The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1904-07-06
.C0NJJRERs OF INDIA
TaEIs FEATs COMPARED WITH
THOSE or our MAeiciANs-

THOSE OF-OVh HieAestGltesS9.
me wonders That an EnnIanh ON
Ger sew Performed By HtEh Caste
I1indoo-Herrn.mnEa E'i<eon Trick
rAnt HevyaIdered the oraentn1s-
The wonderful tales that have been
fold Of the feats of f1indoo conJurers
doubtless derive much Of their eneet
from the inability of unframed oDsery-
ers 10 report truly what they nave
seen An ordinary trick OF slelglt OF
hand may be SO described In al sim
e.ei.ity by one having no knowledge of
the art as to he utterly inexplicabie.
"A simple reversal of the sequence OF
movements may be sufficient to make
the described feat an utter impossibill-
~ and vet the relater VIII demand that
yotI ACCOUNT for 1t as he thinks he 81 "
II or admit that the dead or the devil
had a hand in it.
Ierrnnnn went to India to see for
himself what the tugglers OF the orient
couId do hoping to pick up some Won
ferfully clever tricks, but he was ut
ler.Iy disappointed. Heller, Hertz. KEEL
lar and other western magiciansi be
Iieve. had similar experiences in IN
din. At least, none of them Drought
back any notable addition to his roper
oil
that the EIindoo fakirs had a few stock
tricks depending upon apparatus. such
as the mangrove feat and the basket
deception. but were not adept in pure
sleIcllt of hand. His feats of paiIning
rnystified them completely.
For example, party of native jug
.sIers boarded the steamship in port aud
performed some of their fe;lts. Herr
mann appeared before them with Il live
niaeou In his hand, twisted of the
birds head and threw the body over
the ships side and directed their at
tention to the severed head, which he
then .svanished.'' He then held his
empty hand outstretched, and the pi-
geon aHghtcd upon his palm -unhurt.
The ETindoos were deeply impressed,
but the trick was simple. The pigeon
yvas ii pet bird trained to come to Herr
manu's hand When lac pretended to
twist its neck he tucked its head under
its wing and brought into view pre-.
pared head which had been palmed-
Tossed over tile side, the bird fell until
1t got its head out from under the
wing, and so was lost to sight for
moment. While Hermann was hold
ing the attention of his audience by
vanIsl4ng-the fake head the pigeon was
soaring to get its bearings, and it came.
to hand at the right time.
Yet there are travellers who aver
that Hermann and his fellows saw
only the common jugglers of India and
that the tales of oriental marvels are
not all lies out of whole cloth. If their
descriptions OF what they profess to
have seen are to be accepted as ap-
proximately accurate, there is fine
fieId for psychicaI research in Hindu
stan. and our western mystifiers have
much to learn.
Some years ago met veteran of
the British army who had served sew
enteen years in India and had seen
many strange things in his time. His
name was O'FarreH, and when he re-
tired he was sergeant major OF the
Eighty-fourth regiment of foot. He
was one of the garrison of Lucknow
during the siege in the time of the Sc
poy mutiny and wore the defense of
Lucknow" medal. told the veteran
what Hermann had said about Hindoo
magic, and he replied that it was more
than probable that nothing remarkable
was done by the sort of faliirs one
/ would be likely to see in run about
the country But O'FaTell declared
that lie had seen tricks which could not
be performed by sleight of hand nor
explained by any theory based upon
the methods of western conjurers, and
he referred for specific corroboration
to General A. Herbert, Sir Havelocl
Allen, General Thomas Lightfoot, Gen
eral Barton and other British officers
OF note, who. he nverred, We're present
nt n remarkable exhibition in Lucknow
in April, 1859. and made notes of what
they saw. / never have had an oppor-
tunity TO verify the references.
Sergeant Major o'Farreu produced
what lie said was his diary of 1889, and
from the entries then made lie verified
all the essential features Of his mar
rativc OF an exhibition given by ma
tive conjurer before the officers OF the
garrison Mt the request of Lieutenant
Burns OF the Royal artillery. The
scene was one OF the officers mess
rooms. selected without consultation
with the performer.
.,rhe conjurer,'' said the old soldier,
came without any apparatus or bag
gage other than casllet the size of
cigar box. He was a tall, dignified
man about fifty-tive years Of age and
evidently OF high caste. He wore tur-
ban. lowing white robe, white pajamas
ana red slippers. When he entered the
room he bowed to his audience and
then directed upon each person In turn