Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-09-13

way put Tho juggers on their feet once moro
around Washington az a source of CONVERSE
tionai topics Il seems that tho main interest
In all of these accounts that have drifted
across two continents and a wide ocean of
these tricks most of which have como to be
settled az classic centers in that one in which
the juggler throws into the air a ball of Irvine,
up which a boy climbs, the end that has been
thrown up having no visible support whatever.
the boy climbing until out of sight whereupon
Ee reappears a few moments later in the midst
OF the crowd of spectators.
such tricks az this. and that of growing the
mango tree in n Few minutes III sight OF the
crowd and OF thrustinG O sword into basket
into which boy has been placed the youngster
bong afterward found safe and sound some
where else. have aroused the most intense
curiosity among the peoples Of all civilized
nations, and especially the English and Amerl-
cans. and steps have been taken again and
again, by folks both on this side of the water
and on the other. to the end that the secret of
the phenomena might be discovered and the
trick exposed, but i'll vain. Scientific men have
searched for reasons why such things should
be and have found none. Travellers who
thought themselves particularly smart have
tried to PRIV into the mysteries and have seen
nothing more than If they had remained
passive. In fact SO many unsuccessful attempts
have been made to solve the problem that
many folks have come to the conclusion that
the best explanation of the matter is that some
OF these tricks, the most difficult of them. are
not really performed. and that they are mere
travellers tales that have. by reason of con-
slant repetition. become accepted rs facts
THE STORY DOUBTED.
The first apparently actual personal account
of an eye witness came from Chicago and
doubt has been thrown on this story from
many sources. For instance. an editorial writer
in the Hartford C0,raHt, of the date of August
-. states that there was never such q man
graduated from Yale College as Frederick s.
Etmore, who Is alleged to have been IAN ST
Yale man." and who did the kodaking on the
scene of the trick, while his companion, Mr..
Geo. Lessing-who was not Yale man either
although the article so described EInl-made
pencil sketches. 1t may be remembered tina.
these two men tried to discover the fact OF
whether or not there was rope in the air
ana boy climbing up it. and to do this they
took simultaneous PICTURESQUE with his pen
Gil and the other with his camera-which did
not agree, the important feature of their Diff
ference being that in the sketch there was q
boy and in the photograph there was none.
whcreupon the investigators. SO the story runs.
concluded that the whole thing was the result
OF hypnotism. the juSg.er making his audi
ence believe that the trick was performed.
MR.. RoCKHILL's OBSERVATION.
A STAR reporter had an interesting chat the
other evening on the subject of these tricks
with Mr.. W. W. Rockhill, who recently re-
turned to this city from an extensive tour
through China, Mongolia and Thibet, during
which he gathered a huge fund of information
regarding the peoples Of these strange lands.
Nr. Rockhill said at the start that he vas more
familiar with the tricks of the Chinese jugglers
than those of India, but that the two classes
were practically the same in the nature of tho
tricks performed, which seem to be unvary-
ingly similar in all of these regions
IL do not think that the story Of the Chicnoo
young man ID to be taken without any doubt"
he said for il does not seem to be wholly ac-
curate. For instance, the theory of hypnotism
Is quite absurd, for in all the accounts that
have come to us of this trick the spectators
were gathered together from all quarters with
out warning and were composed Of all sorts of
people IL is an established fact that ONLY a
certain proportion Of the human race is sus-
ceptlble to the hypnotic influence, and it
would be little too much to ask us to believe
that any one could SO hypnotic fifty or hun
dred persons. or even greater numbers gath
cred from the roadsides and inns and shops on
the way without any preselection. once hearda
distinguished scientific authority say that he
thought good many OF these tricks could be
accounted for by the fact that jugglers have
admitted to him that they could SO fascinate
= the attention OF their audience on some object
sucn as their right hand. that with their left
they could without the least chance of detec-
ton. take anything they wished from their
pockets. any article that might be necessary to
perform the trick. OF course this is simply a
high degree of skill in drawing the attention of
the spectators away from the real object of in
terest and has no reference TO hypnotism.
THE RoPE-CLIMBISG TRICK.
81 have very grave doubts whether this trick
Of climbing the rope is really performed.
either in India or China. / have never seen
any one who has actually seen it done. nor have
ever read Of any one having seen it without
there being some reason to doubt their word
fol will lind many people in China who say
that they, or their brothers. and possibly their
friends. have been told by travellers that the
trick Is done, but everything is at second hand
think that the whole thing started from the
remark of an old Arabian traveller who passed
through China about a thousand years ago
whose writings have been preserved. lie mon
tons this trick having been actually per-
formed and from his account have. most likely
grown all the Others. II was probably a sort Of
myth OF that time. There Is other literature
Oh the subject but not at all definite.