Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1909-04-03
THE MAGIC OF HOUDIN
Remarkable CIeveTneSS Of the
Famous French ConiuTeT.
HIS MOST WONDERFUL FEAT

a Mysterious Performance Before the
Court of Louis Philippe That Was
Probably tho Result of Subtle Bit
Of Psychological Reasoning.
A link connecting the names of Cagli-
OstrO, the great charlatan, and the
French conjurer Robert Houdin 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 to st.
Cloud to give performance before the
king, the royal family aud 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 a 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 to which 1t 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, II desire the
handkerchief to be found beneath one
of the candelabra on the mantelpiece."
THAT" said the king, "ls too easy
for the ability of conjurer of the
ability Of NJ. Houdin."
The second read, The handkerchlefs
are to be taken to the dome of the
Invalides."
THAT" commented the king, "is bet
ter. However, 1t 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
| handkerchlefs 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 A 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 cot.
fer?" asked the king.
yes, sire, and they have been there,
too. for n 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 | prove
that this Golfer and it's contents were
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 a ribbon
holding a small rusty key, unlocked
the Golfer, found a document bearing
the seal Of CagliOstro and read.
This day, the 9Th OF June, 1886. this iron
box, containing six handkerchiefs, was
placed among the roots of an orange tree
by me, Balsamo, count of Caglipstro, to
serve In performing an act o. magic
which Will be executed on the same day
sixty years hence before Louis Philippe
Of Orleans and his family
Beneath the parchment conveying
this message was found a pacl ge con-
tanning what seemed to be the six
handkerChiefs placed on the table
few minutes before. In his memoirs
NJ. Houdln offers no solution for the
mystery. A shrewd annalist has ex-
planned 1t as being no more than
clever bit Of psychology on the part
Of the conjurer, who knew the Charac-
ter Of Louis Philippe and knew him to
be exceedingly clever in small things.
-BoOkman.