The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-10-09
SECTION THREE


an of the service and one Of the
best story teliers that ever enter
tanned company Of after dinner
smokers. His uneasy bark had tossed
all seas and he had made the best OF
his many visits to the worlds strange
lands. His account of the mystifying
feats of the fakirs of India was the
most complete had ever heard. and his
explanation OF their battling perform
ances the most plausible. Said the
captain:
'',rhe first time 1 saw one OF those
brown fellows doing his tricks III
tell you II opened my eyes as wide as
saucers. We were laying in an East
Indian port. several miles out when ne
came swimming through the surf and
scrambled w the ships anchor chain
as nimble as a monkey He wore no
clothing except narrow cloth around
his loins and had nothing else upon
him but "A red cloth about yard square.
The first thing he did was TO PICK up
from the deck a ball of Irvine which
some sailors were using to- repair
sail. and. you will doubtless not be-
Iieve it, as he unwound the string
from the ball il went straight up in the
air instead Of falling 20 the deck i'm
accordance with the law of graVita-
tion.
Paralyzed Chicken.
Going to nearby chicken coop he
pulled forth half grown fowl which
naturally suuawked for dear life when
he put his hands upon it. Imagine our
surprise. as he put it down upon the
deck. TO see it keel over on its side as
il poWerless to move. Once or twice
81 fluttered a little as the fakir looked
away. but each time it soon ceased its
struggles and lay as If dead. After a
few moments had elapsed the performer
turned his attention to something else,
and the bird. released from the spell
he held over it, arose to its feet and
ran away with startled cries. evidenc-
ing alarm and establishment at its
strange experience. He then took
from the hand of a sailor a half cocoa
nut and holding this aloft caused
twelve buckets of water TO flow from
it
Mind you. this fellow cSme over
the rail of the ship dripping wet from
his long swim through the surf He
could not have had "A confederate or
any means of assistance on board be-
cause we had just come to anchor after
a voyage of several thousand miles.
Everything he used i'm his first tricks
belonged to the ship or the people on
board. An audience of several hun
dred persons crowded close around him.
and there was no possible chance for
deception The fakir ne Kt took "A large
earthen dish. poured into it a gallon of
water. held il in his left hand, the
other hand being lifted to his fore
head. The vessel began to diminish in
size and shrank until il entirely disap-
peared. Suddenly we saw a broken OBJ
ject no bigger than grain of sand
which grew larger and larger until the
dish reappeared and gradually assumed
its original form, filled with water,
which he spilled upon the deck.
The Mysterious Red Cloth.
His last performance left US so
amazed. that / for one. went into a
splitting headache from thinking about
ii. He held UP for inspection the red
cloth which ne brought with him. In
order TO keep it from getting wet as he
swan out he had il tied TO the back
OF his neck in a tight little bundle. He
passed il along and everybody examined
il closely. There was evidently moth
ing unusual about it. It was just a
plain piece OF goods of coarse texture.
After spreading it out fat upon the
deck he walked around il several times.
muttering TO himself and turning his
eyes upward Something began to
move beneath the cloth. It grew in
size DIS We looked. and out hoped a
monkey, chattering and grinning like
a little savage. In another minute an
, ugly cobra poked its venomous head
from under the edge of the cloth and
wriggled out in plain view. I am death
~ afraid OF snakes, and despise the
sight of monkeys. but to save my life
/ could not move out Of my tracks. Ny
feet were riveted to the deck as secure
~ as If they had been spiked. A much
larger object began to stir beneath the
mysterious red cloth, and a girl about
twelve or fourteen years old arose to