Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-05

" VI electrical And yet the
we're simply produced by an electric contriv-
ance, while at intervals, through the Same
agency. the sleeping beauty was observed to
start slightly a. il from dreaming, the lips
parting and the limbs contracting almost i'm
perceptibly. Inasmuch the flesh tints were
perfect the deception singularly complete.
But the illusion rendo red altogether aston
ishing by the fact that pinch or two Of what
seemed to be flesh of the image made evident
soft and yielding quality counterfeiting life
itself
1t is the task Of the wizard to supply counte =
feits OF life of all sorts for Uncle Sans great
Permanent show at Washington. The wonder
ful representations OF hdlviduals of various
races shown in the museum. Efe-like that
one is startled at coming upOn them. are his
work. There Is nothing he does not initiate,
from shell fish to diamond. for exhibition
purposes, and all so accurately that it is we'll
nigh impossible to distinguish the real from
the false.
An APPETIZING LUNCHEON.
he had table spread yesterday afternoon in
his laboratory not only with the commonplace
articles of ordinary diet but also with exotic
fruits and other Injuries such as are expensive
% purchase at this season. For instance, there
were Hamburg grapes, French artichokes,
Mandarin oranges, Brussels sprouts and plums
An appetiZiEg cold roast of underdone beef
panied by some stalks of green topped
celery In glass of water and a fresh loaf of
bread with pat of yellow butter. The STAR
reporter. being invited to partake Of the feast.
would have begun upon the bread and butter;
but. upon making the attempt. he amazed
20 find that they could not be eaten. What they
were made of the wizard declined to explain,
but at all events they were nos real.
The fruits were counterfeit; 50 we're the veg
etables, the water in the glass and even the
cold roast of uDderdOne beef. Not thing GU
the table was real Five Lynn Haven oysters
on the half shell at the newspaper mans
place looked though they had Just been
opened and tempted the palate with their juiei-
ness, but when he attempted to squeeze a
quarter of 3 lemon over them both lie mon and
oysters were discovered to be imitation. Ii
was a regular Barmecide repast, and the
wizard. far from apolOgiZing for his guests dis
appointment. simply lay back in his chair,
stroked his long white beard and laughed, en-
Ioying the tribute to his art.
DUMMY Mr.. SMITH.
'Let me introduce you to my assistant Mr.
Smith, he said indicating a middle-aged man
seated at table near the door, to whom the
visitor had spoken on entering, though re-
ceiving no reply.
The middle-aged man, who was busy stufing
. bird, did not look up in response to the in
PRODUCTION. This seemed surprising until close
inspection showed that Mr.. smith was only
dummy in workmAn's costume. with pair of
spectacles on and other equipments calculated
70 make the deception as com lete as possible
Positively IL appeared as IL nothing were real
IN this weird place; the notion even suggested
Itself that perhaps the wizard himself might
be only mechanical counterfeit The whole
noor OF the laboratory was Uttered with molds
of every conceivable size and shape. A great
case, with glass front, was filed with bottles
and jars Of mysterious chemicals, and all
around the walls we're hung with limitations Of
al manner of still-life objects so maryelously
executed that twas hard to conceive that they
were not real In one corner was the Apache
terror Geronimo, nearly finished for the mu-
scum, crouching in wait for an unsuspecting
white man. His face was admirably done from
photograph, and his arms and legs were cast
from real ones belonging to somebody else.
The sleeping beauty had likewise been cast in
sections from real woman.
THE SECRET COMPOSITION.
''The composition with which / make human
flesh and ali substances requiring softness to be
like nature is secret of my own" said the
wizard. ''YOu see that in this woman's arm IT
has ali the yielding elasticity Of flesh. Here is
this colled rattlesnake. i defy any one to tell
that il Is not real one, either bv sight or feel
ing A cast was first made from the original
snake IN the composition and the final oper-
atlon was the painting OF it. / give the natural
tints to whatever l produce with oil colors
The same composition that Is SO flexible in the
snake gives Its softness to this peach and to
these cherries. Here IS pineapple which no
amount of examination will enable you TO tell
from real one, l am sure. Its very sprouts
at the top, you see, are green and flexible. As
Tor leaves, have discovered a way of making
artificial leaves out of real ones SO that thew
are nature themselves and will nevertheless
last forever. Have cigar"
SOLD AGAIN.
The wizard took what looked exactly like
IN Havana off shelf in the same eup
board with the rattlesnake and offered il 70
The STAR man, who, being already on his
guard respectfully declined Whereupon the
wizard struck a match, lighted the weed and
pulled IL cOntentedly while be exhibited an ego
cut III half without shell that looked like real
but wasn't; some Tokay grapes that had been
cut out OF the composition with a knife he
cause IL was not possible to give them trans
iucency otherwise, and an 1904 cent which was
30 accurate a counterfeit in metal of the orig
inal that any collector in search of that $500
coin would be deceived. The wizard said thai
u was harmless counterfeit because he only
Kept II for a Curiosity: but the secret service
would doubtless grab il promptly did one OF
It's officers get sight of IL. j. W. Hindley Is the
wizards name, and he Is certainly wonderful
fellow.
BEHIND THE SCENES
The public at large never sees the most inter
esting part Of the National Museum, which ia
found in the workshops behind the scenes
~hefe the cQflosltles are made ready for exhi-
bltlon- Only next door to the wizards labora
tory is the place where all the animals for the
museum are stuffed and mounted tits oueer
kpot, the walls hung with plaster casts Of all
sorts OF beasts and fishes, including a small
whale ard several kinds Of porpoises. a gram
pus, portions OF moose, the head of a bear
Two legs OF a panther, the taIl OF a seal and
ever so many other such things, all OF them in
tended 20 serve ~ models in the preparation
OF stuffed creatures Not very many wears aoo
Few scientific men in the world had any definite
no,lon as TO what whale looked like in
nature. Many skeletons OF the huge mammal
had been obtained, but OF its annear-
ance while alive only very indis-
tinct idea was had by people who had
never seen one dead. But
<1< It happened on one fortu-
nate occasion that a real
60 whale % feet long was
thrown up on the beach at
| frovincetown, Me- Mr Pal
mer, then as now taxlder-
mist for the muse um started
without delay for Province
town with two assistants
Upon arriving there he pro-
| cured twelve barrels of
| plaster OF Paris and used il
ali up IN one day in making
~