The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-14
A MAGICIAN IN ALGERIA.
sent There by French Government
to Impress the MarabOUts.

To witness Houdins first performance
in Algiers the neighboring tribes were
invited The theater was speedily filed
with them and the French officials, who
attended in all their pomp and glory In
| tcrpreters were scattered through the
| house in order to repeat Houdins remarks
to the natives in their own language With
! true Oriental dignity and gravity, the
Arabs witnessed the first few tricks in
stolid silence, but the taking of a huge
cannon ball from a borrowed hat aroused
great excitement. Then came the great
| tricks of the evening especially prepared
to astonish the Arabs.
by wonderful power which possess, 3"
said Houdin, Il can deprive any man of
his strength. l invite any one to prove
my words"
on this being interpreted to the Arabs,
tall, strong man stepped forward on the
stage. Houdin held in his hand a little
iron DoX, and, balancing il carelessly Oh
his little finger, he asked the Arab:
Are you strong?"
Yes" replied the man carelessly.
Are you sure OF always remaining SOP
Always"
Lift the box"
The Arab did SO, and asked contemptu-
ously:
is that alp"
Wait" said Houdin, making a solemn
gesture. Now, you are weaker than a
woman. Try to lift that box again"
The Arab seized the handle and tugged
| again. He could not raise the box an inch
from the floor. After many attempts, he
! paused for moment to brace himself for
final effort. He seized the handle again
/ but shriel1ed aloud with pain, dropped
/ on his knees, then, rising, threw his cloak
/ round his face to conceal his shame and
rushed from the theater, leaving his com
| patriots stricken with fear. The trick
! was as simple as the result was startling
! The box was placed on a powerful electro
magnet, and the current being complete.
| no man on earth could have lifted il. An
| electric shock, sent at a signal by Hou-
din from behind the stage, was what caus-
ed the Arab to shrek and hurIiedly re-
treat
Before the excitement caused by this
trick had subsidized, Houdin announced
that he had a talisman which rendered
him inVulnerable, and he dehed the best
shot in Algiers to kill him A marabout
Immediately sprang on the stage, eX-
claiming, L want to kill you" Boudln
handed him a pistol, which the Arab, ex-
aiming, pronounced a good one. 1t is
a good pistol, and I will kill you"
Very WELL" said Houdin; TO make
sure, put in a double charge of powder
Here's a wad. Take a bullet from this
tray and mark it so you viii know it
! again Ram it into the pistol well"
TT is done"
Now" said Houdin, 'you say the pis-
tol is a good one, and you've loaded it
well, so kill me-"
YES" replied the marabout, II will do
that"
Houdin took pear, stuck It on a knife
and walked a few PAGES in front of the
Arab and told him 10 aim at his heart He
fired, and the marked bullet was seen on
the pear. After the powder and wad were
rammed home, and while the Arab was
marking the bullet Houdin slipped little
tube into the pistol. This tube was closed
at the lower end, and into this The Arab
dropped the bullet As he thrust the wad
down with the ramrod, the tub fitted
snugly on to it, and was Withdrawn with
it, being polished To resemble it. Houdin
thus got possession of the marked ball
and all was then plain sailing.
on one occasion during his visit to AL
giers Houdin was placed in a very awk-
ward position, from which he only extri-
Gated himself by his quick wittedness. He
was the guest of an Arab chief. Abou AL
lem, and entertained his host and friends
by few tricks. one of the company was
a marabout, who asserted that the specta-
tors in Algiers had been merely duped by
vision. Houdin however produced the
feeling his sash the marabout found there
a fve-frauc piece. Convinced by this and
other feats that Houdin was really a sOr-
cerer, he challenged him to repeat his per
Torrance in the theater, and produced two
pistols. You need moi fear" said The
Arab since you know how to ward off
bullets" Without losing his self-posses-
sion Houdin explained that his invulnera-
blity lay in a talisman which was with
his possessions in Algiers. by six hours
prayer, however / can do without that
talisman, and at O'Clock tomorrow
morning you can fire az me-"
Al the appointed time there was large
concourse Of Arabs, which the news had
attracted The pistols were brought aud
carefully examined The marabout drop
ned ia the powder. HOudin handed him a
bullet from the tray, and he rammed IL
down Houdin then loaded his own uist0,
and walking about fifteen PAGES away
turned and faced the marabout The shot
was fired and the Frenchman opened his
mouth and showed The bullet between his
teeth you shal see what my shoe can
do" lie fired AZ the marabout, and imme-
diately rcd lash was seen GA he white
washed wall before which he was stand
INK The Arab was uu ouc1.d; stap piping up
10 the wall he dipped bis finger An me red
spfash. tasted ~, and realizing that Il was
Blood. collapsed Ia amazemenL
Though The trick was simple, only
Houdin could have devised and carried Il
out successfully. During the night he had
melted some wax. b!acken d il 10 look like
lead and run u IN 10 a bullet mold. thus
obtaining q hollow globe Of wax. exactly
resembling bul.et in appear
snce. II was with this bull
lei the maraDout loaded his plstos.
and in rainming II down crushed 30 40
powder. 4 second bu T. similarly madc
iioudin ulled with blood cbtalned ircm his
own body. This ne dropped into his o. $40
ard rammcd 81 down very gen iy. 70 aa rot
10 crush ,t As i airucl, tine wai d Was
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