The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1894-10-16
MAGIC EXPLAINED.
THE STAR TRICKS OF HlNOoo CON-
JuRERS MADE EASY.

THE STAR TRICKS OF HlNDoO CON-
JuRERS MADE EASY.
The Mango Trick Explained by Kellar, the
Magician--It Is the Same Which Globe
Trotter Stevens Claims Is Miraculously
Performed by Yogi Men.
The sleight of hand performances of
Mr. Maskelyne remarkably clever
| juggler, lave 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 nystifled 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
leaf spring out Of the ground; did make
~.-.ox.v into 1xr-orf YpancrO and did
hand the mango from it to be eaten. 1t
looked wonderful because of the appar-
emit 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 it 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 1t
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 a
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
q 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 Is years of his profess
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 / can recall it:
1.-THE first time / saw the mango
trick, +" said he, twas in Bombay In
1879 or 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 I could
not help admiring its ingenuity and the
dexterity with which it was performed.
The juggler and his two comrades chose
a spot before the Prince of Wales stat
ne on the plaza He first laid down a
bag ON the hard ground and then drew
from it large bandanna handkerchief.
Digging a small hole in the ground
with one finger, he buried q 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 rise in the
center and gently sway from side to side
as though plant were really sprouting
to life from the seed which he had
planted beneath the cloth. When the
handkerchief had risen like tent to a
height of about ~ inches, the conjurer
stopped his incantations and cautiously
lifted up the left hand corner of the
cover and peered beneath it. Then,
plunging both hands underneath to the
accompaniment of loud and discordant
music, he threw aside the cloth and
showed full grown pineapple plant.
''This is the way he did the trick, as
he afterward admitted to me:
In smoothing out the cloth he reach
ed into the bag, the mouth of which
was conveniently placed near the hand
kerchief, and whisked out hooded CO.
bra snake. The moment the reptile was
laid down 1t began to coil That made
the handkerchief rise. When 1t had
reached its full height, its angry hiss
ing meanwhile being drowned by the
music of the assistants, the performer
looked under the cloth, taking care to
draw the corner close to the mouth Of
the bag. Then he adroitly whisked out
hollow pineapple from the bag under
meath the cloth. 1t was now the work of
a minute only to force the snake into
the apple, close the aperture, and the
trick was done. "-Benjamin Northrup
In New York Mail and Express.