The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1910-06-04
The Confessions
Of A Handcuf King


Europe have many times been enter
tanned and mystiGed by an act that
has come to be widely known as the
great handcuff release and prison
cell escape mystery"
The curtain rises and the .handciff
king" is announced. In the course
of his Introductory remarks to the aud
dance, he states that he is but an or
binary human being but possesses the
power to release himself from any
manacle that any member of the aud
fence wishes to put on him, and that
furthermore, in most cases, he can es-
cape in shorter time than it takes
to bind him.
His challenge is forthwith accepted
and a small delegation of citizens or
police officials, chosen from the audi
ence, proceeds to lock and secure him
in such a manner that 1t seems man
ifestly impossible for him to free him
self. Yet after disappearing into his
cabinet for a few seconds, he reap
pears as entirely free from his man.
cles as though they had never been
locked on him.
This is so mystifying a performance
that the public together with the po-
lice have sometimes acquired the i'm
preston that the "handcuff king" so
called, possesses powers supernatural.
Having been favored with the royal
appellation myself, after appearing
nearly all over the globe in this act,
have thought that it might prove in
teresting to disclose for the first time
the secret of this trick, or rather Sc
ries of tricks, which have aroused so
much comment wherever witnessed.
l was one of the first to be known
as a Gail braker and in my pro-
fessional travels l have come across
many appliances by which prisoners
were secured, both at the present day
and in past generations.
From my earliest days l have had
passion for studying locks in their
various forms, especially the most pro-
minent makes, such as Yales, Towers,
Chubbs, etc, to find out their mechan-
ism. In addition l had always been a
fair athlete, so when 1 entered upon
the life of vaudeville performer, l
found that l had naturally an advan-
tage in the way of being able to tackle
any manacle HANGED me on the stage.
l made my debut and issued my first
challenge in England, where l immed-
lately found that many people had
been lying in wait for me, thinking me
a boaster who carried through my act
only with the aid of confederates
However, 1 accepted all kinds of chai-
lenges throughout England and Scot
land, France, Germany and Russia
and always proved the winner.
To carry out successfully this rather
Sensational trick, it is necessary that
the performer should have a flexible
and muscular body, an unlimited sup.
ply of nerve, and that he should be &
good talker, and most important of all
that he possess an adequate supply O.
hanocuffs, leg-irons and special man.
acles Of his own, together with a re-
firing cabinet and a complete assert
cent of specially designed skeleton
fekes, picks and keys. Given thes,
requisites and good mixed audienc,
(Which. l have found is nearly alwayi
sympathetic to the handcuff monarch
you may easily create a sensation
that will set the average man to won
dering whether he is not a victim O
Authorizations.
Now in the first place, it must b,
remembered that handouts used b,
the police are constructed with sprin,
locks which are fastened or released
by means of key or some article
which answers the same purpose whicl
pulls back the spring.
Without the aid of such an appli
ance, l can say without fear of con
tradiction, that it is absolutely impos
sible for any human being to free him
self from the ordinary handouts EN-
ployed by the police.
The worst contingency l found my
self obliged to solve was how to con
ceal those keys so as to be able to ge
at them in whatever position l hap
pened to be handcuffed. The favorit
place of concealment was the cablne
IN which I always retired to effect m
release This was constructed of ir
on piping, AND many of the piece
winch appeared to be essential part
OF the framework were in reality onl
intended to hold my keys. Other key
l disposed h,bOut NV ,,or,o,, L. ,,,, ! .