The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-07-20
CONJURERS OF INDIA.>

CONJURERS OF INDIA.>
The Feats ofthese Interesting Faklr
of India Compared With on,
Magicians.
The wonderful tales that have beer
told of the feats cf Hindoo coniurer!
doubtless derive much of their effect
from the inability of unframed observ
ers to report truly what they have
seen. An ordinary trick of sleight Of
hand may be 80 described in all sin.
cerity by one having no knowledge
the art as to be utterly inexplicable
A simple reversal OF the sequence oil
movements may be sufficient to make
tho described feat an utter impossible.
ty, aud yet the relater will demand that
you account for it as he thinks he saw
or admit that the dead or the devil
had a hand in it.
Herman went to India to see for
himself what the jugglers of the orient
could do, hoping to pick up some won.
derfully clever tricks, but he was ut
terly disappointed. Heller, Hertz, Kel-
lar and other western magicians, be-
lieve, had similar experiences in In
dia. At least, none of them brought
back any notable addition to his roper
tory of illusions. Hermann told me
that the Hindoo fakirs had few stock
tricks depending upon apparatus, such
as the mangrove feat and the basket
deception, but were not adept in pure
sleight of hand. His feat of palming
mystified them completely.
For example, party of native Jug
glers boarded the steamship in port and
performed some of their feats. Herr
mann appeared before them with live
pigeon in bis hand, twisted off the
birds head and threw the body over
the ships side and directed their at.
tention to the severed head, which he
then "vanished." He then held his
empty hand outstretched, and the pi-
geon alighted upon his palm unhurt.
The Hlndoos were deeply impressed,
but the trick was simple. The pigeon
was pet bird, trained to come to Herr
mann's hand. When he pretended to
twist its neck he tucked its head under
its wing and brought into view a pre-
pared head which had been paImed.
Tossed over the side, the bird fell until
it got its head out from under the
wing, and so was lost to sight for a
moment. While Hermann was hold.
ing the attention of his audience by
vanishing 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 a fine
field for psychicsl research in Hindu
stan, and our Western mystifiers have
much to learn.
Some years ago I met a 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'Farrell, and when he re-
tired he was sergeant major of the
regiment of foot. He
was one of the garrison of Lucknow
during the siege in the time of the Sc
poy mutinity anb wore the "defense of
Lucknow" medal. I told the veteran
what Hermann had said aboutHindoo
magic, and he replied that it was more
than probable that nothing remarkable
was done by the sort of fakirs one
would be likely to see in a run about
the country. But O'Farrell declared
that he had seen tricks which could not
be reformed by sleight Of hand nor
by any theory based upon
the methods of western conjurers, and
he referred for specific corroboration
to General A. Herber, SirHavelock
Allen, General Thomas Lightfoot, Gen.
eral Barton and other British officers
af note. who, he averred, were present
at remarkable exhibition in Lucknow
in April, 1859, and made notes of what
they saw. I never have had an oppor-
tunity to overfy the references.
Sergeant Major O'Farrel prodnced
what he said was his diary of 1869, and
from the entries then made he verified
all the tial features of his narrative
copjurer before the officers of the gar
rison at the request of Lieutenant Burn
of the Royal artillery, The scene was
one of the officers mess rooms, selected
without consultation with the
performer.
1.-THE conjurer," said the old soldier
"came without any apparatus or bag
gage other than casket the size of a
cigar box He was tall, dignifled
man about fifty five years of age and
evidently ofhigh caste. He worea tur-
dan, flowing white robe, white pajamas
and red slippers. When he entered the
room he bowed to his audience and
then directed upon each person in turn
the steady gaze Of a remarkable pair
of dark eyes. When he looked at me
I could see only those lustrous eyes,
and my perception of the surrounding
became confused and vague.
"The man said nothing, but at
slight sign his single attendant opened
the casket and took therefrom cash.
mere shawl, which he spread upon
the floor. The conjurer seated him.
self upon the shawl and asked in En-
plish for the loan of rupee. Colonel