The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-26
MAKE PEOPLE FROM AIR.
Marvellous Feats of the Magfcians
of India That Stupefy the Be-
holder

/
holder.
Philadelphia Bulletin.
Kellar, the magician, is an interesting
man 10 CHAT with particularly IL he is
IN a reminiscent mood, and talks about
India and its curious people In his
own book he narrates many of the
strange doings of the magicians Of the
Orient, but until now has not made
public what he considers the most Won
derful thing he saw among the Hin
docs
There are as many sects in India"
SAID the wizard to a reporter, "as there
are conditions in America, and to even
gam superficial knowledge of them all
would take years of study / was par
| t1cularly interested as a matter OF bust
ness in the magicians of the country.
and wanted to learn as much from
| them as I possibly could The trick I
am about to describe to you. however.
for exceeded all others in point of in
tricacy, and it's execution was SO well
looked after that had to purchase the
secret before I was able to gain the
first hint Of how it was done.
In little bungalow, near the town
| or Delhi, there dwelt q magician who
was celebrated in his district for the
wonderful things he could do. / had
heard that he could present in the
| flesh. alive and speaking, the body of
any person desired, no matter how dis
tant the desired person might be from
Delhi. I thought it was all rot. and
still think so, but this is what he did
when went to see him:
His room was about ten or twelve
feet square, almost denuded Of furnt-
ture, save a grass mat, or two, and the
one window in the wall looked out into
! the open country. I told him that had
come to see his miracles, and dropped
| into his palm the customary homage
due his state in the shape Of a silyer
coin. He asked me what I wanted to
see, or whom I wanted to talk with.
| told him had no preference, so long as
the persons were Europeans.
'Sahib will sit there and remain
quiet, no matter what he sees?'
Yes I answered.
"tAnd not attempt to touch anyone?s
Never q touch.
"'Sahib will sit there and remain
quiet, no away, but he will see his mas
ter in Koomra Sami.
II don't know how how he knew
who I was, and didn't trouble to ina
quire, for I was interested in the IA
kris movements.
Taking q bamboo stool from q corr
ner of the room and seating himself
upon 1t, he began a hum-drum chant,
waving his arms about his head mean4
while as If in invocation. AS 7
watched him his form seemed to grow
dim and fade away, saw the outline
of it, with the arms still waving as
he sat upon the stool; but the stool
showed plainly through his form. In
another instant he had entirly vans
ished I confess his magic was q
little better than anything I had ever
seen, but the idea that it was super
natural never entered my head.
watched the STOOL
'The hazy form Of woman slowly
formed about 1t, gained in strength
and roundness Of outline; the features
gradually formed and her face took on
color. In less than half a minute there
sat before me comedy girl of twenty,
evidently French or German. She
spoke to me in poor English, and then
began to fade away just as the old
fellow had done.
I'm the same unaccountable manner
a man and woman were next formed,
only to be interchanged, or changed
one into the other and back again, by
the same insidious fading process. To
conclude it all the pretty girl I men
toned reappeared and slowly faded
away, at the same time Transforming
herself into the body of the fakir.
and extended his hand toward the
door, signifying that my room was
better than my company.
Il had seen enough to warrant me
in believing that the old magician
was the most expert fakir in India,
and I was shrewd enough to know
that he would not again allow me to
witness his performance. There was
no way for me to learn his secret save
by purchase, and. as these fellows
would sell their mothers IL they could,
I determined to buy the trick. The
deal was comsummatedwithin a week,
and I'm going to show my Philadel-
phia friends next week just how the
fakir did the work. 1 may expose it,
If | get time; but I'm pretty busy just
now, and may forget it."