Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-11-12
JUGGLERY IN INDIA.
A CHICAGO MISSIONARY TELLS OF
A WONDERFUL FEAT.

| from Nothing and Lowered TO the Earth
For the last twenty-seven years Bishop
York has been missionary among the Hin
docs. during which time he has not set foot
on other than Indian soil. He has penetrated
the depths of the jungles, distributing tract
and spreading the light among the wildes
and most heathenish tribes in all India Tt
a reporter the bishop said: During my STAY
in India was frequently in receipt Of books
papers and magazines from home, many o.
which contained what purported to be stories
of life in India.
To say that l was amazed at the lack o
truth and measerness OF detail In thos'
articles would but feebly express my opinion
on the subject. In all the articles there wa
something lacking, but the most glarins
omissions were made in stories Of native Hin
doc jugglery. By comparing my persona
experience with the published accounts | car
truthfully say that the Hindoo juggler is The
most grossly misrepreSented human being or
the face Of the earth. The writer was ethel
sadly lacking in descriptive power or h'
failed to give the poor Hindoo the benefit OF
the truth. The conjuring feats described
would do very well for bungling apprentice
juggler. but they don't do justice to the jour
neynlan juggler of India.
THE TRAVELLING JUGGLERS.
at was my good fortune to witness on
performance in this line which viii give you
a faint idea of what the Hindoo can do
Along about the lst Of April two other mis-
sionaries and myself stopped at the home OF
a friend on the outskirts of Delhi. After g
bounteous dinner Of fried chicken we repaired
with our host to the veranda Of the bunga
low to enjoy an after dinner cigar. While
in the midst of an animated religious discus
sion native sikh or leader appeared, fol
lowed by two attendants The sikh was the
scranniest, most consumptive looking speci
men | ever saw He was hollow eyed and
salIow, and wore no clothes except a turbar
and a scanty waist cloth. The attendants
seemed TO be enjoying better health, and each
carried a large bundle of bamboo poles tied
around the middle with bit of rope.
''That fellow said our host, ''is sleight
of hand man or juggler, and if you wish be
will perform some feats that will astonish
you"
We signified our desire to be astonished
whereupon the host signaled the juggler to
60 ahead with his show And l must say il
was the most marvellous affair Of the kind
ever saw.
Favoring us with q profound salaam the
sikh gave some directions in his native tongue
to the attendants, who carried their bundles
Of poles to an open space i'll front of the YER
anda. As far as we could see the entire out
fit consisted of those bamboo poles. They had
absolutely no stage mechanism or parapher-
MALTA employed by the civilized conjurer.
The sikh stood mutely by with folded arms
while his helpers went to work with the
poles, and in a remarkably short space of
time produced Light joilted ladder at least
eighty feet long with rungs one foot apart.
When the ladder was finished it was laid fat
on the ground, the two helpers taking their
place at one end and the sikh at the other.
Removing his turban the juggler, who was
at the bottom of the ladder, stood with his
heels On the ground and with the balls of his
feet resting on the extreme ends of the lad
der Then the helpers raised the other end
CT the ladder and moved rapidly toward their
chief raising the ladder up with their hands
as they came. In this manner the ladder
was placed in a perpendicular position at the
sl1his feet
THE BISHOPS STORY.
'"
lance and sat upon the ground, humming a
low, monotonous chant, to the music Of
which the juggler slowly mounted the ladder,
balancing it as he went. Keeping his eyes
fixed on the top he mounted step by step, re-
moving each rung with his toes as he climbed
and tucking them under his arms. Slowly
and steadily he mounted higher and higher
on his fraii support, while we scarcely dared
E. r l.. l..
The removal of the rungs caused the sides Of
the ladder to sway and bend in frightful
manner, but the marvellous dexterity Of the
juggler prevented them from falling.
On reaching the top the juggler pulled out
the last rung and then stood on the extreme
summit of the two Naked SO-foot poles. The
oscillations at first were terrible, but the
sikh had wonderful control of his legs, and
gradually decreasing the swaying motion, he
finally stood motionieSs as statue at that
dizzy height Then, at given signal, which
we didn't see, the attendants jumped up and
removed the two poles, laying them care
fully on the ground.
/ turned to our host, specifies with amaze
ment, but he only smiled and cautioned me
to be silent, pointing at the same time to the
juggler, still standing motionless eighty feet
in the air. l had seen some Juggling myself,
but never anything like that
While we were gazing spellbound at this
uncanny phenomenon a dense blue mist en-
veloped the juggler. Immediately after a
low, believing sound was heard and a mo-
ment later half grown live giraffe at the
end of stout rope was lowered rapidly to the
ground Before we could recover from our
astonishment the rope was hauled up and the
next instant the mate of the first giraffe slid
out OF cloudless sky. | was never a believer
in the supernatural, but at that moment l
felt the presence Of an unseen power While
l was wondering what would come next the
juggler slid down, and while he tied the
giraffes' necSs together in q bow knot the
helpers hauled the rope down and made neat
coil of it
Then the sikh informed US that he was much
fatigued and wished to rest himself before
proceeding with the next trick. Permission
being given by our host, the juggler at once
fell into d0ze standing erect on his feet
While the helpers We're digging q hole to be
used in the next trick heavy rain storm
came up, which indefinitely postponed the re-
mainder OF the performance.-Chicago Times
Jason Was All Right.
The citizens OF TaylorsvIle, Neb., recently
tarred and feathered Old Jason Mitchell, and
then rode him on rail Instead of reseurinS