The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-04-05

From the New York Herald. N SSEMBLED in solemn conciaVd N\ the magicians of England, protes' z S sional and amateur debated that most vexed of all questions-the Indian rope trick-and, as was only to be ex- pected, failed to come 10 any agreement on the subject. Some there were who pe- lieved that such a trick had never oeeh performed others declared that hyp- ontism was at the root of it, others urged the impossibiity of hypnotizing a whole audience For once, in fact, the mysu" fiers admitted themselves mystlfied. The history of the rope trick was traced in a most entertaining manner by 5. w. ] Clarke. the editor of the Magic Circular, who described it as the most illusive 1 trick in the world, with the peculiarity | that nobody who wanted to see it had | ever seen it, though this peculiarity was subsequently discounted by the fact that at least two of the speakers had seen 1 version of the rope trick performed. MT. 1 Clarke had traced a reference to it as | far back as 1855 when Ibu Batuta, an | seen the trick performed at Hang Chau MT. Batuta wrote:
 l "I was entertained by the Emir in his l own house in a most splendid manner. At the banquet were present the Khan's l iugglers, the chief of whom took a wood | en sphere in which there was holes and l in these long straps and threw It up l into the air till it went out Of slght while the straps remained in his hand
 He then commanded one of his disciples l to take hold of and to ascend by his strap. which he did, until he also went 1 out of sight His master then called him ] three times, but no answer came. He | then took a knife in his hand apparently 1 in anger, laid hold of the strap and also l went quite out of sight. He then threw | the hand of the boy upon the ground 1 then his foot, then his other hand, then his other foot then his body, then his | head He then came down, panting for' 1 breath and his clothes stained with blood. ** The juggier then took the limbs of the boy and applied them one to l another; he then stamped upon them l and it stood up complete and erect l l was astonished and was seized in conse- ouence by palpitation of the heart, but thev gave me some drink and I recov-
 cred The judge of the Mohammedans was sitting by my side, who swore that | there was neither ascent, decent nor
 cutting away of limbs, but the whole
 was mere juggling"
 Obviously MT Clarke added, the writer had mixed up the rope trick and the l decapitation trick which was being per formed when the great Pyramids were
 being built.
 Another account of the trick from German source in 1850 said: At Magde- burg certain magical juggler declared that he could get but little money among men and would therefore go up to heav- en Whereupon he would throw cord up in the air and his little horse would go up it. himself taking hold of the horses s tail would follow him; his wife. taking l-nold of him, would follow also, and
 maid servant would follow her and so mount up in the air, standing in great admiration" Unfortunately an unbeliever declared that he had just seen the jug
 gler go into an inn in the street. There-
 fore finding themselves deluded the spec
 tators went away
 The third record quoted by Mr. Clarke was from the memoirs of the Emperor 1 Jahangier:
 .They produced chain 50 cubics Tn
 length and in my presence threw one
 end of it toward the sky where it re-
 mained as if fastened to something Tn
 the air. A dog was then brought forward
 and being placed at the lower end or
 inc chain, immediately ran up and,
 reaching the other end, disappeared in
 the air. In the same manner a hog,
 nanther. A lion and tiger were suc-
 cessfully sent up the chain and all dis lanneared at the upper end. At last they took down the chain and put it into
 har no one ever discerning in what way
 the animals were made to vanish ~into
 the air in the mysteroius manner de-
 scribed.''
 One of the most interesting contribu- | tions to the debate came from Lieut.. F. ; W. Holmess~y. C.. who said that he had seenS version of the trick on two or
 tbree occa sions. On the last occasion, in l ,e,7. he was able to take a snapshot of trick. which he produced. This showed the fakir, with a taut rope or pole. and the hoy balanced at the top of it. Lieu tenant Homes declared enfphatically that the boy never disappeared from sight . I +to fol
 stituted for the coil of rope a telescopie
 bamboo pole. MT. A. Yurif Ali, C. B. F..