Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-07-09
ALASKAN INDIANS.
Black Art Among Ignorant Tribesmen
In Arctic Circle.

Del Adelphia, now 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 a magician. and his wan
derings as such with various theatrical
and vaudeville companies have taken
him over the United States several
times and into many foreign countries.
In 1901 he and his own company tour
ed Alaska and northern British Col
umbia giving performances at every
way station where a little dust
could be gathered together as reward
and while on this jaunt Adelphia says
he crossed the circle into the frigid
zone and startled the natives with his
tricks In legerdamain.
"I shall never forget" said Adelphia
in describing his northern trip to q
group of friends recently, the time I
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 before at
Dawson, and an acquaintance I had
made there suggested that we could
have some rare sport by invading
noooabida u,ifh magic
Accordingly, accompanied by my
new friend, drove over there the next
day in a sled. The wonderment OF the
Siwashes was first excited when two
mysterious looking trunks were un-
loaded from the sled in front Of the
chiefs hut. A few words to the chief
by my friend put us In good standing
with him and he invited Us inside with
our trunks, summoned the savages
from the outside and introduced me IN
his crude way as the white medicine
man
81 had things all my own way and
during the performance was able to
resurrect old tricks that I had had to
drop from my repertoire years ago, be-
cause they had become 80 common
that a white audience would laugh
me down should I have the nerve to
exhibit them in this day and age.
"I started off with the old thread
bare stunts, such as palminS cards,
turning water into wine, etc., and 1t
was not many minutes until ! was
looked upon by my ignorant audience
as a 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 table? A chair to them wass-a
chair, nothing more. The old chief
was nonplussed when, after had
manipulated the egg bag for a minute,
he asked to be allowed to feel inside
it, and he found it was empty. Again
he felt and it was full Of eggs, eggs
were everywhere-on 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. I guess he is still trying to
figure out whence they came and
where they disappeared.
1.-THE abject simplicity Of the ma
tives was forcibly shown when / grab
bed one Of the youngsters by the nose
and told him to blow through that or
gan. He did, and I told him sharply
to blow hard This he did as COM
manded, and I thought he and all the
rest would drop dead when whole
pack Of playing cards shot out appar-
emily from his nostrils and fluttered to
the ground This trick was repeated
by request upon another young native
and another deck Of cards was blown
from a nasal appenda5e and scrambled
for by the youngsters. I looked out
of the door of the hut few minutes
later to see three or four Of the little
fellows outside holding each others
noses and blowing for dear life In an
effort to produce more pasteboards.
my potato trick though brought the
show to a speedy climax. If hadn't
stopped when 1 did I'd have been
bankrupt asked old Isaacs If he had
a potato. The chief ordered his squaw
to bring one, which she did. l then
called for knife, and with the knife
I started to cut the potato in halves.
The savages crowded round me to
watch developments and were amazed
when the knife struck something hard
in the centre of the tuber. I could cut
no further, but finally worked around
the obstruction, and when the potato
was divided there was bright, new
half dollar. I tossed the coin outside
and you should have seen the scramble
for it.
81 didn't have to ask for a second
potato; the trick was repeated and
another half 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 potato and clamor-
ing to have it opened. I saw my nm
ish looming up and not very far ahead.
I saw the seasons profits dwindling
and 1t did not require a great stretch
of imagination to picture a certain
long haired wizard, stranded In the
far frozen Northland, mushing his way
out to civilization with gaunt famine
dogging his tracks.
Lets duck-beat It! I whispered
to my white companion, and while
diverted the attention Of the scramb-
ling and insistent aborigines, my pal
hustled our kits Of paraphernalia to
the dog sled and at the psychological
moment I made a dash for liberty and
we were off.
II heard since that our visit was fol-
lowed by a potato famine in Moose
hide, for no sooner had we left the VII
lage than the inhabitants In their
mad quest for silver half dollars ran
sacked the camps for potatoes and cut
them into bits, cursing their luck and
the white devil for their disappoint-
ment. There wasn't a potato left in
Nfoo,abido Seattle Times