The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-16
TRICKS OF CLEVER FAMRS.
THE SWORD DOESN'T TOUCH THE
WOMAN n THE BASKET.

D
/ Megargee Ga Philadelphia Times
/ Conditions arising frsm the recent death
I of William O. Judge. the high priest Of
I Theos0phy. have led 20 a number OF in
i quiries about occult matters. They are
| scarcely worth answering. but among
/ them are a number Of suggestions that the
I tricks Of prestidigitateurs are not. in many
I instances. tricks al all. but that the per-
I formers. such as Kellar and Hermann.
I possess either mediumistic or hypnotistic
| powers and simply through those facul-
tics delude their audiences and do not. for
| purposes Of gain. reveal their true char
{ acters Among these communications is
| one which challenges an intelhgaDle eX-
| PLANTATION o. the famous Indian basket
trick which has puzzled people Tor many
centuries and Of the mystifying sphinx"
This Is easy.
The Indian basket trick is truly a Won
der OF Illusion and was originally per
formed by the jugglers Of India. Its first
exhibition before an Engllsh-speaking au-
dience was made boy the famous Col. StO-
dare. He was the inventor OF the marvel
Gus Sphinx" deception. During his life
time he occupied n relation to the art Of
magic more important than that OF Mask
elyue and Cooke, who gave us the 'Psy-
chO" and other mysteriOusly moving au-
donations. Stodare did more for coniurers
than Houdln. who was the first to apply
electro-magnetism TO the forces dOminat-
Ing the realms Of amusement trickery
btOdare's Illusions did not depend upon
any secret force for their efficacy.
The Indian basket trick is not a very
peasant one 10 witness. but when nrst
exhibited IL drew immense crowds, its
| fictitious horror being apparently its
chief attraction. It's effect as the trick
was originally presented by Stodare, is
as failows: large oblong basket say
hve feet by two, and as deep as wide, Is
brought in and placed on a low stand or
bench, so as to be raised clear OF the
stage. The performer comes forward and
| with drawn sword IN his right hand and
leading with the other hand a young
woman. dressed In a clOsely-fitting robe
Of black velvet. Representing her upon
some pretended ground Of complaint. he
declares that she must be punished, and
| forthwith begins to blindfold her eyes
She Stimulates terror, begging for mercy
and finally escaping from him runs of
the stage. He follows her and instantly
reappears, dragging her by the wrist.
Regardless OF her sobs and cries he COM
pels her to enter the basket. in which she
lies down, and the lid Is closed. Simu-
lating an access Of fury, he thrusts the
sword through the basket (frOm the
'front.' In various places. Piercing screams
are heard from the interior. and the
sword, when Withdrawn is seen to be red
side, and all is still. A thrill of horror
inclined TO call in the police and hand
runs through the audience, who are half
over the professor to the nearest magis-
trate. For moment there IS a pause
and then the performer, calmly wiping
the bloody sword on "a white pocket hand
kerch.ef, says: Ladies and gentlemen, ]
fear you agine that / have hurt the
woman who was the object Of this expert
ment Pray disabuse yourselves of such
an idea. She had disObeyed me, and /
therefore determined 10 punish her by
giving her "A little fright; but nothing
more. The fact Is she had left the basket
| some time before / thrust the sword
into II. You don't believe me, / see. AL
low me to show you. in the first place,
that the basket is empty He turns
over the basket accordingly, and shows
that the woman has vanished Should
you desire further proof the woman viii
answer for herself" The woman at this
moment comes forward from a different
portion of the room and, having made
her bow, retires.
This startling Illusion is performed as
follows: To begin with there are two
women employed, in figure and general
| appearance as nearly alike as possible.
! Their dresses are also exactly similar.
| The little dramatic scene with which the
| trick begins is designed to impress upoa
| the audience the features of the woman
| who first appears When she is blind
folded, she, as already mentioned, runs
| on the stage. The performer runs after
| her, and apparently bringing her back,
really brings back in her place the second
| woman, who is standing in readiness
| blindfolded in precisely the same way he
| hind the scenes. AS the bandage covers
| the greater part of her features, there
/ Is little fear of the spectators detecting
/ the substitution that has taken place. The
! substitute woman now enters the basket,
/ where she lies, COMPRISING herself into
| as small a compass as possible along the
! back. Knowing the position which she
| occupies IL is not very difficult matter
/ OneratOr he
| OF the sword as to avoid any risk of in
/ Juring her. The chief thing to be at
! tended to for this purpose is to thrust al
! ways IN an upward direction The APP
| pearance of blood on the sword may either
| be produced by the woman in the basket
! drawing along the blade, as 1t is with
| drawn after each thrust, a sponge satu-
rated with some crimson fluid, or by
| mechanical arrangement, in the hilt caus-
! ing the supposed blood, on pressure, to
/ trickle down the blade
/ The only point that remains to be ex.
! planned is the difficulty, which will prob
! ably already have suggested itself, as to
! how the performer manages to show the
| basket empty at the conclusion of the
trick. Simply by having the basket made
| on the principal of what is known as
| the ''ineXhaustible box" which has a
! double movable bottom The performer
! takes care to tilt the basket over TO the
| front before he raises the lid. This leaves
| the woman lying on the true bottom
Of the basket while movable flap fixed
| at iikul angles 10 the bottom and living
in its normal position nat against the
front of the basket for the time being
| represents the bottom to the eyes of the
audience. While the basket is thus shown
| apparently empty. the woman who first
| appeared in the trick comes forward and
is Immediately recognized by the audience;
and as they are fully persuaded that she
| was the person placed in the basket the
| inference that she had escaped from it by
| some quasi-supernatural means seems in
! eyitaole There are various notifications
of this trick, but the principal upon which
| they are all based is contained in this
| explanation.
Col. Stodare has been spoken of as being
the inventor of the Sphinx" You must
| all surely remember the excitement that
| Illusion caused. 1t was first exhibited i'm
| this city by Signor Blitz in the assembly
| building at Tenth and Chestnut street
| There are very few who are not ACQUAINTED
with the explanation of the clever de-
| ception. Stodare first presented IL in
London in 1865. 1t is very interesting now
to read the first newspaper accounts OF
| the mystery.
A copy of the London Times Of October
| 10. 1865, gives a very excellent account NJ