The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-02-06
Stories Of The Lafe
hIeSander Hermann
Compiled from the New York Tribune ant
Sun.

Hermann paused one day to watch some
men digging beside the road, and after Il |
moment took a hat from the head of one |
of them and shook three or four silver |
dollars out of it. The laborer was astound- !
ed for an instant and Hermann put the |
dollars into his hand, to convince him that |
they We're real ones. Then he recovered |
his senses, and said That's pretty clever, |
mister; ] don't mind giving you one of
these" and handed back one of the dollars |
accordingly, putting the rest into his
pocket.
Tricks will go wrong sometimes. one of
the attaches of theater where Hermann
was to exhibit his powers was told to put
little rabbit into his pocket and sit in a
certain seat on the aisle till the magician
came to take the rabbit out and then 10
make a little show of resistance. He took
his place early with the rabbit in his
pocket, and waited for the trick to be dis
closed to the wondering audience, but
Hermann forgot to do the trick that night,
and the poor man sat there all the even
ing, with the rabbit squirming and cawing
about under his coat, getting more nervous
all the time and making it's keeper more
uncomfortable, till the performance was
over and the audience went out the weary
attache with the rest, in condition bor-
dering on that Of a March hare, to say
nothing of a poor little rabbit.
One of the most effective usese that
Hermann ever made of a confederate was
in connection with his trunk mystery"
only short time ago. In this trick a girl
is put into trunk, and the trunk is closed
| and then opened again, and the girl is
| found to be gone. There is more to it, but
| that is enough for the present purpose.
| When the trick had been done, man stood
| up at the back of the house and asked
| Hermann if he had to have a trunk spe
| Cially prepared for that trick Hermann
answered that he did not The man then
asked if he could do it with his valise.
| Hermann said he could. The valise was
| brought to the stage and the trick was
done over again to the great delight Of
| the audience. The confederate carried
| out his part of the programme well
that the policeman in charge at the back
| of the house wanted to arrest him for
making a disturbance, and the magician
had hard work to save his trick from be-
| ing spoiled by the polcemen's excess Of
zeal OF course the trunk and the valise
used did have to be prepared, but the
declaration that they did not involve 10
| great danger of another being offered by
| somebody else who was not a confeder-
ate, because few persons come to theater
| with valise large enough for even a small
girl to get into. When Hermann travelled
he usually had about twenty people in his
company, though only half a dozen or 50
were usually seen on the stage.
1t takes something startling in the way
of magic to make much impression on the
pampered taste of New York in these days
but Hermann made decided impression
a few months ago with his trick of allow
ing himself to be shot at by half a doHer
soldiers and catching the bullets on 4
plate. Hermann did this twice last spring
both times for charities, for he said thai
he would do that to help the needy, bu'
not for his own profit OF course, thai
sounded as if there was a good deal of risk
about 1t. 1t was just as much of tricF
as anything else that he ever did, but fol
all that, the performance was decidedly
creepy, and not little exciting. Ut proved
so much so to one friend of the magic
ian's, who had fortified himself too mucf
for the ordeal, that when the soldiers
came on the stage he could not stand i
any longer, and got up, forced his way
through the crowd at the back of th'
house, and escaped as fast as he could, eN
claiming with sobs, as he went along
. ''Hermann's a good fellow, and l won
stay here to see him killed!'
Any trick is simple when you know how
, it is done, and this one was even simple
l than some There is probably no one let
now who cares to puzzle the public Wltl
, this particular Illusion, so there Is m
' further harm in telling the curious how /
= is done. There are several ways of dom.
2 most tricks. A famous French magician
:, used TO do this one by means of gul
= which was loaded with a bullet and fire,
, a blank, or performed some other similar
r ly unusual antic but Hermann allOwe
r six soldiers to fire at him and to use tn
[ guns that We're furnished to them BY IN
n state. But the soldiers We're all in tn
g secret. Hermann brought out the car
S trdges that were to be used in little or
namental case and showed them to tn
+ audience and allowed any one who chos
to mark one or more for Identification
: | The ornamental case had slide in 1t, an
on his way back to the stage he slid tn
| slide and the ball cartridges We're thereD
| concealed and the same number OF Dlan
cartridges were revealed, but only to tn
soldiers, who loaded their guns with theH
Hermann then went quickly to the sid
of the stage and gave the case to hi
| attendant. The attendant fastened to pu
| each of the cartridges into vice, I
wrench out the bullets and heat them cve
a lamp While this was going on Herman
was talking to the audience and the sol
| diers were marching about the stage an
getting into position. Then Herman
! went TO the wing to get the plate to cate
the bullets ln' lie got the DuuetS a. ~
same time' As soon as ne 6oC these II
knew that ms me was OuC OF uaHsGI' ~ ~
ne coulu not get Lheh III IheS were u'"
from the cartridges. Inen ne heiu IN
plate before hiih tie so4ule's ''e1' an
under cover OF the pun OF snlohe, 1t va
easy for nm to put the bullets INTO IN
plate ana nave them ready 10 DtihB uoW