The morning news., 1894-11-23

A- NaH bt1bduAE ABOUT twenty Ht-eti-f dt5ut
] on "a November day, that the little village
7 was all excitement over the show that
/ was 90 take place that night in the court
. house Though called under the general
. title Of show IL was In reality kind
] Of slight-of-hand and legerdemain per
I formance that Prof. Harris was in the ha-
J bit of giving every fail in all the little
] towns in this section OF the state. Prof.
I harris was very popular man with the
7 people. For several years he had been
/ making his visits, giving a free rope
waking performance in the afternoon and
J lhen having the entertainment at night,
| for which latter he charged only a quar-
/ ter OF a dollar. The people were always
/ slad when he came, and though il was us
/ ualiy the s.me lot of tricks that he per
/ formed andthe same funny remarks that
/ he made, yet they always enjoyed looking
/ at the performer and they laughed every
! year at the latter just as if il was the first
/ time they had heard them
one OF the features of Prof Harris en-
/ tertainments, which he advertised very ex-
! tensiVely on his hand bills, was the great
/ feat of swallowing a sword. This was his
/ drawing card, and as il was really a dan
/ gerous Undertaking the people always
/ Hked to see him perform it. He generally
/ had well known physician of the town
! 10 examine the sword before he put it
| INTO MS mouth and also after it came out,
! and IL was pronounced to be no fake but
! a genuine performance. Stiu there were
/ some VINO doubted, and on this particular
! day 1t was the great topic of conversation.
! The rope-walking was over night had
! set IN the lamps in the court house were
! lighted, and the benches were all packed
! with men, wonH n and children. The pro-
! fessor had performed a few of his tricks
/ and the next thing on the programme was
| to swallow the dagger. The excitement
was great and every one waited in sus-
/ pense to see the dangerous performance.
/ The doctor was called up and examined
| the sharp, keen sword. He announced
| publicly that it was a genuine dagger and
had no secret springs about it, that he
| could detect. Then the professor smiled
blandly, threw his head back, and hold
/ ing up the sword with his right hand in
serted the point in his mouth and pushed
1t slowly down until the handle rested on
| his lips.
one or two women uttered an exclama-
ton, few children screamed but the au-
/ dtence generally looked on with breath
! less interest The doctor had retired to
the front seat. Every eye was now fas-
| tened on the professor AS rule he
would let the dagger remain in his throat
| only a few seconds and would then draw
| 1t out again; but this time he continued it
/ longer 1t was nearly a minute before
| those in front noticed that he started TO
raise his right hand, presumably to draw
/ the dagger out. He got his arm only about
| half way up, however, when it suddenly
/ stopped-no one could tell why. Those
who were nearest observed that the next
| moment the mans face became deadly
pale. The people looked on in wonder and
thought he was going to show them some
/ new ulck. Sttll they waited and he did
not withdraw the weapon and his right
hand was yet in that half-upraised posi-
ton, as motionless as a piece of wood.
They had never seen him keep the sword
there half so long before. His breathing
became hard and sounded so loud that he
seemed to be stranglng for air.
The audience grew excited and numbers
of the men rose to their feet The pro-
fessor then began making very peculiar
| motions with the fingers of his left hand
which nobody Compounded. Everybody
was beginning to look on it as a kind of
uncanny thing, and they wanted to get
out of the house. At last with a sudden
jump, he started toward the spot where
the doctor was sitting The women, and
the men, too, now thoroughly frightened
fled from before him as if he were a wild
beast. There was a regular stampede for
the door, and for a few minutes Dande-
monium reigned They didn't know
whether he was only putting it all on or
whether 1t was genuine, but, anyhow, he
was acting in such a strange way that
they didn't intend he should get near
them,
Amid the tumult and confusion some
one shouted:
For Gods sake, pull the sword out of
his mouth" and as he said it the speaker
rushed for the door.
The mans dyingl" cried another.
He's crazy shrieked a woman kin
him.
In the meantime the professor had lost
consciousness and had fallen in faint
against the railing in the court house hut
was fortunately caught by the physician
and town marshal before he struck the
floor. He was gasping for breath and his
race was livtd While the marshal held
MS limp form the doctor grasped the hilt
OF the dagger and drew the blade slowly
out. Restoratives were applied and in a
short while he had come round all right.
He was weak and pale as he sat in the
midst of group of sympathizers an hour
or two later and told how il all hap
pened.
About week ago" he said. "I met an
Ola gypsy woman, who was travelling over
the country, and who claimed to be for
tune teller. She told me that the next
time 1 swallowed the sword l would never
De aDIe TO get it out. 1 laughed at her
and never thought of what she said again
uhtll tonight. after had pushed the blade
lts tull length down my throat Then. all
at once, her prediction flashed over me.
ana cannot begin to describe to you how
II made me feel don't know why it was.
out IN an instant i felt as if it was i'm
PoSsiole Ior me TO move a single muscle.
Perhaps some Of you, in a great trying
emergency, may have felt for a moment
that all of your nerves and muscles were
paralyzed. l don't know why it should
have had this effect on me, but l was
rooted to the spot and felt as if 1 would
never be able TO move again 1t was
more like sudden paralysis of all my
powers than anything else / can think of
AFTER what seemed an hour or two but
was really, l suppose. not more than a
minute, with desperate effort, I moved
my right hand and tried to get il up to the
handle of the sword. But it grew stiff and
rigid and had no more feeling in it than a
piece OF stone. II must have been that
my blood had stopped circulating or that
a eramp had seized the arm. Though by
a terrific effort, ! could work my left
hand slightly, yet it, too. felt as heavy as
iron, and l knew / could not raise it to
my head My mind was perfectly clear.
and as l realized the danger Of my situa-
uon and began to struggle for breath, you
may know that / was badly frightened.
IL was then l began making signs to the