St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-07-24
Hermann in Sing Sing.

Within the grim prison walls of Sing
Sing yesterday Saturday was wrought
a great transformation scene. Hardened
faces which had not been lightencd up
With smile for months were radiant.
Hermann, the magician, spent the day
with the prisoners, and for a brief time
they forgot they were in stripes.
The severe prison discipline was thrown
to the winds. Never before in the history
OF the institution had there been such an
innovation. The prisoners were so sur
prised at the character of the perform.
ance, that, in the excitement of the mo-
ment, they raised out of their seats,
tossed their caps into the air and howled
themselves hoarse. Had there been any
desire on the part of the guards to re-
strain the expression of feeling by the
convicts, they would have found it easier
to suppress Kansas cyclone.
AS has been the case on most national
holidays, all work at the prison was sus-
pended. At nine o'clock the 400 con-
victs were marched to the new prison
chapel. The new building to be used as
a chapel is not yet completed, but yester-
day was considered an suspicious day for
its opening.
The convicts themselves contributed
much to the success Of the entertainment.
The prison orchestra, composed oftwelve
pieces opened the programme with an
overture. The prison choir sung several
selections. A number of solos also were
sung by convicts. When the ballad, "a
Mother is the Best Sweetheart of ALL"
was sung, many of the prisoners were
affected. The bowed heads and the
moist eyes showed they were thinking
of associations different from their sur
roundings. Hardened old sinners wept
like repentant children. They were think
ing of the gray-haired mothers who had
for years vainly awaited their coming
home.
While this part of the programme was
in progress, Professor Hermann and his
party arrived on special car from New
York. When Warden Sage announced
that Professor Hermann was to enter
+ ~, tho ,r;coparc ithaca ,,,oe n ,-oo. &c
applause. The crude stage which had
been erected at the rear of the chapel
was speedily cleared. Professor Her.
mann soon came forward and in a neat
speech told the prisoners it was a pleas
ure to take advantage of the opportu-
nifty to entertain them. He said he was
sure the warden's request for orderly de-
pertinent would be complied with. This
speech brought out another enthusiastic
burst of applause
Professor Hermann than proceeded
with the performance of his wonderful
tricks. He poured bushel of rice out of
hat which had apparently been empty.
He changed handkerchief which he had
borrowed from a visitor into dozen
diminutive handkerchiefs. Then in an
instant, he changed the little handker-
chiefs back into the one be borrowed and
returned it. There were exclamations of
surprise from all parts of the chapel.
When Professor Hermann gathered up
five watches from visitors i'll the audi
euce, placed them in handkerchief and
asked the prisoners if one of them would
volunteer to hold the time pieces there
was a moment of silent surprise. All APP
peared to be startled at the proposition
that any one of their number should be
trusted with the watches They took it
as a joke and hundreds of men in stripes
leaped to their feet ready to hold the
tickers.
When the magician did hand over the
watches to a convict who came forward
there were cries from all parts of the
chapel;
mail down his feet" "Watch himl"
Hes a smooth one!'
Then Professor Hermann carried out
his old trick of placing them in a pistol
with funnel muzzle and shooting them
at the convict's head When the smoke
cleared away four of the watches were
found hanging to the prisoners clothing
The latter started to leave the stage
when he was called back, and much to
his surprise, one of the watches was
taken out of his vest pocket. The poor
fellow was terribly alarmed, and it was
evident he feared he was suspected of try
ing to steal one of the time pieces.
The trick which caused the most Won
der among the convicts was that in
which the magician played the part of a
human target. When Hermann asked
for good marksman to shoot at him,
the prisoners settled on Luke Hannigan.
He is well-known as an expert shot. This
was the first time Hermann had tried