The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-02
BANCROFT IN INDIA.
HE SEES THE CELEBRATED INDIAN
BASKET TRICK.

4 Graphic Description Of Calcutta
in Mid-Summer-Indin More Inter
esting for Its Reptiles Than Its
/ Fakirs.
/ After remaining in Ceylon a few DAYS
| l have taken the steamer to Calcutta. so
as ultimately 10 reach the interior 81 Hin
doostan- There is nothing particularly
/ interesting about a sea trip. So many
/ people take it now that 10 has grown TO
be what We call a chestnut.
But, aboard the vessel. were two or three
/ hundred Storage passenger Buddhists
1 belieVe-who were going 20 India as pill
| grims to worship at various shrines there
After We had been about a couple Of days
| out. 1 came to notice that. soon after
| evening prayer. these people-or a great
many of them-would gather In a great
circle and watch the performances OF two
men and a child. Naturally impelled by
curiosity, 1 made it a habit 10 go down
to the steerage portion of the vessel and
see for myself what was going on.
At first. these people-who seemed to be
father, son and grandson-only gave TN
interesting exhibits that were not worth
recording. Through an interpreter l asked
ter, and they said that, for the price,
they would. But as il was. they were
| getting only a small remuneration for
| what they did. ] said that 1 would will
ingly pay II l could be only shown some
! thing worth while looking at and they
| then told me they would perform the cell
| ebrated Indian basket trick.
/ l suppose most of my readers have seen
limitations of this trick done In America.
But / must confess that the method
I M cd hNrf fnqopiH "a
| quite new. On the open deck OF the yes
sci. the basket was brought and stationed.
! The old man wore dress that stretched
| from his neck TO his feet-a sort OF be
douin costume. The little boy stood be-
side the basket, and the middle man went
| to his cabin and brought out a sharp
| sword l examined this myself, and found
it to be exceedingly sharp. Ihen Hu
| was brought for the basket. the boy was
placed IN it, and the lid was securely fas-
| tened on by two padlocks. Three or four
people around were asked TO weigh II, ana
/ they certified that IT was exceedingly
heavy Now these people were conteder-
ates-probably friends of the family. Then
the magician began mumbling what seem
ed to be prayer after when ne threW
| a cloth over the basket, binding the ends,
but taking one in the folds or his dress.
| Then he prayed more after which, appar-
/ emily to the horror Of the people around,
he plunged his sword through the basket
time and time again. We all heard the
| agonized shrieks of the child
| The spectators seemed TO be much Inn
| pressed by this and some of them wanted
| 10 rush forward and seize the con1urer.
| But they were held back by his son. once
| more he plunged the sword through and
| through, and we heard the means and
| groans Of the child growing less and less
| audible, until they ceased altogether.
| Then the con1urer asked the people as
| sembed to come forward and examine
| the basket. They unlocked II, drew off
| the lid-and II was found TO be empty
|
| feelings Of satisfaction.
| Then, all at once, a voice was heard
| from the lower rigging of the foremast,
| Everybody looked in that direction, and
| there was the chid-uninjured OF course.
| The trick was most deterously done;
| but / perceived at once the secret OF the
| imposition. 1t was simply this: When
the child is put away (and | need hardly
| mention that the youngster is very well
| educated In the natter the cOn1urer puts
his cloth over the lid. AT this moment
it is that the boy slips out, and gets under
| the long dress the juggler wears, pulls
himself up around the mans waist, and
there remains, to give out the piercing
| yells that are supposed to come from the
basket itself. l forgot to mention that,
as the trick is going on, blood appears at
the various orifices of the basket. This
is simply done by the fakir saturating a
| sponge with some red liquid, and, as ne
goes through his incantations, tapping 1t
here and there. The sponge Is concealed
In the palm of his hand.
At the moment that the people, at the
invitation of the conjurer run to the bask-
| ct to find 1t empty, the boy slips away
| and gets to the rggings Nobody, of
course, dreams of looking In that direc-
| ton They are all intent upon the basket
itself.
| Torrance, and have marVelled that so
many have been deceived by 1t. But
never has it been done with so great a
| dexterity as on board this vessel, upon a
| TaoIr nd Ffa arfg &c
| practically surrounded by people. The
| only side on which nobody was placed
| was where the mast was; and that was
| of course the secret of the illusion.
/ paid the man generously, as he
| thought, for the work he did. And he
| then offered to tell me all about 1t If 1
would take him to my cabin. But taking
him on one side with my interpreter,
gave him the explanation, and he appear
| ed to be very much surprised that / should
| have guessed something that all the rest
| seemed to consider marvellous. / asked
| him If there was anything in his repertory
| that he could do as well, and he said no.
| this was the only important trick that
| he was capable Of
And so, beyond that, the voyage was
| fruitless in experiment. But this per-
| Torrance convinced me that / should
| hardly be as mystified as l expected by
| what / see in India. l hope when / get
| to the real district where the fakirs are
| whose feats have been celebrated in press
| and by word or mouth for so long, | shall
| be enabled to see something better. Two
| of their most famous tricks l have al
| ready exposed, / trust, for my own sake,
that the rest will not be as easy.
| And here 1 am in Calcutta. II is a
| city so large and populous, and so com
| pletely differing from our civilization in
| every way. that l confess to my amaze
| ment at having only a few weeks ago
| been in New York and here finding some
| thing so entirely different; something so
| incongruous to an American, that l am
| still wondering how ] got here.
We often say in America that we are
| overstocked with amusements. No such
| complaint can be made here. From the
| talks 1 have had, the people-that is, of
| course, the English class-appear to be
| dying for something good. When I told
| them that 1 was in the public line my
| self, they almost petitiOned me to give
| a performance so as to relieve the mo-
| notony of daily existence. But l declined
and, l think, wisely. l have come to
| see, not to be seen.
Curiously enough, 1 find that I shall
| have to go several hundred miles into the
| interior to find the genuine Indian fakir
| He does not seem to be appreciated in
this part of this immense country At
any rate, to all my inquiries l only got
| a negative answer when / asked to be