Evening star., 1896-01-11
from the hut, which swayed from side to

1.-TWO or three minutes later the Indian
house several hs hundted red yards IS away, W where
they would fhd their ropes. One of the
white men was SEPT to the house, and he
found the ropes. With all Of the compli-
opened the wigWash then, and found the
wizard smoking A pipe, with his black
magic stone on his. lap. Neither pipe nor
beas pras had
heard heard Of this his e$hihition, sent word that he
formance for 8. gain: Evidently, it was
of that sort should be thus prostituted.
The Wabeno tribe has great reputa-
tion for certain Kinds of juggling. These
Indians are called by others the Players
ceremonies at night in which fire is con-
cerned. They handle fire and walk
through it. 1t is said that they can cause
flames to issue from their ears, mouths
they are able to transform themselves in
to animals with fiery eyes. One trick.
which they really perform seems fairly
unaccountabie Wabeno mystery man
seats himself in his lodge, while the young
men surround it entirely with ring Of
brightly blazing fire.
AT the same time an empty lodge at
distance of fifty PAGES will be encircled
with hre In like manner. Both lodges are
closed tightly, all the people in the village
looking on intently, and yet, after the
space OF few moments, the magician,
the faggots having been kicked away, is
discovered calmly sitting in what was be-
fore the empty lodge, while the one which
he previously occupied is left vacant.
Mystery of the Snakes.
Belonging to tribe with which had
acquaintance was a no-account indlan,
generally despised by his fellow redskins,
who always carried about with him
medicine bag made of an old duckskln
On one occasion-so the story was told to
n'e-he Joined a fishing party. While they
were off on the expedition several boat
loads of hostile savages appeared. They
tiled to escape, but their foes could pad
die faster, and apparently they had no
chance to get away. The pursuers came
on so swiftly that the pursued We're de-
moralized. One of the latter remarked to
the no-account Indian: If your ducksk!n
is any good, make medicine with 1t now,
and make it quick In response, the owner
of the duckskn bag held it in the water,
and at once the speed of the boat increas-
ed SO much that the hunting party es-
capped. Seemingly. the spirit of the duck
operated after the manner of paddle
wheel and pushed the craft along.
Il was much mystified on one occasion
10y trick that l saw performed In big
| medicine lodge. In the course of long
ceremonial an Indian took a bag about the
size CT a large handkerchief and manipu-
lated 1t in such manner as to show that
it contained nothing. Then ne danced
around the lodge slowly. holding the bag
between his fingers by the upper corners
Presently the heads of two snakes appear
ed from the mouth of the bag, and about
| a foot of the length of each snake became
visible. But it CHANGED that the juggler in
his dancing passed by the open door of the
lcCge, and then / understood the fake. The
Eight shining through the bag showed that
it contained no snakes. What had appear
ed from the bag was merely the stuffed
heads and bodies for short length of a
couple of rattlers. They were made to stick
| out by pulling taut the piece of tape to
which they were attached.
|. Exposing the Magic.
"a good many of these Indian tricks I
was able to solye: Some of the most re-
markable ones; which are perfectly well
| authenticated, / never saw. 1 knew of a
| juggler who could take ripe red cherries
| out Of his mouth at any season of the year.
| One credible witness assured me that he
| knew the cherries were real, because he
had eaten them. l have made quite buSi-
| ness of exposing such aboriginal magic,
| which does a good deal of harm in various
| ways, incidentally antagonizing the intro
| duction of the Christian religion and the
| progress of civilization among the savage
| tribes.
II have done somewhat of the same sort
| of work that was performed by Houdin.
| who was sent by the French government
| to Algiers for the purpose of outjuggling
the Algerian juggiers. BY doing so he con-
| vinced the Alserians that their juggiers
| were not divinely inspired. One trick he
| performed was the firing of bullets which
| made splashes of blood on the target. The
| lead bullets ostensbly used dropped into a
| cavity in the gunstock, pellets of wax filled
| with red liquid being substituted. The
! effect of this trick on the Algerians was
| astonishing. l have produced equal eff
| feet by turning water into blood. 1t was
very simple. Put a few drops of chloride
| of iron in one glass and A few drops OF
| sulpho-cyanide in another, permitting them
| to dry. Then put clear water in both
| glasses Pour the contents of one glass
into the other. and the resulting liquid is
| blood red Throw 1t away, of course, be-
fore anybody can examine it critically.
| Another trick of mine was to set sugar
on fire. My sugar was real sugar mixed
| with elaborate of potash 1 would get ar
| Indian mystery man to dip q stick into
water to see If he could setCthe sugar or
fire with water. When he failed l took my
turn, but my stick had been dipped pre-
| viously into sulphuric acid, and I merely
made a pretense of putting it into water
When the stick touched the sugar the
! chlorate CT potash was ignited by the sui
phuric acid, and a great blaze followed
Many such simple chemical experiments
| have performed for the purpose of astonish
! ing the Indians, and they rate me g
| first-class magician" RENE BACHE.
FLASHLIGIIT PHOTOGRAPHY.
-ny H1rrH AA In