The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-11-24
MAGIC EXPLAINED.
THE STAR TRICKS or HlNDoo CON-
JuRERs MADE EASY.

The Mango Trick Explained by Kellar, che
Magician-It Is the same which Globe
Trotter stevens Claims Ks M~iracuIOusly
Performed by Yogi Men.
The sleight Of hand performances Of
Mr.. Maskelyne, q remarkably clever
iuggler, have excited q great deal of in.
terest in London. Not only are his
tricks skillfully done, but his explana-
tons of other tricks have attracted much
attention among q class 0f men who
seldom visit the halls where feats of this
sort are presented. -,
The Mails and Express recently pub
lished am article from the London Spec
tator in which the writer describes n
or two tricks which he saw in India
and which mystiied 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 . 9 yet ignerant of. 81 81"
A iuggler placed Q cloth over the pave
ment Of the street, and presently he
removed. iit, and there was. q mango
growing between the stones. ''The Jug
gler," adds the writer, ''oneyof the he
reditary caste, did undoubtedly make a
leaf spring ont of the ground; did make
il grow into q dwarf mango, and did
hand the mango from it to be eaten. II
looked wonderful becauseef the appar-
EN- simplicity of the juggler. hut he per-
formed his feat in four processes, and
between each he shook out his chudder.
or muslin wrapper. 80 that. il 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
30 distract attention momentarily; that
the first leaf. the upgrowth of leaves,
the dwarf mango and the mango ON IL
were all of wax or other carefully made
imitation. and that the whole miracle
was marvelously rapid sleightof hand"
To Americans. who ara interested in
this sort of thing this mysteryis almost
amnsing. It was exposed several years
agoby Kellar. the prestidigitateur. Four
or FIVE years ago KallaR publicly offered
&ls0OO to anyone who would. perform d
trick which he could not duplicate and
which he couldn prove to be done by
wholly human aids. lAnumber OF per-
sons who had recently visited India inn
mediately 3deluged him with descrip-
tions of this and other specimens of
oriental iugglery. OF course as they
could not perform the trick themselves
they did not compete for hismoney offer,
and therefore they were not publicly
answered. &~HtA
Kellar, however, gave me personally
q full explanation not only OF these
tricks, but OF several others which have
long bafied the cleverest of the occi-
dental investigators. The magician has
spent more than 10 years Of his profes.
sional lifesin 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 O pineapple trick as nearly
a / 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 i had
learned the secret Of bis illusion Icould
not help admiring its ingenuity and the
dexterity with which it was performed.
The iuggler and his two comrades chose
. spot before the Prince of Wales stat
Er - LEE