The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-19
THE PRINCE OF CONJURERS
THE CLEVER GENIUS OF ROBERT HOUDIN.
Ills Algerian Experiences-Use of the Electric Current to Impress the Arabs-A Bold Stratagem. ..

Through the "black art" of magic is the modern art of conjuring is not yet a century old. Formerly all tricks and magic were supposed to be performed by the power of the Prince of Darkness, and the practitioners of the art of magic pursued their business at the risk of being arrested and condemned to death for witchcraft. But even after this idea was exploded, conjurers still affected the dress and mystery of the oiI raagicians. They wore long, flowing robes, fancifully embroidered with the signs of the zodiac, which, besides inn pressing their audiences greatly, were very useful for the concealment of ob- Jects which the conjurer wished to pro- duce suddenly. The stage also was fancifully draped, and the table cover ed with long cloth, concealing asss- tants. With such meretricious aids and secret confederates, conjuring was easy.
 To Frenchman is due the credit of iCilouiiClIlS elll SuCI diuSs anu Ol pel forming novel tricks in an apparently open manner. Jean Eugene Robert, the father or modern conjuring, was the son of watchmaker anw was born at Blois in 1895. His genius for mechani- cal construction was early apparent and while at school he made some ella 1 borate wooden works, which were set in motion by captive mouse. Despite this pronounced bent for mechanics, his father placed him in a lawyers office His first deed there was to arrange a large tlrd-cage so that the inmates had to work for their living, pulling ur buckets from the well for drink and hauling up little wagons of seed for their dinner. About this time his fath r had intrusted to him for repairs me chanical snuff box. and after six months work in the early morning young Robert succeeded similar box On the lid there was the picture of a wood; when the spring was touched, a little rabbit ran out of 1t and began tc { eat on the roadside. Then man and a dog appeared, and the former raising his gun, fired at the rabbit, which fled q followed by the dog.
 1 Convinced by this and other efforts of his son that Jean would never make a lawyer, NJ. Robert allowed him to de- l vote his time to mechanical work. ir which, he soon became an adept. When twenty-five years old he went tc Paris, where he met and married Mad j emoiselle Houdin, whose name he add ed to his own, as is frequently don ir France. At the Exhibition of 1889, M Robert t-Houdin was awarded silver medal for mechanical ingenuity. He constructed a writing-table at which 6 i man waws seated with writing ma. terials This figure on being asked any question immediately wrote down ar answer to it. For this purpose Houdir had prepared set of answers which would fit any question, and by secretly ] setting in motion the machinery, after the question had been put, the inquirer saw the figure writing the reply before his eyes. Another automaton o1 Houdin's was a bakery with cooks working inside; one of them came tc the door, and on receiving an order fol i a certain kind of cake. disappeared 1T the house, immediately returned witt l it.
 In his spare moments Houdin was assiduousiy practising the art of con turing, and in 1S45 he opened little theatre in the Palais Royal. His per. formance was different from that of al i other magicians. He had no ponderou. i double e-bottomed boxes and tables; ht renounced the use of confederates ant the long astrologer's robes, appearing il | ct ircy Eo and cumbrous apparatus of the old con I jurer, Houdin substituted genuine skill ''the cuickness of the hand which de ceives the eye," of which the moderr juggler so glibly talks, was introduced i by Houdin, and his tricks were as move and fresh as his methods. Nearly al the best tricks of today were invented by Houdin. He had a crystal clocl which struck an hour a spectator called for a glass box, swinging in the air into which marked coins mysteriously | passed The feats of producing bow of water with goldfish swimming therein from an "inexhaustable bottle, were all designed by Houdin; and last but not least, so also was the mystery of second-sight. All Paris flocked tt see these wonderful performances. ant Houdin soon amassed a fortune, and re tired to devote his time to eXberiment in mechanics and electricity.
 But in 1856 he consented to resum his role as conjurer and go to Algeria as the representive of the French gov ernment. The Arabs of that countr, lived in a state of intermittent warfare with the French, constantly rising il rebellion like the Indian tribes on ou
 Northwest frontier. Just as the latte are constantly melted to rebel by thei mullahs or priests, whom they regard 1 as divinely inspired, so the Arabs wer under the control of the marabouts who retained their religious authorit. by performing feats of native magic | In order to prove the superiority of tn l French, Houdin was invited to yisi Algiers and expose the paltriness of hi! own wonders.
 To witness Houdins first performance in Algiers the neighboring tribes wer invited The theatre was speedily fillet with them and the French officials wh' attended in all pomp and glory. Inter preters were scattered through tn | house in order to repeat Houdin's re marks to the natives in their owl language With true Oriental dignit. and gravity, the Arabs witnessed tn first few tricks in stolid silence, but tn taking of huge cannon-ball from ;