The Evening dispatch. [volume] (Provo, City, Utah) 1891-1895, 1894-10-26

A juggler placed a cloth over the pave
ment of the street, and presently he
removed it, and there was a mango
growing between the stones. 1.-THE 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 a 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 chudder,
or muslin wrapper, so that itpassed for
! an instant between the spectators and
the plant. The writer had no doubt
| theu 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 it
were all of wax or other carefully made
! imitation, anG that the whole miracle
was marvelously rapid sleight Of hand. y
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, 600 to any one who would perform
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 dnscrip-
lions of this and other specimens OF
oriental jugglery OF course rs they
could not perform the trick the mselves
they did not compete for his mo'.ey offer,
and therefore they were not publicly
answered.
Kellar, however, gave me personally
full explanation not oDly of these
tricks, but of several othere which have
long baf1ed the cle7eregt of the occi-
dental investigators. The magician has
spent more than 10 years Of nis profess
sional life in India and the far east, and
he has closely studied the tricks of the
native iugglers with more or less profit
to himself This is how he explained
the mango or pineapple trick as nearly
as I can recall it:
''The first time 1 saw the mango
trick, " said he, twas in Bombay in
1879 or Whereabouts, and the man who
did it was the most skillful conjurer |
ever saw in India. Even after l had
learned the secret of his illusion 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
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 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 IL inches, the conjurer
stopped his lamentations 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 it began to coil. That made
the handkerchief rise When it 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
a hollow pineapple from the bag under
meath the cloth. twas now the work Of
a minute only to force the snake into
the apple, close the aperture, and the
trick was done benjamin Northrup
W New York Mail and Express.
REcoRD OF A TEXAS DESPERATE.