The gold leaf., 1909-06-17
THE MAGIC OF HOUD|N
Remarkable CIeverness of the
Famous French Conjurer.
HIS MOST WONDERFUL FEAT
A Mysterious Performance Before the
Court Of Louis Philippe That Was
Probably the Result Of q Subtle Bit
OF Psychological Reasoning.

\ link connecting the names OF Cagli- |
French conjurer Robert Houdia may
be found in Il story that may be justly |
termed The Most Incredible Feat OF |
Magic Ever Performed"
In 1916 Houdin. then at the height |
OF his popularity. was invited 10 st. |
Cloud TO give performance before the
king, the royal family and court The
conjurer had only his young son as an
assistant and could rely ON no tricks
of light or mechanism. as the exhibit
ton was given In one Of the drawing
rooms of the palace. He finished with
the following extraordinary perform
ance:
Borrowing several handkerchiefs, he
wound them into package. which he
laid on the table. Then he went about
among the guests distributing cards on
which were TO be written the names
Of places 10 which IL was desired that
the package be invisibly transported.
Houdin then handed the cards to the
king,'asking him to select three at haz-
ard and from them choose the destina-
ton he liked best.
The first card read, Il desire the
handkerchief to be found beneath one
Of the candelabra on the mantelpiece."
That" said the king, "is too easy
for the ability Of n conjurer of the
ability OF NJ. Houdin."
The second read, The handkerchiefs
are to be taken to the dome of the
Invalides."
That" commented the king, lis bet
ter. However. it is much too far, not
for the handkerchiefs, but for us. The
third card suits me-" said the king. 1T
is desired that you should send the
handkerchiefs into the chest of the
last orange tree on the right Of the
avenue
Houdin expressed his willingness to
| attempt the feat. and the king whis-
pered an order that Immediately sent
! group Of attendants to guard the or
| ange tree in question.
The conjurer placed the package Of
| handkerchiefs under an Opaque glass
| bell and then, waving a wand, order
ed the package to proceed to the place
chosen by the king. When the bell
was raised the handkerchiefs were
gone, but in their place was a white
turtledove. 4 trusted attendant was
sent to the orange tree to open the
chest He returned bearing a small
iron Golfer covered by rust
Are the handkerchiefs in this cof-
ferr' asked the king
Eyes, sire, and they have been there,
too, for d long time"
"How can that be possible? The
handkerchiefs were given you hardly
| a quarter Of an hour ago"
"Yet it is SO, and your majesty will
be even more surprised when 1 prove
that this Golfer and its contents were
| placed in the chest of the orange tree
sixty years ago. Deign to remove
from the neck Of the turtledove thu
key of the casket."
Louis Philippe unfastened a ribbor
holding Il small rusty key, unlocked
the Golfer. found Il document bearing
the seal of Cagliostro and read:
This day. the 9Th Of June. 1886. this iror
! box, containing six handkerchiefs. wa.
| placed among the roots of an orange tre'
| by me. Balsamo. count OF Cagliostro. e
! serve in performing an act OF magic
| which will be executed on the same das
| sixty years hence before Louis Philippe
| of Orleans and his family.
Beneath the parchment conveying
this message was found package con
tanning what seemed to be the si1
handkerchiefs placed OH the table {
| few minutes before. In his memoir:
NJ. Houdin offers no solution for tht
mystery A shrewd annalist has ex
planned it as being no more than 4
clever bit of psychology on the par
Of the conjurer. who knew the charac
ter of Louis Philippe and knew him t.
be exceedingly clever in small things
| -ROOkm1u