The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1901-02-01

a live duck and runs down to the foot
lights for applause. The duck is pre-
viously put in a cloth bag, with a stick
running through some rings at the top.
closing the bag. the duck and bag are
hidden in the top of the stab1esand when
h picks up the paper she pulls the
stick and the bag opens and lets the
duck out.
One of the prettiest tricks that the
old a (Hudson used the term low
ingly) ever played vas the one where
he grew a beautiful rose bush from a
seed on a table in full sight of the nu-
dience. The tables are about three
feet high. In front they are covered
within a short distance of the floor. The
backs are open n a rose bush Id
ready prepared in each table. The ma
gician drops a seed on the table in a
little pile of dirt. Then he takes q big
tube and puts yer the seed, and makes
some passes. When he picks up the
tube a twig is shown. Then he shows
the empty tube again, and carelessly
sets it down at the back of the table.
lie is putting it over another tube
which sets in the table below the icvel
of the audiences gaze. This tube con-
tains a full grown rose bush. The pro-
fessor takes the lube containing the
plant up and puts it on another table
for an instant. This is growing faster.
I think he says, and jerks the tube
off. The roses drop to their natural po-
sition, waving about and make a pretty
sight. While the audience is watching
them the professor is. picking up a
third tube and bringing out another
rose bush, for the other table.
Swing and 'Irilby'' Tricks.
1.-The famous swing trick that the
old man used to do with the madame
is easy, too. Mrs. Hermann, you
know, .ssas put in a chair. and raised up
on a swing into the air. Hermann
fired a pistol and the madame disap-
peared, the chair dropping to the floor.
That's done with a black background.
You can do anything with a black
back, you know.
Mrs. Hermann is dressed in white.
and shows cry plainly against the
black back. When she sits in the chair
she Is sitting on a false bottom. The
ropes that raise her pass under the
false bottom, but they are not fastened
to the chair. When they commence to
raise her she holds the chair with her
feet, and when the shot is fired drops
as some people think, because her
dress would show where she is going.
Instead when the shot is fired it holds
the attention Of the audience for an In
slant, and in that brief space of time
q couple of black curtains are pulled
over the ,nadame's light dress. The
audience thinks h has dissolved, and
cneers when the professor runs down
to the footlights with the empty chair.
THE 'Trilby' trick done by Herr
mann, jr.. shows a man mesmerized
and laid out on an ordinary plank. The
plank is placed on two chairs. Herr
mann, jr., waves his wand and one end
of h plank rises and rests on thin
air. He waves it again and the other
end rises. He takes the chairs away
and walks around the plank, showing
that there is nothing supporting it.
With a stick he strikes through the air
above, below and at all sides. The
audience is tickled half to death. You
of cultured people who have studied
spiritualism and mesmerism, and al
that, than a lot Of ignorant persons.
Escape From Sing Sing.
A a matter of fact, when the plank
is placed on the. chairs an iron bar
about an inch thick is run out from the
background and slipped into a slot in
the center Of the plank. Machinery in
back of the background raises the
plank and the man. The illusion is
done by the professor. When the audi
ence thinks he walks clear AROUND in
the back Of the plank, he only goes up
to the iron bar, which is covered with
red and doesn't show against the red
background, and leans against it. Then
he goes around to the other side and
does the same, and the audience has
brain flag trying to figure it out
THE Escape from Sing Sing always
worried the audience. In that two
cages were shown. Hermann called
for a prisoner and the guard brought
one Hermann threw him into a cage,
and drew the curtains around the cage
for ar instant. Then he fired a pistol
and raised the curtain. The prisoner
was gone. and the guard stood in his
place. The prisoner Immediately ran
down from the back of the audience.
Hermann cried: You won't get away
this time and put him into the second
cage. This was raised clear up to the
ceiling before the shot was fired. In
Hstaltly the curtains drop from the first
cage on the floor and the prisoner is
there. The cage In the air is shown
empty.
This is the trick: The stage is Sc;
for a prison scene, with gray back
ground, barred cages. etc. The two
cages are made with screens, the same
color as the background OF scene, run.
ming down their centers. There are
two prisoners made up alike. The
guard is standing in the back half OF
h first cage when the prisoner is first
put in 1t. When the curtains are drawn
down in the Gag for an instant, he
changes place with the prisoner, and
pulls the dividing screen down again
The outside curtains are raised and the
audience sees the guard in the cage
and thinks it sees clear through the
cage to the background, but in reality
only sees the gray screen which hides
the prisoner. The second prisoner
comes running down from the audi.
ence-the audience thinking him the
1rst-and is put into the second care
When this is closed and drawn up IL
III ceiling he is getting into the bach
of the Gage ORA wing III orIn