Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-01-26
Wonderful Tricks of Modern Magicians.

ana ground Oll-ceke occasionally added
will give profitable variety to the food
Wonderful Tricks of Modern Magicians
When Frederick Gerstaecker accom-
panied the Duke of Coburg to eastern
Africa, the incognito of his sovereign
friend was dropped at Cairo, where a
German banker treated them to dinner
of fatherland fare, followed by an ex-
hibition of local talent; fife concerts,
Arabian dances, aud legerdemain. The
exponent of the latter accom- plishment
produced a copper dice box and repeat
eddy emptied it on the carpet, alternat-
ing his throws with predictions that were
lost upon the foreigners; but after
series of preliminaries invited his audi
Ance to an open terrace, and in the plain
light of the evening sun flung up a mum
Der of transparent balls that disappeared
at an apparent heighth of some eighty
feet above the foot of the esplanade. The
globules were colorless and pelucid like
white glass, but as light as gum, and
were repeatedly submitted to the exami
nation of the spectators. After passing
from hand to hand they were put in an
open vessel, shaped somewhat like a
short-handled dipper, ana leaning back
till his outstretcheo arm nearly touched
the ground, the wizard flung them
straight up in the air, where they could
be seen giiJtering for moment like
icicles or large glass balls. But nobody
ever saw them fell down again, though
the scene of the ex pertinent was surround
ed by large, level lawn; the air seemed
to have swallowed them like globes of
dissoiv ng vapor. Gould they have evap-
GRATED or exploded into a spray of min
ute particles latter the manner of "Prince
Rupert's dropsD? A sleight-of- hand
trick was clearly out of the question, but
more tenable explanation of the phe-
nomenon would have puzzled chemist as
much as an optician. Gerstaecker tried
in vain to bride the wizard into hint on
the composition of his missels, and was
not much luckier in Batavia, where a
Parsee juggler treated the Dutch resi-
dents to novel matapza, or killing show
in the circus of the old city bull ring.
His victims were a number of worth
less ours which their owners or captors
had brought along with the distinct I'M
derstand1ng that their entries would not
survive the incidents of the performance.
With no weapon but a slight stick (pos-
sibly a Iube) some six feet long by an
inch in diameter, the performer entered
the arena, and then invited his patrons to
start their pets, one at time. lank
hound, almost hairless with mango open
ed the festivities by making a rush |
around the ring, but stopped short on
finding his way barred by the still tanker
professor, and retreated after displaying
his few remaining teeth. The NEGRO |
mancer held his staff at arms length, |
still facing the dog, Who presently began
to stagger, anc two minutes after had |
expired in convulsions A second cur
managed to run the blockade by leaping
over the extended staff, but soon after
began to show signs of distress, and |
before the end of the third minute had
shared the fate of his predecessor. Dog
after dog entered the ring in quick sue
cesslon, some of them stopping in sur
prise and shifting at the corpses of their
doomed forerunners, but ali finally ap-
preached the possessor of the fatal
secret, or even snapped at his naked
shins, and not one of the thousand spec
tators saw him strike a direct blow or
defend himself in any way suggesting
mechanical explanation of the uniform
result. He would merely lift his stag
with g menancing gesture or permit a
blockade gunner TO touch it in passirg by,
but in no instance was there occasion for
repeating the touch. The victims had
hardly time to complete the circuit of
the ring before their gait underwent a
peculiar change; they would drag them
selves along and stagger, or start as
under sudden blow, then roll over and
die in the commissions character1zing the
effects of certain vIrulent drugs. A
poisoned arrow could not have encirely
disappeared, while a gaseous poison
would have betrayed itself by its odor or
by its effects on the person of the per-
former. After the conclusion of the
matanza, Mr.. Gerstaecker secured a
private interview with the artist, and in
vain offered him libel al inducement to
explain the modus operandi of his trick.
The Parsee seemed bride proof, but at
last took his tempter aside, and in a
whisper guaranteed the res ults of his
professional assistance if Mynheer should
wish TO try the efficacy of his art by al
experiment on two legged subject
the amount of the proffered compensa-
ton having evidently suggested a con-
lecture that the enterprising foreigner
was contemplating the removal of some
obnoxious fellow biped.
Story of the DahIia.
No flower of the garden blooms more
profusely and beautifully this fall than
the dahila The plant was found in