The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-07-12
CONJURERS' CLOTHES.
Garments That Are Used to De-
ceive the Public.
The Stylish Dress Coat OF tho Modern
Mystifier Is Made with Plenty of
Pockets for the Conceaiment
of His Apparatus.

suppose that everybody under
stands that conjurer depends consid-
erably on his costume for assistance
in performing many of his most mysti-
! flying tricks. The old-fashioned con-
| jurer had an easy time OF it. He was
artful enough to appear in some fancy
costume which enabled him to conceal
anything from frying-pan down to a
fve-cent piece.
But the modern public, says a
writer in the New York World, is too
wide awake to stand that sort of
thing, and nowadays up to date ar
lists must appear in the conventional
evening dress of civilization. Fortu-
nately. the swallow-tail coat is so cut
as to lend considerable assistance to
one who has to hastily prodnce or con-
ceal any article he may want at the
moment, and taking advantage of this
the conjurer provides himself with
from nine to a dozen extra pockets.
Two pockets are at the back Of the
trousers on level with the knuckles,
these, of course, are carefully hidden
by the coat tails. The swallow-tail is
thus serviceable in concealing watches,
cards, handkerchiefs or anything it
may be necessary to put away hastily.
The tails of the coat themselves
contain four little pockets; the left
hand flap of the breast coat contains
large pocket used for what is known
as loading large objects, and such
conjurers as still perform with live
animals Tan extremely cruel practice,
by the way conceal them here.
The vanishing bird trick (which, I
regret to say, kills great number of
caDaries) is performed by means of
accessories in which the costume plays
q part. The bird cage itself is made
to collapse into cigar-shaped tube.
The center of the cigar shape is natur-
ally fatter than at the ends, and, if the
bird is fortunate, it is secreted there
and may come out of the ordeal alive.
Should, however, the bird get at either
end it is crushed to death, or should
the legs get through the bars they are
almost certain to be broken.
conjurer once told me he had
done the trick two hundred times with
one bird, but l should very much
doubt it. What happens is this: The
bird cage is rapidly hooked to the end
of piece of whipcord, which passes up
the sleeve and across the body of the
performer, and then down the other
sleeve where it is tied to the wrist. It
will thus be seen that the cord is con-
siderably shorter than will be required
to stretch from each end of the arms
if they are extended.
The cage, being in the performers
hand, is rapidly compressed and made
to assume its cigar-like form, and is
dragged up the arm at lightning speed
by the simple process of extending the
two arms.
This very simple trick has puzzled
millions OF people. 1t is performed so
rapidly that even if you closely watch
the conjurer | doubt if you will know
what he is doing.
Afterwards the conjurer usually
pretends to find the bird in the audi
ence. As matter of fact he takes an
other bird out of his pocket. and by
one of the simple lodges of conjuring
appears to take it from some ones |
neck or head, or some other convenient |
place.