Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1890-12-31
They Swallow Fire.

brow, fre-eating is one that it would
seem but few people would adopt
But for years and years people with
cast-iron palates and brazon plated
lips and tongues, have exhibited their
peculiar abilities for stipend. AT
the present time, in this country, there
are half-dozen men and women who
90 about from dime museum to varie-
ty hall, and from variety hall to store
show, and astonish the natives. All
these people do seemingly the most
wonderful things, and as the business
is difficult to learn, their numbers are
limited.
The present corps of fiery enter
tainers have, however, been lately
augmented by a brother and sister.
whose ability in that line puts every
thing in the shade ever seen here.
They are known on the bills as Earle
and Ollie Salambo, and are further
dignifed for show purposes, as the
"Human Electrical Dynameters. >
The Salambos touch each other with
their fingers and produce sparks; they
open their mouths and stream of
of flame two feet long issues from
them if they bnt touch their lips with
the ends of their fingers; they swal-
low boiling wax and blow sparks
showers of sparks-from the end of
hollow glass tube; they take glass
pipe with four gas jets on it, and by
the simple process of putting an end
in the mouth and drawing their hands
across the gas jets, four good-sized
flames burst into brilliancy.
1t was only steady practice and
constant coating of their mouths and
hands and soles of their feet with
solution, and the business was COM
paratively easy, and they really did
not swallow anything at all. Each
performer has his own recipe for the
solution he drinks and rinses his
mouth and hands with, but the princi-
pal ingredients of it in each case re-
main the same. When the mouth is
rinsed in that, it forms a sort of an
artificial skin or film that it takes a
little while to destroy, and as long as
that coating remains there is absolute
ly no danger, and the rest of their
tricks are nothing but delusion, and
in most cases sleight-of-hand.
There is one performer who is known
in museum circles as the Human
Lamp" and he, makes lots of money
by doing his act. He drinks some
kerosene oil, in view of the audience,
puts wick in his mouth, lights the
wick with match, puts lamp-chim-
ney over the flame and burns merrily
away. On his stand is lamp half
filled with oil. From the can he
pours what purports to be oil in the
lamp. 1t is not. 1t is water, and of
course the oil already in the lamp
floats on top of the water. Then he
lights the oil to prove what he poured
out was oil. He gravely drinks from
the oil-can, puts a wick saturated with
sweet oil in his mouth, lights the wick,
and there you are. Very simple, is
it not?
Now there is another gentleman
who walks on red-hot bars, and seiz-
ing horseshoe heated red.hot in a
forge near by, bites the heated ends
off, and pretends to swallow them.
He is not so much of a trickster as
the Human Lamp" and really earns
all the money he gets, for, although
his bare feet are coated with a sui
phric solution and his mouth and lips
we'll plastered with the same, it is real
hard work to bite pieces Of iron in
halves, even if the heat makes them
soft and pliable, and if they are kept
in the mouth too long, in spite Of the
film, they are very hot and uncomfort-
able indeed. This gentleman calls
himself st. Elmo, and another part of
his performance is to take oakum balls
saturated with blazing pitch, in his
mouth, a half-dozen in succession.
And that trick gets more applause
than the biting of the horse shoe, but
it is very easy of accomplishment, be-
cause the minute you put fire in a
place where there is no air it immed-
lately goes out, and so the instant st.
Elmo closes his mouth the fire is
quenched in the blazing ball, and all
there is about it is the disagreeable
taste of the oakum ball and a little
warmth, which may not be pleasant,
but can be borne for $50 week.
Another trick of the fire-eaters is to
take piece of cotton and put it in
their mouths, and then open their
mouths and blow smoke and streams
of fire out. Every child or almost
every child, knows that if you put
spark in the center of ball of cotton
and blow through it, the fire will eat
all the center out, leaving the mere
shell.
There is companion performer to
tha UHupan Topnv knowu aorno-