The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-05
MAGIC THAT MYSTIFIED OLD SEA
CAPTAINS GATHERED AT
HONGKONG
CHINESE JUGGLER's TRICKS
Performed in the Center of a Room
While Stripped to the Waist
Present to Capt.
Weber.
New York Times

| duty to act as a sort of factotum to Capt.
Eagles, the commander OF the clipper,
and some queer sights saw in his com
pany. The strangest incident, perhaps,
was one that happened at Hongkong,
| Our ship was famous for her fast PAS
sages and the officers were very popular
ashore. Capt. Eagles had a wide knowl-
edge Of the Chinese. He had no vulgar
prejudice against them as race. On the
| contrary, he appreciated their many Vir-
| tues. 1t was, however, one of his firm
convictions that a Chinese "compredore'
| is the wickedest being the devil ever
| made. A ''compredore" is a sort Of major
| domo in the houses Of the white men in
| the treaty ports. He takes charge of
| servants, levies blackmall on the trades
| men, get his little "eumshaw, COM
| mission, on every bill his employer pays
| He is the most invaluable thiev.ng rascal
in the world. He robs you all the time,
| but you can't get along without him. The
| 'compredore" who figures in the following
| story was quite innocent and guileless to
| look at, but my captain, who was a
shrewd judge of yellow men. assured me
| that he had Satan's trade mark in his ex-
| pressionless face The way We fell in
| with him was this:
| One thing that our skipper had heard
many yarns about was the skill of the
| Chinese jugglers who had the reputation
! of being superior to the Hindus in their
| peculiar feats and manifestations. The
| high-class magicians are generally at
| tached to the houses of the rich mandar-
! ms, and are 10th to exhibit their art
! before the "red-headed barbarians" Of
| foreign lands. Our skipper, however, had
! a good deal of influence with the big mer-
! chants of Hongkong and to crafty his
wish a famous juggler was induced to
| take trip to Canton and give his exhl-
bition in the house of Mr.. Roughgarden,
an Englishman Of wealth and high posi-
ton. Invitations were sent out to the
shippers of all the ships in the har5or,
and the gathering was large.
Our host was a Skeptic; he believed not
a jot in necromancy or the black art. but
he was well aware Of the devilish cunning
of the Chinese in everything they under
took. Therefore to make things as diff
cult as possible for successful deception
he removed all the furniture from the
spacious apartment in which the perform
ance was to be presented. The mating
was taken UP from the floor, leaving only
the bare boards Chairs were placed
against the four walls of the room, and on
these the spectators were seated.
Presently the juggler made his appear
ance. He was just an ordinary China
man, with all the characteristics of his
race. He wore blue jacket and trousers,
cotton stockings, and th,ck-soled shoes,
and was bare headed. There was nothing
to distinguish him from thousands of his
countrymen either in the matter of ia
clal expression or attire. A coolie follow
ed him bearing small box, which he
placed on the floor in the middle of the
room, and then took his departure.
The juggler made little speech, which
was translated into "pigln English" by
the "compredore" Of our host 1t was to
the effect that he was the grandfather
and emperor Of all the jugglers, without
a peer in the world; that this was his
first appearance before an audience of
barbarians, whom he beseeched to keep
the matter a secret from the high and
mighty mandarin to whose court he was
attached. This bombastic utterance was
the preliminary to the show. The
compredore quilted the room. AS he
passed through the door my captain
whispered to me- Jack, my lad, that
'compredore is a precious scoundrel.- 1.
can tell by the cut of his jib."
The juggler threw off his jacket, show
ing himself naked to the waist which
was grit with a white cloth. Then he
twined his long black pigtail round his
shaver scalp and was ready for bust
ness. His skin was a light golden yellow.
All eyes were fixed on him. He had
no accomplice visible to the observers
in the company. Opening the box, he
took out a porcelain vessel similar In
shape and size to a common washbowl
This he carried round the room, allowing
each to examine it with eye and hand.
He placed the basin on the bare floor
five or six feet away from the box, I'M
wound his waistcloth, and with it COW
cred the basin, which so far as our senses
of sight and touch could distinguish was
empty. All the time he had been numb
ling to himself in a sing-song tone what
was presumably an incarnation to JOSS
In a minutes time he withdrew the cloth
f,,I1 4 vy1lxV
fish three inches long was swimming in
it. Each spectator satisfied himself that
there was no deception. The water was
real water and the fish was lively fish.
His second performance was the famil-
lar feat of growing a small tree from
seed. This is common in India, but the
Chinese wizard surpassed any Hindu
fal1ir had ever seen. Out of the box he
produced a flower pot, passed it round,
allowed it to be prodded with a stick in
order that We might be convinced that it
contained nothing but earth. He planted
the seed and covered the pot with the
cloth. In twenty minutes the seed had
grown into a plant. Half an hour later
the plant had become q shrub, and after
an interval of about the same length the
shrub was in bloom, the flowers resemb-
ling those of an aSter. At no time eX-
cept when covering or uncoVering the pot
did he approach it nearer than five feet.
The third trick was stranger still, and
took much longer to perform Out of the
box he produced a large blue dish, on
which he placed pound or so of unboled
rice All of us handled the dish and the
rice. According to our tests there was
nothing abnormal about the platter. and
the rice was Enthusiastically raw If MUNICH
ing a few sample grains between the
teeth was any criterion. The lid of the
box was closed. The dish Of rice was laid
upon the floor, and the magic cloth con-
ccaled it from view Then squatting on
his launches. he barred his hands and
arms UP to his elbow, and to the accom-
paniment of his incarnation performed a
number of quaint manipulations Under
the shelter of the cloth. After a while
queer movements of an undulatory kind
were visible beneath the cloth at dis
tance apparently beyond his reach. In
half an hour the veil was removed In
stead of the single dish of unboiled rice
with which he began operations we were
astonished to behold six platters of u,fa
even sizes, each filled with some comesti-
bic of the country and one only contain
ing rice-this time boiled.
The necromancer passed the plates
round for inspection. Some of the bold
est. of us not only looked but tasted The
dishes of fish, flesh, and fowl were pro
nounced capital. 1 contented myself with
nibbling q few grains of the rice The
show concluded by the placing of the
dishes In one long row, each beside the
other laying the cloth on top, and after
an interval of twenty minutes revealing
them piled in a pyramid in symmetrical
BLOOD POISON