Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-10-19
SECRETS OF FAMOUS TRICKS.
Peeps Into the Occult at Little New
York Shop.


Sixth avenue, with playing cards,
goblets, boxes and other innocent
looking objects in the window, in
which is manufactured most Of the
magicians' apparatus used in North
and South America and a good deal
Of that used in Europe and the ORR
ent. Persons interested In the occult
would be SURPRISED to see on the
books of the establishment the or
ders from India itself for apparatus
to be used in conjuring tricks by ma
tive Indians.
The little shop Is the headquarters
of magic in America. The walls are
covered with portraits Of famous
performers, the place Is full OF SOU
venirs Of them and the proprietor
can tell many stories Of them and
their art.
He has for instance, the vanishing
cage of Buatier de Kolta, which
Mrs. de Kolta presented to him after
the death of the conjurer. Sleight
Of hand men declare that de Kolta
was the greatest prestidigitator that
ever lived. He never used a trick
invented by any other person, and he
is said to have invented more tricks
which have been copied by other
performers than any other man.
This vanishing cage was q, favorite.
1t was simply bird cage. containing
live canary, which he held out in
plain view of the audience. Then
the whole thing disappeared.
That was all there was to It, but
1t was most mysterious. The cage
was collapsible and disappeared up
de Kolta's sleeve. The art consiiIt-
ed in making 1t disappear invisibly
and without hurting the canary.
De Kolta made this cage with his
own hands. Most prestidigitors have
been expert mechanics. Many of
them have originally been watchma-
kers or optical instrument manufac-
turers. The next most prolific sources
Of supply have been the professions
Of chemistry and medicine.
A souvenir Of Alexander the
Great" Hermann shows the pleasure
which that prince Of the art took In
his own hocus pocus. This was too
small a trick to use on the stage,
and he invented It merely to amuse
his friends in his own home.
1t is little cabinet of ebony, in
laid with mother of pearl. contain
ing thirty-two small drawers. just
the size of playing card, all num-
bered. The observer was asked TO
choose one of the thirty-two cards
and to name the drawer in which he
would have 1t appear. The card al
ways appeared in the right drawer.
The conjurer's art lay in compelling
the selection Of the right card. The
drawers had false bottoms and
springs, and a cards like that Sc
lected had been previously concealed
In all of them, waiting for a deft
pressure to bring 1t TO light in the
drawer selected.
Visitors to the proprietor Of this
little shop Of magic sometimes SIT
down unawares upon a plain, old
fashioned sofa which they are sur
prised to learn was once the throne
of a high priestess Of the occult,
Miss HaidIe Heller, in her famous
second sight act with Robert Heller.
This trick awakened wide interest
thirty years ago. 1t seemed most
mysterious and inexplicable and puz-
zled even those who knew that 1t
was a trick.
Miss Heller sat upon the sofa
blindfolded and with her back to the
audience. Heller, in the audience
borrowed objects from the spec
tators, and Miss Heller described
them sometimes. Not a word was
spoken by Heller, nor could she see
him to get her cue by his gestures.
The apparatus did it all. The sofa
was wired for an electric battery.
A confederate sat In the audience,
his chair connected with the battery,
the electric push button under the
seat. A code was arranged by which
Miss Heller knew exactly what to
say.
The performance was rendered
more mysterious by Heller's talking
to her in part of the tests. Some peo-
pie, of course, supposed that he was
giving her the cue with his questions.
But when the same results were OBJ
tained in silence the suspicious were
also mystified.
Apparatus is an elastic term when
used in connection with legerdemain.
Some pieces Of appartus can be con-
cealed between two fingers. Others
flll boxes ten feet long.
The earliest magicians used cum
bersome apparatus. Frikell, Finn,
born in 1918, who was knighted by
the king of Denmark and received
diamond rings and the like from
most Of the soverefgns Of Europe,
revolutionized the art. He used no
apparatus at all.
This tendency prevailed for many
years, but at the present time the
tendency toward big, snowy effects
and gorgeous stage settings is bring
ing in the use Of more complicated
apparatus than ever. A first class
magician now travels with a railroad
car full Of apparatus. Fifteen thou
sand dollars Is not an unusual sum
to pay for staging first-class magi-
clans show nowadays.
1t is a mechanical age. Present
day 2residigitators in no way excel
the olu fellows in pure legerdemain,
but q flood OF mechanical inventions
has come TO help them, and all the
conjurers have to do is to manipulate
these skilfully and gracefully. Their
task Is no easier, however, for 1t Is
sharper, and more skeptical age than
the earlier men played to, and one
used to mechanism Of all kinds.
The little shop carries a thousand
different kinds of apparatus in stock.
Then there are thousands Of others
which it is called upon to make, some
Of them very old. Every day some
book or leaf of a book will arrive
sro,, kalamazoo or Calcutta with a