The Yellowstone journal., 1894-10-05
MAGIC EXPLAINED.
THE STAR TRICKS OF HINDoo CON-
JuRERS MADE EASY.

Trotter Stevens Claims Is MiraculousIy
v Performed by Yogi Men.
The sleight of hand performances Of
Mr.. Maskelyne, remarkably clever
juggler, have excited great deal of in
terest in London. Not only are his
tricks skillfully done, but his explana-
tions of other tricks have attracted much
attention among a class Of men who
seldom visit the halls where feats Of this
sort are presented.
The Mail and Express recently pub
lished an article from the London Spec
tator in which the writer describes one
or two tricks which he saw in India
and which mystified him greatly. Here
is one, which, by the way, is described
by Thomas Stevens, the globe trotter,
who says that the Yogi men, who per-
form it, are aided by an occult force that
the world is as yet ignorant of.
A juggler placed cloth over the pave
ment Of the street, and presently he
removed it, and there was a mango
growing between the stones. "The jug
gler," adds the writer, lone of the he
reditary caste. did undoubtedly make a
leaf spring ont of the ground; did make
it grow into dwarf mango, and did
hand the mango from it to be eaten. 1t
| looked wonderful because of the appar-
ens simplicity of the juggler, but he per-
| formed his feat in four processes, and
between each he shook out his chudder,
or muslin wrapper, so that il passed for
an instant between the spectators and
/ the plant The writer had no doubt
then and has no doubt now that this
was done not to conceal anything, but
to distract attention momentarily; that
| the first leaf, the upgrowth of leaves,
| the dwarf mango and the mango on it
were all of wax or other carefully made
/ imitation, and that the whole miracle
was marvelously rapid sleight of hand"
To Americans who are interested in
this sort of thing this mystery is almost
amusing. 1t was exposed several years
ago by Kellar, the prestidigitateur. Four
or five years ago Kellar publicly offered
| 81, 900 TO any one who would perform
trick which he could not duplicate and
which he could not prove to be done by
wholly human aids A number of per-
SONS who had recently visited India i'm
mediately deluged him with descrip-
tions of this and other specimens of
oriental jugglery. OF course as they
could not perform the trick themselves
they did not compete for his money offer,
and therefore they were not publicly
answered.
|. Kellar, however, gave me personally
a full explanation not only Of these
tricks, but of several others which have
long baffied the cleverest Of the occi-
dental investigators. The magician has
spent more than 15 years of his profes-
sional life in India and the far east, and
he has closely studied the tricks of the
native jugglers with more or less profit
to himself This is how he explained
the mango or pineapple trick as nearly
as l can recall it:
1.-The first time l saw the mango
trick" said he, twas in Bombay in
1879 OF thereabouts, and the man who
did it was the most skillful conjurer
ever saw in India Even after / had
learned the secret of his illusion could
not help admiring its ingenuity and the
dexterity with which it was performed.
The juggler and his two comrades chose
spot before the Prince OF wales stat
ue ON the plaza. be first laid down
bag on the hard ground and then drew
from 1t a large bandanna handkerchief
Digging small hole in the ground
with one finger, he buried pineapple
seed, and over this he placed his hand
kerchief He carefully smoothed out
the cloth, rubbing swiftly from left to
right. After this maneuver was ended
he made several passes with his arms
over the handkerchief, while his com
rades beat industriously upon their
drums and blew upon their pipes
Suddenly, to my surprise, saw the
handkerchief begin to slowly rlse In the
center and gently sway from side to SIDE
- though plant were really sprouting
to life from the seed which he had
planted beneath the cloth When the
H.. H. NJ. II. - n