Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-01-26
arc, ,fter the sheriff of south Bend, Ind.

AFRO, after the sheriff of south Bend. Ind.
had taken all my properties except my
dress suit, / walked over TO Laporte.
'bummed' my way into Chicago and
crossed the city with the intention OF going
to waukegan. The Northwestern railroad
conductor, however, was not to be talked
out OF a ride, and I walked into the village
OF Waukegan. A good natured irishman
owned the Phoenix hall, which ne mad
named so because he had built II on the
site OF one that had burned. My enusive
congratulations over the brilliancy of the
idea won me his favor and ! got the nail
without an advance payment. / got a pack
OF cards from a saloon, some imitation
coins from a tinshop, borrowed a clothes-
line and some baby clothes, talked the
local printer out of 1000 bills and got ready
for the show. As / had no pistol with
which to fire the borrowed ring at a target
I had 70 be satisfied with having my tenn
porary assistant throw it out of the WIN
dow. which was lone In fun view ct the
audience. / had procured the names OF
several prominent persons in the town
from the printer, who acted as ticket seller
IN order to be sure to get hio money.
IT placed the borrowed ring in a small
plain envelope, put this in another witnah-
other one on which l had written the name
Of a Miss Worthington, put this one IN
stiu another with another name on IT ana
repeated the process with six envelopes.
After the ring had been thrown from the
window I passed the envelope into inc
audience and il went from hand to hand
as the various names on the successive en-
velopes indicated. 1t happened that one
bearing the name of Miss Worthington
and containing the ring was passed by
those who knew her to the very woman
from whom I had borrowed the ring. That
the ring should find its way back to the
owner in this manner was a most surpris-
ing thing, for ii would not happen more
than once in a lifetime. The audience
promptly declared that either Miss WORTH
ington was in collision with mo or l was
old Nick himself. The lady Indignantly
and truthfully declared her innocence or
collision. / looked wise. The next night
the hall was packed and I did not have to
walk out of Waukegan. During this same
performance, having no guinea pig, 1 was
forced to use a kitten IN some or my
work, and the thing meowed so that l was
compelled to keep up a constant meowing,
as the Hindus hiss to conceal the Kissing
of their cobras."
This man Of uncanny dexterity, strange
Iy enough to the layman, has hands broad
and thick, and the fingers are short. He
explained:
'"The public thinks a conjurer should
nave hands like a pickpocket's-long
slender. How could the feats OF palming
be lone with thin hands? The most skilled
man in the world with a pack of cards is
Pat Sheedy, who has hands like hams. He
could not do stage performances with
credit, but at the table-well, he's too fast
for me to keep track of. Pa once said to
me: Kellar, you have one advantage OF
me. The greater becomes your reputa-
ton the more money you make; the great
er becomes my reputation the less j can
make"
Every mail brings Kellar offers Of new
tricks. Ever on the lookout for novelties
he answers all such letters.
while l am still hoping, / never yet
have had a trick offered that is feasible.
The latest was the suggestion for a new
deviation act, one In which | was to sub
stitute an inflated rubber lady for the real
one, the advantage pointed out being that
/ would not only not have TO support the
rubber person, but that I would AVE to
keep M hands on top of her to keep her
from going up like q balloon. l did not
buy the suggestion.
More numerous than the trick invent
ors, though, are the superstitious persons
who believe. themselves possessed of dew
lis or evil geniuses inflicted by their enc
mics. They believe / can relieve them.
and, in fact, 7 always do. / told the last
woman that came to me to open the Bible
at a certain page, turn back seven pages,
insert a rose leaf, turn back forty-nine
pages more, insert another rose leaf, turn
pack sixty-three pages, insert a third rose
leaf, put the bible under her pillow for
one night and believe herself cured. She
followed instructions, and was immedi-
ately relieved, as l knew she would be.
Recently a man In Milwaukee, who
claimed TO own a devil, applied to me, and
I cured him in a day with the use of a
bunch Of heads from timothy hay. The
number Of people in the world who believe
these things Is marvellous"
do you ever employ confederates in the
audience?"
Never; neither does any performer
worthy Of the name. In the v~ernacular,
such work would be too coarse and, be-
sides, II could not be done without the one
employed telling 1t. How long would a
reputation last? Even my constant as
sistants do not know how the more inn
portant tricks are done. There Is always
a missing link hat we keep to ourselves"
"Then how do you tell just which ring
to return TO q certain woman?"
Eyes, the prevalence Of superstition Is
truly astounding" unused the conjurer.