The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1909-08-07
BLACK ART


Del AdelDnias now a business man
and a member OF the town council OF
Tukwila. lays claim to having been
the first person to carry the black
art across the Arctic circle.
Adelphia since early manhood, and
until only recently. has followed the
vocation of magician. and his wander
ings as such with various theatrical
and vaudeville companies have taken
him over the United States several
times and into many foreign coun-
tries. In 1901 he and his own com
pany toured Alaska and northern
British Columbia, giving performances
at every station
Il shall never forget. said AdeIphia
in describing his northern trip to
group of friends recently, "the time
performed before Chief Isaacs and
a bunch OF his subjects at Moosehide,
a typical northern Indian village a
few days before Christmas, 1901.
had given a performance the day be-
fore at Dawson, and an acquaintance
had made there suggested that we
could have some rare sport by inyad-
the Moosehide with magic.
Accordingly, accompanied by my
new friend, l drove over there the
next day in a sled The wonderment
of the Siwashes was first excited
when two MISUNDERSTANDING trunks
were unloaded from the sled in front
of the chiefs hut A few words to the
chief by my friend put us in good
with him and ne invited us inside
with our trunks, summoned the saw
ages from the outside and introduced
me in his crude way as the white
medicine man.
Il had things all my own way, and
during the performance ! was able to
resurrect old tricks that had had to
drop from my repertoire years ago be-
cause they had become so common
that a white audience would laugh
me down should | have the nerve to
exhibit them in this day and age.
Il started of with the old thread
bare stunts, such as palming cards,
turning water into wine. etc, and it
was not many minutes until was
looked upon by my ignorant audience
as veritable devil
what did those poor children Of
nature know about the double com
partment pistol, the mysterious egg
basket, the loaded hat or the traps in
the tables2 A chair to them was a
ehair. nothing more The old chief
was nonplus5ed when, after l had
manipulated the egg bag for a minute
ne asked to be allowed to feel inside
it, and he found it was empty Again
he felt and it was full OF eggs, eggs
We're everywhere-o the floor, under
the table, in the folds of his garments
and he was given great laugh when
! even plucked a couple from his
mouth guess he is still trying to
figure out whence they came and
where they disappeared.
The abject simplicity Of the ma
tives was forcibly shown when !
grabbed one Of the youngsters by the
nose and told him TO blow through
that organ. He did. and / told him
sharply to blow hard This he did
as commanded and thought he and
all the rest would drop dead when a
whole psc'; of playing cards shot out
anparcr " from his nostrils and hut
tered 70 the ground This trick was
repeated By request npon another
Young native and another deck oil
cards was bown from Siwash nasal
appe dage ara scrambled FOR BY the
ys1n ,stors Irlookcd out OF the doc:
Of the hut few minutes later to see
sLsce o. four q the little fellows ont
sac holding each others noses and
blowing for dear life in an effort TO
produce more pasteboards
Haly potato trick, though. brought
TIE show to a speedy climax If I
hadn't stopped when did ia have
been bankrupt asked old lsaaes if
he had potato The chief ordered
his squaw 70 bring one, which She
did then called for a knife. and
with the knife started to cut the
potato in halves. The savages crowd
cd round me to watch developments
and were amazed when the knife
struck something hard in the center
Of the tuber could cut no further,
but finally worked around the obstruc-
tion and, when the potato was di-
vided there was a bright new half
dollar | tossed the coin outside and
you should have seen the scramble
for f.
= didn't have to ask for a second
potato; the trick was repeated and an
other hall dollar given the Indians as
a souvenir A third time | was pre-
vailed upon by wondering hosts to
open a potato, but by this time every
buck. klootchman and papoose in the
| crowd was armed with a potato and
clamoring to have ii opened. saw
my finish looming up and not very far
/ ahead | saw the seasons profits
dwindling and it did not require a
great stretch Of imagination to pic
ture certain long-haired wizard
stranded in the far and frozen north
land, mushing his way out to civiliza
ton with gaunt famine dogging his
tracks.
Let's duck-beat it, whispered
to my white companion. and while
! diverted the attention OF the scram