The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-06-28
THE MAGIC OF HOUDIN
Remarkable Cleyerness Of the
Famous French Conjmer.
HIS MOST WONDERFUL FEAT

A Mysterious Performances Before The
Court Of Louis Philippe That Was
Probably the Result Of Subtle Bit
~ Psychological Reasoning.
A link connecting the names Of Caglt
ostro. tie great charlatan, and the
French coniurer Robert Houdin may
be found in a story that may be justly
termed erhe Most Incredible Feat Of
Magic Ever Performed"
! In 1886 Houdin, then at the height
Of his popularity. was invited TO ST.
Cloud to give performance before the
king, the royal family and court The
conJurer had only his yeung son as ain
assistant and could rely Oh no tricks
OF light or mechanism, as the exhibit.
tion was given m one Of the drawing
rooms Of the palace He finished with
the following extraordinary perform.
nnce:
Borrowing several handkeFchiefs be
wound them into a package which be
laid on the table. Then he went aboet
among the guests distributing cards on
which were 70 be written the names
Of places to which It was desired that
the package be iuylsibly transported.
Houdin then handed the cards to the
king. asking him to select three at bar.
ard and from them choose the desfina.
tion he liked best
The first card read, r desire the
handkerchief to be found beneath one
Of the eandelabra on the manteIpieeeH
THAT said the king. lis too easy
for the ability Of eonjurer Of tbs
ability of NJ Hoadln.s
The second read, TThe handkerchief
are to be taken ts the dome Of the
Invalldes.T
4That," commented the king. .'is bet.
ter, However. 1t Is much too far. not
for the handkerchiefs. but for u.s. The
third card suits me-. said tbs king. IT
Is desired that 700 should send the
handkerchiefs into the chest Of the
last grange tree on the light Of the
avenue.
Houdin expressed his willingness 70
attempt the feat, and the king whis-
pered an order that Immediately sent
q group Of attendants to guard the or
ange tree Ia question
The conjurer placed the package 81
handkerchlefs under an opaque glass
bell and then, waving d wand. order.
ed the package % proceed BE- the place
chosen by the king. When the bell
was raised the handksre hiefs were
gone, but IN their place was white
turtIedove. a trusted attendant was
sent to che orange tree to open the
chest re returned bearing small
iron Golfer covered By rust.
sAre the handkerchiefs in this cof
ferT' asked the king
Eyes. sire, and thay have been there,
too, FOR a long time
How can that he possible2 The
haAdkerchiesa wore given you hardly /
4 quarter of an hour age
"Yet It Ii so, and your majesty win I
be even more surprised when | prove
that this Golfer and It's contents were I
placed in the chest Of the orange tree
sixty years ago. Deign to remove
from the neck Of the turtledove the
key Of the casket"
Louis Philippe unfastened ribbon
holding small rusty key, unlocked /
the Golfer found d document bearing
the seal Of Cagiiestro and read:
This day, the 9Th Of June 1856. thls iron 1
box. containing six hanakeroffiefs, was +
placed among the roots OF ga orange tree /
81 me, Haisanao count OF Cngiioatro, to
serve lii performing an act ef magic /
which WIN be executed on the same day
sixty years hence before Louis Philippe f
Of Orleans and his family.
Beneath the parchment conveying
this message was found q package con-
taining what seemed to be the SIX
handkerchiefs placed on the table
Few minutes before. II hts memoirs
NJ. Houdin offers no solution for the
mystery. A shrewd annahst has ex-
plained It IS being no more than
clever bit Of psychology On the part
Of tie eonjuref. who knew the charae.
ter Of Louis Philippe and knew him to
lie exceedingly clever 10 small things.