Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-30
THE CONJURER,s CALLING.
Some Of its Interesting and Dangerou
Aspects.

/ O00Q0r0u0
| Aspects.
From the London telegraph.
Who il there with the true conjurer's instinct
that has not Rloried in the triumphs achieved
by the srchillusionist Robert Houdin over the
wandering Bedouin tribes with his daring feat
Of catching marked balls IN his mouth fred
from their guns, and the profound respect he
inspired with his celebrated trick Of the heavy
box, which he could lift with one hand, and
which half dozen of the strongest chiefs
could not stir? Ere now the conjurer has been
q civilizing or at all events, an awe-inspiring
influence over the savage races. and travellers
tell US OF the profoun reverence awakened by
! such simple device that Of taking out and
replacing a single false tooth. or truth, the
successful conjurer, with his pleasant ways,
| nice sense Of courtesy, tucked-up sleeves and
dainty little wand, or 'baguette," is An enviable
being.
Legerdemain, however, has its dangerous
and difficult side, and, though it is a maxim
| with proper professors Of the craft, ''Neyer be
| found out" the failure Of a trick has brought
| disgrace and disaster on the unhappy per-
former who slips or stumbles in his magic
| manipulatlons. Confederates-now rarely
used-have been known to play their master
! false and disappear with valuable watches when
| they ought to have been busily engaged in in
| sorting them in loaves or oranges behind the
|
| and wriggle out OF awkward places at untoward
| moments, and it often happens that individual
| members Of rough audiences fail exactly to see
| the fun OF the thing and develop tendency to
| spoil the show. huge negro some time ago
| flew into passion when a lost watch and a Sc
lect assortment Of guinea pigs aud white mice
| were extracted from various portions Of his
| person, and in his wrath went for the pro-
| lessor, who had to palm himself off with more
rapidity than dignity through back door,
oil A.
| effect that when performing a card trick
| which concludes brilliantly by firing off five
selected cards from pistol and impaling the
| same on the five points of magic star the
miserable weapon missed fire thrice consecu-
lively. 1t was far vest audience. and the
| temporary failure grated on the fine nerves of
| young cowboy in the back rows. who simply OBJ
| served: Guess can shoot darned sight better
nor that, mister" and firing off his six-shooter
| at the magic star smashed it to pieces. Few
con- urers, professional or amateur, are with
| out more or less humorous anecdotes concern
| ing threatened disaster, and telling how. bv
| ingenious 'patter" or the neat diversion of
| the attention of the audience to another
channel, they averted SYNONYMOUS defeat; but
| there are cases, 1t seems, when no
amount of ingenuity-not even the absolutely
| last resource of throwing ones self on the
mercy and indulgence of the audience-will
protect discounted wizard from rebuke
worse than jeers of derision. OF this nature ia
| the conjuring story which comes to us from
| the royal court Of Madagascar, and it may
serve as judicious warning to all prestidigita-
teurs who propose to practice their craft in
sub-equatorial islands governed by queens
where the laws OF etiquette touching the royal
| person are exceptionally severe. and tine tradi-
tlons OF the taboo" yet inger in spite of mis-
sionaries and resident generals, rum and to-
| bacco and other products of European civiliza-
| ton.
To the court Of her gracious majesty. Queen
Ranarabona ii, q lady of considerable culture,
came q creole conjurer, and as he had, no
| doubt, in common with all conjurers, per-
| formed before "all the crowned heads of Eu-
| rope" the Queen OF Madagascar gave him
| kindly audience and babe him amuse her faith
| full courtiers and her royal self. The first part
| OF the performance, 1t is to be presumed, went
off successfully. At last this creole Cagliostro
waxed bold and invited her majesty to taste
| the contents of glass Of water which, by a
touch of his wand, he had converted into a rare
old Malaga OF choice vintage. Here he made
| his first false step, for he evidently had not
studied the early history of the Hovas and
| knew not that they were addicted in the old
days to idolatry, fetichsm, witchcraft and divi-
nation; that not SO long ago they believed in
the ordeal by the celebrated tangena poison,
| prohibited, with other barbarous rites, by
the Anglo Malagasy treaty of 1866, and, above
all, that they held the person of their queen
as something exceptionally sacred. 1t was
consequently explained to the dusky professor
by the prime minister that 1t was not etiquette
| for the queen to drink in public. The profess
sor reiterated his demand with unbecoming in
sistence. The queen positively declined to
touch the enchanted Malaga, and then sud
denly, as the bystanders imagined, flying into
mt OF passion, the ill-mannered necromancer
| hurled tho contents Of the glass into her
majesty's royal lap.
The awful improperly Of his conduct soon
dawned on him and he recognized too late that
he had violated one of the laws of the mysteri-
Gus taboo" which is still hereditary on the
island, not to speak Of the amazing discourtesy
OF the action The court rose at him, the
queen probably screamed or tainted and we
hear with small wonder that ''the affair created
tremendous excitement" OF course. all con-
jurers, small and great are quite familiar with
the g lass Of water and rose leaves trick" some
| times performed with the substitution of a
shower OF bran for the blossoms. and any one
with shilling or two to spare can learn how 1t
Is done" at any respectable toy shop. Doubt
less any breach Of etiquette, any objectionable
'lese majestic" was far from the conjurer's
mind but it was too late to explain The mis-
chief was done and not all the power of this
daring .'dealer in magic and spells availed
him at that fearful crisis. The direful news
had spread abroad like wildfre; the populace
assembled in their thousands opposite the pal
ace and demanded his immediate execution-if,
indeed, the government were opposed to hand
ing him over to be dealt with by lynch law,
In his despair the helpless sorcerer, who does
not appear to have had even "a penny CURSE
about him handy, appealed, not to the ''Resi-
dent DIM" as MI. John Wellington Wells would
have DONE bnt to the resident general, for pro-
lection. That official kindly took the unwise
wizard under his wing addressed the popuace,
and after a considerable period the wrath of
the people subsidod they yielded to entreaty
and advice and finally went home. The con-
jurer was Struggled off to his quarters and
next day, sadder and wiser man. sought fresh
woods and pastures new. No doubt the bitter
lesson will last him his lifetime, teaching him
that, with all the license allowed to professors
OF his craft, there are circumstances under
which even conjurers cannot '.play tricks"
with impunity.