San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-05-10
INDIAN JUGGLERS.
american Redmen Who Perform
Some Great Tricks.
An Eye Witness Relates What He Has
Seen the Unlettered Magicians
Do In the Line of Leg
erdemain.

Christian missionaries have found the
Indian magic a serious obstacle to their
evangelizing efforts. Sorcery is in
timately associated with the aboriginal
worship, and the savages, after astonish-
ing the priests with their tricks, laugh
at them, saying: Your religion can't
do such things" l happen to know of
the case of a Jesuit priest who some
years ago went to work among the
Arapahoes and Cheyennes, west of the
Mississippi. He gave up the business
of saving their souls after awhile, and
came away entirely discouraged. They
did things which, he declared, were en-
tirely beyond his understanding. The
mystery men would go out on the bare,
sandy prairie, where there was not a
sprig of vegetation, and, after some
chanting and various performances,
grass would come up out of the ground
quite patch of it, green and growing.
He himself saw it grow, and there could
be no doubt aboutit.
The bravest act 1 have ever known
was performed by one of these Indian
jugglers. A favorite trick of his was
one that has often been performed by
white magicians. 1t consisted in per-
hitting himself to be shot at, the hocus-
pocus being an arrangement by which
the bullet fell out of the barrel into a
cavity in the stock of the weapon before
the latter was discharged. Meanwhile
he had another bullet concealed in his
mouth, which at the instant of firing he
pushed outward with his tongue, so as
to make it appear that he had caught
the projectile between his teeth. Now,
it happened that this man had rival,
who was engaged in the conjuring bust
ness in neighbo-ing village. On an
occasion when the trick was to be per-
formed, the juggler announcing, as
usual, that he was ready to be shot at by
anyone present, the rival stepped for
ward and said that he would do the
shooting. But he demanded permission
to use his own gun. Naturally the Jug
gler objected, but his protest was over
ruled.
1t was decided that the rival magi-
clan might use his own weapon. This
meant almost sure death to the per
former, yet he did not blanch. To re-
fuse the test would have been per-
manent disgrace. There was one chance
out of a hundred, perhaps, that the
marksman might miss. He decided to
take that chance, and so permitted the
volunteer sxecutioner to take deliberate
aim and fire at him from distance of
half a dozen PAGES. An instant later he
fell dead; the bullet had passed through
his brain.
In some tribes of Indians it used to be
the rule that a sorcerer who failed three
times must pay the penalty of death
That regulation has been remarkably
widespread among the sayages. I'M
derstand it to have been accepted as
Tar south as Patagonia on this continent,
and undoubtedly it survives to this day
in parts of Africa and elsewhere. But
there was an ingenious magician of my
acquaintance who saved himself from
this fate by little device of his con-
irving. Being permitted to furnish the
bullet by which he was to be shot, he
made one in a mold in which a piece OF
paper was inserted in such a manner
that the ball was cast in two hemis-
pheres. These he put together, caus-
ing them to hold by rubbing the edges
with his knife blade. In this way at the
same time the deception was concealed.
On being fired from the gun, the bullet
few in halves, which, being of such a
shape, scattered and left the man I'M
touched. By this means he escaped on
several occasions the penalty which
ought to befall the wizard who is a
failure. Finally, however, he was found
out and executed.
I once saw an interesting trick per-
formed inside of ceremonial wigwam.
There was a lot of dancing and num-
merry, in the midst of which woman
came forward and struck the ground in
the middle of the lodge. Then a mys-
terry man took his turn and began
scratching with a stick on the spot
which the woman had struck. In a
minute or twowere exposed to view the
leaves of fullgrown wild turnip. The
vegetable was dug up and thrown
among the spectators, to show that
there was no deception and to quell the
appetite of the hungry ones. Scratching
some more with his stick, the magician
produced several more turnips-two or
three dozen of them. 1t was really
wonderful.-St. Louis Globe-Democrat.