Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1898-06-23
OOiNCS OF THE YCClS.
How a Clever Trick Was Stolen From n
Indian Fakfr.

now u SieSer lrlck was stolen From
Indian Fakir.
when I first went to India to study
the doings of the Yogis, I had fakirs
gathered from far and wide to give me
exhibitions" says a magician in the
New York Sun. "They showed ordi-
nary tricks, and when the perform
nnce was over told them through the
interpreter that was very much dis
pleased with the childish things they
had shown me, and intended to strike
them with lightning. They said they
had no fear. They were in the bust
ness themselves, and 1 could not
frighten them. L made some passes.
and they stood before me boldly till T
made furious pass and shouted, and
their clothing burst into flames. Then
they fled IN terror, casting off their
light robes, and my reputation as q
wonder worker was established in
India. The trick was very simple
one. I had discovered fluid which
ignited spontaneously and burned
quite fercely after being exposed to
the air for minute and q half. A
few drops of this, scattered on the
clothing of the fakirs by my confeder-
ate, did the trick.
after 1 got my reputation among
them the Indians trotted out the best
they could do. I found out that the
mango trick is done by substitution.
AS I have said, they are far ahead of
us in sleight of hand. Then they
have cloths that help them, as they
are much bigger than the hand
kerchiefs used by our magicians.
They begin by planting q mango seed
and covering it with cloth. They
work under the cloth with their
hands, and then remove the cloth at
intervals, showing you the mango
bush growing larger and larger. At
last they show you large bush that
has fruit on it. 1t appears to have
grown from the seed, but it is all a
trick, done by substitution. The
mango is as tough as whalebone, and
can be crumpled up in any old way
and packed into very small compass.
Working under the cloth with his
hands, the magician straightens the
leaves out.
81 stole trick from an Indian fakir
one time. He threw brick dust in
pail of water, took some of it out, and
blew it away. He did the same with
sand. Then he stirred the brick dust
up and made it thick. Then he took
an egg-shaped piece of brick from his
pocket and scraped it with his knife to
show that it was genuine. He put it
in the pail, and standing back began
an incantation.
".'Ramee Samee! Rance Samee of
Bombay' he cried. Come to me and
Sahib give me five rupees Out
jumped the egg straight at him. 1
could not make out how that was
done.
"Now, one of the rules of our pro-
fession is never to play the same trick
twice in succession, because specta-
tors are watching very sharply, but
these fakirs would sell their grand
mothers for dollar. The man played
the trick over again for me. Still 1
could not see how 1t was managed, and
insisted on seeing it third time.
You have an invisible thread I
said. You wave your arms about
and pull the thread and the egg comes
to you
''The old fellow laughed at me and
did the trick again. sat close by the
pail craning my neck over it. Sud.
denly made dive in the pail with
my hand. The magician made a dive
for me, but my attendant headed him
off. I tished up the egg seated on a
sort of catapult made of an iron spring
held back by bit of rock salt. When
the salt dissolved it loosened the
spring and that threw the egg out.
While 1 was studying this out the
magician was making an awful clamor
about the act of robbery L had COM
mitted. l acknowledged that 1 had
done very unprofessional thing and
asked how much he thought ought
to pay him. He said that five rupees
would make it all right. L gave him
ten and he went away very happy"
Almost n NIile-a-Minute Elevator.