New Britain herald., 1926-11-01
H0UDINI, FAMOUS
 MAGICIAN, DIES
Fails to Rally Following Opera
 ti0nS-W& Rabbi'S Son
Houdini's fatal illness was the re-


 McGill university. Montreal, a week before last. friend jay. Houdini had y lectured before the student body and in the open forum which followed was questJ Jned as to the possibility that the passing of needles through the face by East indians was fake. He answered the questioner ' by running hatpin through his cheek and then invited any medical or psychic sudden to come to his dressing room if they desired any special information.
 Many of the boys took advantage of the opportunity and Friday night , two of the students were present and commented on Houdini's unus- ual strength. They asked Houdini:
 You would hardly feel blow in the stomach then, would you, MT. Houdini?
 Certainly not" said ,the handcuff king.
 Before he was aware of the boys Y action and before he had an oppor- tunity to set himself for it one of the boys gave him two short-arm blows to the pit of his stomach. Houdini thought nothing of the matter beyond saying at the time that they had made him vince, in view of the fact that he was unpre- pared. and went on with his show.
 Saturday night he was observed to. double up several times as though from pain while giving his final ny, hro orI the train he complained of severe pains in his stomach. The next morning he still complained of in creasing pain and at London his manager, Mir. Stucket, wired 10 Y George Atkinson. press agent with the show, to have the best physician available awaiting his arrival in De- troit.
 , Detroit physicians are of the opin- ' ion that 1t was the blow suffered at Montreal that caused appendicitis. He was conscious until near his death, his mind being alert from the f time he was taken to the hospital one week ago.
 Harry Houdinis mysterious feats of escape. which thrilled spectators throughout the world in his life. to- day were locked in the mystery of death.
 The magician, hailed by his fel- low workers as the greatest of them |, all, died here last night, taking with him the secrets of how he escaped from manacles, chains, coffins, strait Jackets and other contriv- ances, performances which no other man ever had duplicated under his challenge.
 Although Houdini wrote copiously on magic, the fruit of his quarter of . a century experience as conJurer, his managers announced that his own methods never were revealed.
 His stunts were his own and not . adapted from something someone else had done" said B. M. L. Ern- est vice-president of the society of American Magicians.
 Although Houdni performed the usual run of magical tricks. and gained considerable notice for his untiring attacks on spirit mediums the public probably was most at tracted to his adeptness in releas- ing himself from almost any kind of confinement that could be deVis- ed
 A FavOritc Trick
 Tn one of his favorite tricks he nermitted himself to be bound hand and foot in a box wrapped with ropes and chains and placed under water.
 Probably one of his most specta- cular feats, also one of his latest, was when he was confined lu a coi- fin under water for 90 minutes, this nerformance resulted from his chal- lenge that he could duplicate or eX- pose any seemingly magic trick, Raymen Bey, an Egyptian man ot magic, had been creating discussion by remaining in a sealed comm uh- der water for 19 minutes. and ne accepted Houdini's defy to duph- cate the trick.
 "Short breaths and conservation of oxygen did it." was Houdini's eX- planation after he had bested the Egyptian at his own game by re- maining under water more than four times as long.
 Although Houdinfs appearance before the public began at the age of eight as trapeZe performer with a circus troupe, he first turned nj, attention to the huaness or opening locks without keys when ne was apprenticed to a locksmith Tn Appleton, Wisconsin, his birth place, after his mother objected to a con- tinuation of his circus career.
 Standing offer
 One of the magician's standing offers, which he never had 10 pay was s10,0Oo to any medium Who could produce phenomena which ne could not reproduce solely by ms strength and mental agility. Hold ing that the works Of medlu"s bypnotists and mesmerists were spurious he waged q continuous war m what he termed their frauds hoth through stage presentations and through books, including "A Magician Among the Spirits ana one intended to expose the medium who won the Scientific American award. Houdini was born in Appleton, Wis, April 6. 1874, the son of Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weiss, later adopting the name by which he was known on. the stage. He was taken suddenly i'll during l a performance here and was oper- ated on for appendicitis last Mon day, peritonitis resulting. His wld- ow survives. The body will be talk en to New York In the bronze cas- ket he carried everywhere.
 Nnw York Nov i LPl--TrihnteS 10 |