The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-05-19
A CONJUROR'S ODD EXPERIENCE
Strange Feats Of Legerdemain in Odd Corners of
the World.
cNew York TimesN


that it does not exercise the same in
huence today as in the past. You must
have noticed that the cOnjurer does not
attempt now to draw an audience, he
being the sole object of attraction. He
is called upon to perform a single act
or so in a programme: then his talents
are fully appreciated. An intelligent
man with new tricks rarely fails in Sc
curing an engagement. He is fairly
well paid for his turn. AS for myself,
am never out Of a job"
How do you account for this loss Of
prestige2' was the question asked of a
prestidigitator who, aside from his
singular cleverness, is a highly edu-
Gated man, and who has Travelled all
over the world.
I have often thought over that"
was the reply. Il suppose that the mar
vels Of electricity adapted to useful
purposes have taken the wind out Of
the sails Of the conjurer. Fifty years
ago, when that Frenchman, Houdin,
introduced electricity in his perform
ances, what he did astonished his audi
ences, for the results were far beyond
the comprehension, not alone Of the ig-
nOrant but Of the educated. Anyhow,
the true art Of the prestidigitatOr. as
the name implies, must depend only on
slight Of hand We all make use Of
mechanical adjuncts, and very cum
ningly are they devised, but the per-
former is never certain that there are
not in the audience many who detect
the way Of doing the trick. The false
bottom school belongs to the trap-door
business Of the theatres. You can buy
for tribe q box full-of things manu-
featured for children, which formed
the Ia sis Of u40 in
trade Of the past.
Some years ago was at one of our
Indian reservations. Some of the off,
GERS in the fort asked me'to give a per-
Torrance for the special entertainment
Of the Indians. 1t was a big success,
but I noticed that the redmen appreci-
ated most the tricks Of pure slight Of
hand. When the show was over, one Of
the head men was introduced TO me-
Commenting on my performance, he
said to me:
You smart, but make no trick as
good as a steamboat. You come see me
and 1 do something for you. My father
he great shaman.
4 accompanied the chief to his adobe
shanty. He showed me on the shelf a
number Of dried gourds with false bot
toms. Very DID, was his comment
They no good now Now I 90 trick
for you Give me your gloves It was
a fairly cold day, and had on a pair
Of heavy mitteTis. I took them off and
gave them to the man. He put the
mittens in a buckskin bag, and at once
swung the bag first slowly, then more
and more rapidly around his head. You
may be quite certain that / kept a
strict watch on the man and his bag
Then my performer, who never took
his eyes off me, suddenly loosed the
bag which few TO one corner of the lit
tie room. / wanted TO pick UP the bag,
but my man said, No Then he mo-
toned me to look behind me. He point
ed to a piece Of cane about three feet
long, held in place horizontally by two
nails driven in the wall. I did so, and
inside OF the hollow cane, sure enough.
were my mittens. The fact that the
cane was behind me gave me the clue
There must have been a confederate
who managed to slip in the cane with
my mittens in 1t, and there must have
been a hole in the wall opening on the
outside Of the room. It was a smart
enough trick and the bag business was
prime.
Did the swinging bag exercise some
hypnotic action on my brain? With an
- Z ~ nucAnElo uAAEAEtl AAAE LALALaAL gu
If he would show me the trick. He de-
clined the money. The bag he had
pOcketed, and he would not let me ex-
anime it.
Zone thing in the Indians favor was
that the little room was fairly dim,
though not dark He was a most ex-
asperating savage. He declined a sec
Ond performance. Anyhow, he present
ed me with one Of his double bottom
gourds, saying: White man he come
to Indian and want 10 show him things.
White man he mighty proud Indian
he think know no more than burrO. Go
home, white man, and make play for
little children
Returning to my own acquaintance
with audiences: To me a Russian audi
ence is the most sympathetic. I gave
several performances at Odessa. Not
knowing the language was a serious
drawback, but for all that I got along
splendidly The more ignorant the au-
dience the greater the success, only
that some Of the Russians seemed to
take my tricks too seriously They
may have thought me endowed with
demOniacal powers. The morning after
my last performance noticed that all
the little children I met in the street
ran away from me. ] would not like
to carry out a series Of performances
in rural Russia. might not come out
alive.
"a good man years ago I was per
forming at a variety show in New
York I noticed among the audience a
remarkably fine looking japanese. ]
generally spot some one in the audi
ences and play for him. I gauge in
that way the success OF my play. This
japanese was fairly stOlid and not en-
thusiastic. Once came near making
a blunder. II was not my mistake, my
assistant, call him my confederate, was
az fault. No one seemed 20 notice IL
save the japanese. I felt fairly certain
that the Jap knew something about the
business made up my mind that I
would have a talk with him after the
performance. He did not give me the
opportunity. for when looked for him
again he had left the house. Though I
watched for his coming at other per-
formances he never turned up. I had
quite forgotten the incident.
"One hot summer night I was going
to my lodgings. II was toward mid
night. when I noticed that just before
me there was a man staggering rather
than walking Some intoxicated fel-
low I said 70 myself, and I will give
him the sidewalk. The man reeled and
fell I picked up the recumbent fig
ure. II was my japanese. for IL is a
part Of my training never to forget a
face. Was it a case Of liquor or Of
opium? I knew that intemperance is
not one Of the japanese failings. Pres
emily the man came to, and it was evil
dent 70 me that he had had a fainting
1T I asked him where he lived. The
address he gave me was a hotel at
quite distance I offered 10 take him
10 my rooms. which were near BY. An
other fainting NJ then came on. With
the assistance Of a policeman we car
ried the japanese 70 my rooms. The
poor fellow became seriously i'll. I sent
for a doctor and did all could for him.