Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-09-04
MAGIC EXPLAINED.
THE STAR TRICKS OF HINDoo CON-
JURERS MADE EASY.

The Mango Trick Explained by KeIlar, the
Magician-It Is the Same Which Globe
Trotter Stevens Claims Is NiiracuIousIy
Performed by Yogi Men.
Tho sleight of hand performances Of
Mr.. Maskelyne. a remarkably clever
juggler, have excited q great deal of in
terest in London. Not only arc his
tricks skillfully done, but his explana-
lions of other tricks have attracted much
attention among n 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 ono
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 a cloth over the pave
ment of the street, and presently he
removed it, and there was mango
growing between the stones. Tho Jug
gler," adds the writer, lone of the he
reditary caste, did undoubtedly make a
leaf spring out of the ground; did make
it grow into n dwarf mango, and did
hand the mango from it to be eaten. 1t
looked wonderful because of the appar-
ent simplicity of the juggler, but he per-
formed his feat in four processes, and
between each he shook out his chuddcr,
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 momcntarily; that
the first leaf, the upgrowth of leaves,
the dwarf mango and the mango on ii
We're all of wax or other carefully made
imitation, and that the whole miracle
was marvclously rapid slcight 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 prcstidigitateur. -Four
or five years ago Kellar publicly offered
81, 900 to any one who would perform q
trick which he could not duplicate and
which he could not provo to be done by
wholly human aids. y number of per-
sons who had recently visited India i'm
mediately delugcd him with dcscrip.
tions of this and other specimens OF
oriental jugglcry. OF course as they
could not perform tho trick themselves
they did not compete for his money offer,
and therefore they wero not publicly
answered.
Kcllar. however, gave mo personally
a full explanation not only of these
tricks, but of several others which have
long bafllcd tho clcvcrcst of the occi
dental investigators. The magician has
spent more than 15 years of his profcs
sional life i'll India and the far cast, 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 rs nearly
as can recall it:
THE first timo l saw the mango
trick" said he, was i'll Bombay il
| 1879 or thcrcaboutS, and the man who
did it was the most skiilful ConjurCr
| ever saw i'll India Even after l haC
| learned the secret of his illusion could
not help admiring its ingenuity and the
| dcxterity with which it was performed.
| The jugglCr and his two comrades chose
| n spot before the Prince of Wales stat
ne on the plaza. He first laid down {
bag on the Lard ground and then drew
| from it llI - bandaunI handkerchief.
| Digging u small hole in the ground
with one finger. he buried n pineapple
seed, and over this he placed his hand
| kerchicf. He carefully smoothCd out
the cloth, rubbing swiftly from left tC
right After this mancuvCr was ended
he made several passes with his arm:
over the handkerchief, while his com
rades beat industriously upon thcil
drums and blew upon their pipes.
| Suddenly, to my surprise, l saw the
handkerchief begin to slowly rise in tho
center and gently sway from side to side
as though plant were really sproutinl
to life from tho seed which he haG
| planted beneath tho cloth. When the
handkerchief had risen like tent to {
height of about IL inches, the conjurcl
| stopped his lamentations and cautiously
| lifted up the left hand corner of tho
| cover and pccrcd beneath it. Then
plunGing both hands underneath TO tho
accompaniment of load and tlisCOrdan
music, no threw aside the cloth ant
showed n full grown pineapple plant.
This is the way he did the trick, a
he aftcrward admitted to me:
lin smoothing out tho cloth he reach
cd into the h:g. tho mouth Of which
was conveniently placed near the hand
kcrchief, and whi>k,d out a hooded co
bra snake. The moE!cnt the reptile wa
laid down it began to coil. That mad,
the handkerchief rise. WhCn it In,
reached its full height, its angry hiss
ing meanwhile being drowned by tn,
music of the assistants, the porforme
looked und,r the cloth, taking care t,
draw the corner close to the mouth o
the bag. Then he adroitly whishrd GU
hollow pineapple from the bag under
meath the cloth. 1t WAS now the work O
a minute only to force the snake int,
the apple, close the aperture, and tn
trick was done. "-Bcnjamin Northruj
in New York Mail and Express.