Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-01-14
WONDERFUL MAGICIANS.
TRICKS OF AFRICAN AND PARSEE
SORCERERS.
on the Eastern and Dark
Continents.

" hen Frederick GerStaecker accom-
panied the Duke Of Coburg to Eastern
Africa, the incognito of his sovereign
friend was dropped at Cairo, where Ger
man banker treated them to a dinner OF
fatherland fare, followed by an exhibition
of local talent-ffe concerts, Arabian
dances and legedermain. The exponent Of
the latter accomplishment produced cop
per dice-box and repeatedly emptied it on
the carpet alternating his throws with
predictions that were lost upon the foreign
ers; but, after series Of preliminaries,
invited his audience to an open terrace.
and in the plain light of the evening sun
flung up number of transparent balls
that disappeared at an apparent hight OF
some eighty feet above the foot of the es-
planade. The globes were eolorless and
pellucid like white glass, but as light as
gum, and were repeatedly submitted to the
examination of the spectators.
After passing from hand to hand they
were put IN an open vessel, shaped some
what like short-handled dipper and lean
ing back till his outstretched arm nearly
touched the ground, the wizard then flung
them straight up in the air, where they
could be seen glittering for moment like
icicles or large glass pears. 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 dis
solving vapor. Could they have evapor-
ated or exploded into a spray of minute
particles latter the manner of prince Ru-
pert's drops?) A sleight-of-hand trick
was clearly out Of the question, but a more
tenable explanation Of the phenomenon
would have puzzled chemist as much as
an optician. Gerstaecker tried in vain to
bride the wizard INTO hint on the COM
position of his missiles, and was not
much luckier in Batavia, where Parsee
juggler treated the Dutch residents to a
novel aaatanza, or killing-show, in the cir
Gus of the old city bull-ring.
His victims were number of worthless
ours which their owners or captors had
brought along with the distinct under
standing that their entries would not sur
vive 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 his patrons to start their
pets, one at time. A lank hound. almost
hairless with mango, opened the festivities
by making 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 necromancer held his staff at arms
length, still facing the dog which pres
emily began to stagger, and two minutes
after had expired in commissions. A sec
ond 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 success
sion, some of them stopping in surprise
and shifting at the corpses of their doomed
forerunners, but all finally approached the
possessor of the fatal secret, or even
snapped at his naked shins, add not one of
the thousand spectators saw him strike a
direct blow or defend himself in any way
suggesting a mechanical explanation of the
uniform result. He would merely lift his
staff with a menacing gesture, or permit a
blockade runner to touch it in darling 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
underwent peculiar change; they would
drag themselves along and stagger, or start
as under sudden blow, then roll over and
die in the commissions characterizing the
effects of certain virulent drugs. They
had evidently been poisoned but how ?
4 post-mortem inquest failed to reveal as
much as Il scratch or 4 puncture A pois-
oned arrow could not have entirely disap-
peared, while a gaseous poison would have
betrayed itself by its odor or by its effects
on the person Of the performer. After the
conclusion of the matd3lza, Mr. Gerstaecker
secured a private interview with the artist,
and in vain offered him liberal induce
ment to explain the modus operandi OF his
trick. The Parsee seemed bribe-proof, but
at last took his tempter aside, and in 4
whisper guaranteed the results Of his pro-
fessional assistance if Mynheer should wish
to try the efficacy of his art by an expert
ment on two-legged subject-the amount
of the preferred compensation having evil
IDENTIFY suggested conjecture that the
enterprising foreigner was contemplating
the removal of some obnoxious fellow
biped.-Felir Osrald in Cosmopolitan.