Omaha daily bee., 1919-03-18
Baffled MuQiclunS
London Times.

Assembled in solemn conclave last night, the
magicians of England, professional and anna
teur, debated that most vexed of all questions,
the Indian rope trick, and, as was only to be
expected, failed to come to any agreement on
the subject. Some there were who believed that
such trick had never been performed; others
declared that hypnotism was at the root of it;
others, urged the mpossibty Of hypnotzing
a whole audience. For onces in fact the mys-
tihers admitted themselves mystifed.
The history of the rope trick was traced in
most entertaining manner by S. w. Clarke, the
editor of the Magic Circular, who described it
as the most Elusive trick in the world, with
see it had ever seen Though this popularity
was subsequently discounted by the fact that
at least two of the speakers had seen version
of the rope trick performed. Mr.. Clarke had
traced a reference to it as far back as 1855,
when Ibu Batuta, an Arab from Tangier, wrote
that he had seen the trick performed at Hang
Chau. Batuta wrote:
Il was entertained by the Emir in his own
house in most splendid manner. AT the BAN
quet were present the Khan's jugglers, the
chief OF whom took wooden sphere, in which
there were holes, and in these long straps, and
sight while the strap remained in his hand. He
then commanded one of his disciples to take
rod OF and to ascend by this strap which he
dc until he also went out of sight His master
then called him three times, but no answer
sas:1e; he then took knife in his hand, ap-
parently in anger, laid hold of the strap and
also went quite out of sight. He then threw the
hand OF the boy upon the ground, then his foot
then his other hand, then his other foot then
his body, then his head. He then came down,
painting for breath, and his clothes stained with
blood. The juggler then took the limbs
of the boy and applied them one to another;
ne then stamped upon them and it stood up
complete and erect. l was astonshed and
was seized in consequence by palpitation OF
the heart; but they gave me some drink and l
recovered. The judge of the Mohammedans
was sitting by my side, who swore that there
was neither ascent, descent nor cutting away
OF limbs, but the whole was mere juggling"
Obviously Mr.. Clarke added the writer had
mixed NIKE up the rope trick and the, decapitation
trick which was being performed when the
Great Pyramids were being built
Another account of the trick from Ger
man source in 1850 said that "at Magdeburg
certain magical jugger declared that he could
get but little money among men and would
therefore go to Heaven. Whereupon he would
throw cord up in the air and his little horse
would go up it, himself taking hold of the
horses tail would follow him; his wife taking
hold of him would follow also, and maid
servant would follow her. and so mount up in
the air, as it were linked together. the specta-
TOTS standing IN great aQnratlOn. Un1OT-
tunately an unbeliever declared that he had
just seen the juggler go into an inn in the
street Therefore finding themselves de-
luded, the spectators went away
The third record quoted by Mr.. Clarke was
from the memoirs of the Emperor Jahangier.
They produced chain 50 cubits in length,
and in my presence threw one end towards the
sky, where is remained as if fastened to some
thing in the air. A dog was then brought for
ward, and being placed at the lower end of the
chain, Immediately ran up and, reaching the
other end, disappeared in the air In the same
manner hog, panther, lion and tiger
were successfully sent up the chain, and all
disappeared at the upper end. At last they
took down the chain and put it into bag, no
one ever discerning in what way the animals
were made to vanish into the air in the mys-
FERROUS manner described.
One of the most interesting contributions
to the debate came from Lieutenant F. w.
Holmes, V. G., who said that he had seen
version of the trick on two or three occasions.
On the last occasion, in 1917, he was able to
take a snapshot of the trick, which he pro-
duced. This showed the fakir, with taut
rope or pole and the boy balanced at the top
of it. Lieutenant Holmes declared emphatcal-
ly that the boy never disappeared from sight
and his own theory was that the fakir sub
stltuted for the coil of rope telescope bam-
as boy of he saw the rope trick performed,
but never since, and he also saw the conjurer
cut his own tongue out chop it up, and replace
it. In the rope trick he is convinced that the
boy disappeared entirely
Major Branson, with 20 years service in the
Indian army, said that he had offered re-
ward of 2O5 rupees to any native soldier who
could give him the name of anybody who
could do the trick, but the reward had never
been claimed In all his travels in Persia,
India, China and Arabia he had never seen
trick done by native which he could not re-
peat himself.
Chris Van Bern narrated some extraordinary
feats which had been performed by Yogi in
Liverpool including his ability to throw rope
into the air. where it remained absolutely
rigid only as long as the Yogi held his breath,
while Capt. Leon Berreley gave an explanation
of the trick which he believed to be absolutely
feasible.
But even this assembly of magicans was un-
able to conjure up mystic carpets to convey
them homewards and defy the strikers, and so
the gathering was forced to dispense in search
OF tramcars and omnibuses before the vexed
question of the rope trick could be settled.
Various Ways of Life.
American standards of living are as varied
as standards of income. Common report puts
the icemans standard among the topnotchers
The widow of New York iceman told the
,tlI ff