Wichita eagle., 1889-09-05
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z. ally Eagle
THE -JTGGLERS OF INDIA.
WONDERFUL TRICKS PERFORMED BY
THE HlNDOO WIZARDS.

BkiIlfrI sleight-of-Hand Exhibitions Which
Puzzle Careful watchers-The Aston,sh-
ing Basket Trick-Deadly Cobras Han
died by the Wizards.
Delightful India is the land of Nine Blavat-
sky, of Mr.. Isaacs and of the Eight Of Asia"
1t is here that the esoteric Buddhists look for
their instruction, and many of the theosophi-
cal societies of America have Indian teachers,
with whom they correspond and from whom
they expect to get some Of that wonderful
sweetness and light which is supposed to exist
in its purest form in this land of mystical
thought Through them they would learn
how to annihilate space, to disembody their
souls for the moment and send them on
aerial errands to other parts Of the world
They would master that wonderful conceu-
tration Of soul which enables its pOssessor to
dissolve matter into the elements from which
1t was made bv a word, and by another
word s1Pre-sto! to turn il beck into the solid
OF liquid form, from which they have decom-
posed it,
One OF them who Is now travelling IN India
and searching for the masters tells me he has
heard Of Indian theosophists VINO, by a waive
OF the hand, can change glass OF water into
the oxygen and hydrogen of which it il
formed, and by the same motion dissolve thu
glass particles into their original elements
Another waive and the glass containing the
water reappears before your eyes just as full
and in exactly the same condition as it wac
before. | asked this man whether he had
seen such a miracle performed. de replied,
'No, and upon further conversation L found
that he had as yet sen nothing which could
be called supernatural
- have had several talks with the masters, :"
said he and have been told that / would
receive a manifestation. 1t may come within
few days, and it may nat come for u week,
and hope there viii be no natural law that
VIII prevent it. l viii wait in India until |
receive it"
This was three weeks ago, and at last ac-
counts the man was waiting yet.
THE GENUINE BASKET TRICK
Let me give you picture Of an Indian
jugglerl One stands outside nay hotel win
dow as ! write. He is performing his tricks
in the dusty road without a table, cabinet,
patent boxes, or any of the Accomplishments
OF the American wizard HIS sole possessions
consist OF three small baskets, ranging in size
from half peck to a bushei, a couple of
cloths and tripod made of three sticks, each
two feet long and held together by a string
AT the top. Three little wooden dolls with
rel cloths tied around their necks and each
not over foot long, are the gods which en-
able him to do wonderful things He has a
flute il MS mouth and a little drum in his
hand. He IS black faced and black bearded,
and his shirt sleeves are pulled up above his
elbows. His only assistant is a little turbaned
boy, who sits beside him, whom he viii shortly
put into a basket not more than two feet
square, and with him viii perform the noted
basket trick Of India.
This trick is one OF the wonderful Juggling
tricks OF the world The boys hands are
tied and he is put into a net, which is tied
over his head and which incloses his whole
body 50 that he apparently cannot move.
He Is now crowded into this basket. The lid
is put down and tight straps are buckled
over it. The juggler now takes a sword and
with a few passes of these little Hindoo doll
babies over it and the mUttering OF incanta-
tons as a preliminary, thrusts the sword
again and again into the basket. There is q
CRYING as though some one was in terrible
pain. Ii Is the voice OF a child and the
sword comes out bloody. You hold your
breath, and did you not know it to be a
trick you would feel Ike bouncing upon the
man After a moment the basket becomes
scll the jIgEler makes a few more passes,
unbuc1les the straps and shows Won that
there is nothing within it. He calls "Babai
Labal7 and in the distance you hear the
childs voice How the boy got out of the
basket or escaped being killed by the sword
Ind where the blood came from do not know.
/ only know it was a sleight-of-hand per
formance and wonderfully well done.
THREE DEADLY SNAKES.
He has dozen other slei-ht-of-hand per
formances equally as wonderful Ee puts q
little shell into his mouth and appears tc
choke as he draws out coin after coin and
balls OF stone almost as biz around as your
fist He splits fire, does the American
wizard, pulls miles of string from his stomach,
sticks pins through his tongue without hurt-
ing himself, and ends the performance with a
snake trick, which is TO me the most wonder
ful OF all
In doing this snake trick he asks for piece
of paper and asks you TO hold out your hand.
Nou 60 so and he places the paper upon it.
He then begins to play upon his pipe and &c
dart out his eyes as though he saw something
near your hand. His whole frame becomes
transformed and he dances around you like a
wizard, playing ali the time and keeping his
ewes on your hand Now he starts back and
points at it. You look and see nothing and
he begins to play louder and dance wilder
than ever Remember his arms are bare &c
the elbow and both Of his hands are upon MS
pipa Suddenly he drops the pipe and con
tluues his dance with incantations. HepOiuts
to the paper again and while YOU look and
see nothing he c.aps his hand down upon il
and pulls Up three great cobras, which raise
their hooded heads and dart out their fangs
in different directions, and squirm and wriggle
as he holds them up before you. You jump
back, for the bite OF the cobra is deadly. and
am told that the snakes used have in some
cases not had their fangs drawn
\ jurgier was killed in Benares BY the bite
of cobra which he was using IN this way,
and they are the most terrible snakes l have
ever seen. AT another performance Of this
same kind was present wl,h party OF four.
and we all decided 10 ascertain, if we could,
how this trick WAS done. l stood upon a chair
and overlooked the man As he snatched up
the snakes. but ! could not see where they
came from and | only know that he had them
and that they were 80 big that he crowded
them with difficulty into little round basket
the size Of peck meaSure.-Frank u. Car
penter's Bombay Letter.
Shirt of True Science.
The man who recognizes fully the hn1ita-
tions Of medicine Is the safest and most prac-
teal adviser The time Is fast approaching
when hygienic and preventive medicine must