The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1888-12-15

GEendO,0er-'I can call spirits from the vastly
Deep
Hotspv-"Why, so can 1; or so can any man:
But will they come, when you do
call for them?"
Henry ", Part l., ill.,, 1.
Preternaturalism is the word-and
very good one, though it is not in the
dictionary-which have used for
many years to describe certain Curl
Gus effects which never fail to interest
my audience, both old and young, and
though by nc means supernatural, are
about as near to it as mortals can ap-
proach. Indeed, when | allow my
hands to be tied behind my back so
tightly that it seems impossible for me
to use them, many persons question
whether or some concealed confed-
crate produce the sights and sounds
that occur behind the screen where, in
lieu of cabinet" am seated. Yet
it is trickery, pure and simple. Not
so simple as to be seen through, yet so
simple that, knowing how, any one
may do it.
1t is now about thirty years since the
Davenport Brothers first introduced
the rope-tying trick, and so cleverly
did they do it that to this day the Sc
cret is known to very few. As they
did it, the audience were allowed to do
the tying, and the brothers were found
as tightly tied after the ''manifesta-
tionsn as before.
| have never met more than two So
called explanations of the trick. In one
theperformer by means of slip-bnots ties
himself so that he can either free him
self or fasten the knots anew at pleas
ure and in moment. In the other,
the audience do the tying, and the
performer merely wriggles himself
out of the rope, without any attempt to
replace it or the knots. just how he
does this is described in a so-called
Explanation of the Davenport Trick"
sold in England some years ago at the
modest price of guinea, copy of
which l have preserved, and reproduce
here for the benefit of my readers:
''Place your hands upon your knees
and sit upright in the chair, expand
ing the chest as much as possible. 1t
matters not how tightly you may be
bound at any part of the body, or how
many knots may be tied around you;
the whole secret depends upon the
wrists, and the means you adopt to re-
lease your hands; for when the hands
are released, the rope, being in one
length, may be shaken from you with
out single knot being united.
I'm order to release the hands,
place them upon the knees with the
lists clinched, using great muscular
effort, which will expand the veins,
and prove a resisting power to the
rope when it is fastened round the
wrists. Take no notice of any knot
that may be tied until the operator
comes to the wrists, then use as great |
a resisting power as you can, without !
being observed, against the side on
which the rope is fastened, and the
are alone Tin a room or cabinet), place I!
your thumb and little finger under the |
palm Of the hand, and you will find no
difficulty whatever in drawing the |
hand through the rope, which being
accomplished, the other hand is |
readily released, and you are at liberty
to make any manifestations with |
musical instruments, etc.
1t will be seen that these methods |
are entirely different from the Daven-
known even among professional con-
iurers, but as these gentlemen found |
it necessary, for the sake of their rep |
utations, to exhibit something akin |
to it. they invented and substituted |
similar effects quite clever in their
way. These too have been so care
fully guarded that, so for as / am
aware, the secret has never been laid |
bare.
In this paper l propose to explain
how some of these are done, selecting
those produced without the aid of
mechanical contrivances as not only
the most ingenious, but decidedly the |
best. shall begin with that known
as The Sentry-Box, favorite trick |
of Robert Heller, and still used by |
Maskelyne and Cooke, the London con-
jurers.
The main piece of apparatus con-
sists of ali Oblong box, about four feet
nine inches long, eighteen inches wide,
and twenty inches deep. Having made
or procured such box, stand it up
right, and about eighteen inches from
the ground end fasten partition
board to serve as a seat for the per-
former. 1t should be nailed firmly to
the sides and back (bottom) of the box,
aud be supported by cleats. About
four or five inches above this seat two !
gimlet-hOles must be bored about an |
inch apart, so that they-will be on a
line with the performers hands if held |
behind his back while seated. The |