The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1894-10-03
MAGIC EXPLAINED.
THE STAR TRICKS OF HINDOO CON-
JURERS MADE EASY.

The Mango Trick Explained by KeIIar, the
Magician-It Is the Same Which Globe
Trotter Stevens Claims Is MiraculOusly
Performed by Yogi Elem.
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 mystifed 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 mango
growing between the stones. 1.-The jug
gler." adds the writer, "one Of the he
reditary CASTE did undoubtedly make
leaf spring out Of the ground; did make
it grow into a dwarf mango, and dld
hand the mango from it to be eaten. 1t
looked wonderful because of the appar-
ent simplicity Of thajuggler, but he per
formed his feat in four processes, ana
between each he shook out his chudder,
or muslin wrapper, so that 1t passed Tor
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 1T
were all of wax or other carefully made
limitation, and that the whole miracle
was 1narvelously rapid sleight Of hand. "
To Americans who are interested ID
this sort Of thing this mystery is almost
amusing. It 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 descrlp-
tions of this and other specimens OF
oriental jugglery. Of course as they
could not perform the trick themselves
thew did not compete for his money otrer,
and therefore they were not publicly
answered.
Kellar. however, gave me personally
full explanation not only OF THESE
tricks, but of several Others which nave
long baffled the cleverest Of the occl-
dental investigators. The magician has
spent more than 10 years of his protes-
sional life in India and the far east, and
he has closely studied the tricks or the
native iugglers with more or less profit
to himself. This is how he explained
the mango or pineapple trick as nearly
as I can recall it:
"The first time ] saw the mango
trick" said he, was i'll BOMBAY III
1879 or Whereabouts, and the man VINO
did it was the most skillful conJurer l
ever saw in India. Even after L had
learned the secret of his illusion could
not help admiring it's ingenuity and the
dexterity with which it was performed
The iuggler and his two comrades chose
a spot before the Prince Of Wales stat
ne on the plaza. He first laid down
bag on the hard ground and then Grew
from it a large bandanna handkerchief;
Di0oinp a 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
riohk After this znaneuver was ended
he made several passes with his arms
over the handkerchief, while his com
rades beat industriously upon theI
drums and blew upon their pipes
"suddenly, to my surprise, saw the
handkerchief begin to slowly rise IN the
center and gently sway from side to SIDE
as though a plant were really sprout1ng
20 life from the seed which he had
uIanted beneath the cloth When the
5andkerchief had risen like tent 20 q
hoioht of about 10 inches, the conJurer
-Xoe-@od his lamentations and cant1onslv