. The Parsee SEEM
| ed brIbe-proOf, and at last took his tempter
| aside, and in q whisper guaranteed the result
| of his professional assistance II Mynheer
| should wish to try the efficacy OF his art by
| an experiment on two-legged subJect-the
| amount Of the proffered compensation hay-
| ing evidently suggested conjecture that the
| enterprising foreigner was contemplating the
removal. of some obnoxious fellow-biped.