Rock Island Argus., 1894-11-17
MAGIC EXPLAINED.
rus STAR TRICKS OF tiNooo CON.
JURsRS MADE EASY,


rrottcr stevens Claims Is AIiraculously
Performed ny Yogi Men.
The slcight of hand performances Of
Mr. NasLelyne. n remarkably clever
;rrrler, have excited n great deal of in
,rc,t in London. Not only are his
tricks skillfully done, but his explana.
t;1rs of other tricks have attracted much
attention among q class nf men who
..ldom visit the halls where feats of this
.a~t are presented.
The Mail and Express recently pub
li,htd an article from the London Spec
,,for in which the writer describes one
5r two tricks which he saw in India
and which mystiiied him greatly. Here
:. one, which, by the way, is described
Nv 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.
4 iugglcr placed cloth over the pave.
mcut of the street, and presently he
removed it, and there was q mango
growing between the stones. 1.-THE Jug
rlsr." adds the writer, lone of the he
rcditary caste. did undoubtedly make o
leaf spring out of the ground; did make
!t grow into n dwarf mango, and did
hand the mango from it to be eaten. It
looked wonderful because of the appar-
cur simplicity of the juggler, but he per-
formed his feat III four processes, and
between each he shook out his chudder.
" muslin wrapper, so that it passed for
m instant between the spectators and
the plsn,. The writer had no doubt
then and has no doubt now that this
va. done not to conceal anything, but
20 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
Wa 'maryclously rapid sleight of hand"
To Americans who are interested in
This sort of thing this mystery is almost
amusing 1t was exposed several years
a-oby Kcllar, the prestidigitateur. Four
or five years ago kellar publicly offered
$1,000 u any one who would perform a
trick which Inc could not duplicate and
which he could not prove to be done by
wholly human aids A number of per-
s5n> who had recently visited India i'm
mediately delugcd him with descrip-
tons of this and other specimens of
oriental ju-glery. OF course rs they
could rot perform the trick themselves
tl6y did not compete for his money offer,
and therefore they were not publicly
answered.
kcllar, however, gave me personally
full explanation not only of these
tricks. hut of several others which have
Igc hailicd the clevorcst of the occi-
c.ntal investigators. The magician has
,r'Tt more than 10 years of his profes-
,.1oal life i'll India and the far east, and
j. has closely studied the tricks of the
utlyn jugglcrs with more or less profit
20 himself This is how he explained
tnr mango or pineapple trick as nearly
a. ! can recall it:
The first time / saw the mango
trick, said he, was i'll Bombay in
l''9 or thereabouts, and the man who
did /, was the most skiilful conjurer
ever saw i'll India. Even after l had
learned the secret Of his illusion / could
MT p admiring its ingenuity and the
c.yterity with which it was performed.
Iho lugrler and his two comrades chose
spot before the Prince of Wales stat
ne on the plaza. He first laid down a
bag on the hard ground and then drew
IRON II large bandanna handkerchief.
DIGGING Il small hole in the ground
with one finger, he buried a pineapple
seed and over this he placed his hand
sarchicf He carefully smoothed out
10" cloth, rubbing swiftly from left to
rght. After this maneuver was ended
1' made several passes with his arms
over the handkerchief, while his COM
fldoS beat industriously upon their
aFumS and blew upon their pipes.
suddenly, to my surprise, saw the
AainAerchief begin to SLOWLY rise in the
center and gently sway from side to side
a' though plant were really sprouting
10 life from the seed which he had
planted beneath the cloth. When the
handterchief had risen like tent to
HelSht of about IL inches, the conjurer
sopped his incantations and cautiously
!lfted up the left hand corner of the
cover and pccred beneath it. Then,
punglng both hands underneath to the
impairment of loud and discorlant
music, he threw aside the cloth and
showed a full grown pineapple plant.
ms is the way he did the trick, rs
ne atterward admitted to me:
In smoothing out the cloth he reach
VI into the bag, the mouth of which
was conveniently placed near the hand
A'Fchlet, and whisked out n hooded CO.
VA snake. The moment the reptile was
ia'' down it began to coil That made
'le handkerchief rise. When it had
i''ched Its full height, its angry hiss
i'H meanwhile being drowned by the
music OF the assistants. the performer
.,OAed under the cloth, taking care to
raw tho corner close to the mouth Of
we Dag. Their he adroitly whisked out
: "oiiow pineapple from the bag under
"'uh tho cloth. 1t was now the work Of
" minute only to force the snake into
". apple, close fie aperture, and the