Evening star., 1926-11-08

Harry Houdini, master trickSter
and supreme among entertainers with
feats of magic" died famous the
world over for his work in exposing
| fraud on and off the stage. or the
many thousands who saw Houdlni in
action, possibly few realized the man 8
extraordinary mental and physical
equipment, which made possible his
success as a Snowman. brought MIN
| the friendship and confidence of schol-
| ars and scientists and finally led to
career Of serious public service.
Speaking Of Houdini's marvellous
coordination of mind and body" the
| Hartford Times adds: Possessed OF
| extraordinary physique. he combined
the athletes strength with the supple
ness of a contortionist. the juggler s
! hardness, the mental adroitness of a
! trained mathematician and reckless
| courage, all these attained through a
| lifetime Of arduous, persistent train
ing. With them was united heroic
| character"
| LAS he was approaching the age
when he could no longer hope to pos
sess the strength. endurance and agIl-
! itv which made possible his most Won
derful performances" says the Pitts
burgh Chronicle Telegraph. "Houdini
was devoting more attention to his eS~
posure Of frauds who prey upon the
public Sincere believers in spiritual
ism admit that many takers are OBJ
| tanning money through the false pre-
tense of supernatural assistance, and
Houdini was making it his mission to
show how easily he could reproduce
their tricks through natural means.
He had undoubtedly marked out for
| himself field for work of decided
value and there will he regret that he
| did not live to complete his mission"
| + X
| Describing him as "a master Of
physical pretense who denounced
moral pretense.' the Boston Tran
script remarks that "if he went about
| the task of exposing deceit with a
partisa nship, a preconceived certain
| ty of the correctness of his own view,
! which had little in common with the
spirit of scientific impartiality, still
| his way of penetrat ting fraud was so
quick, deft and incisive that no fair
| mind could fail to give his findings
| due weight A most skillful enter
tainer a very exceptional mountebank
who fought all mountebankery, there
Is regret at his untimely death, vic
| tim of that traditional stoicism OF
the stage, admirable even when mis-
guided, which always defies sickness
until there comes a collapse, too often
beyond cure
"He had the respect and love of
thousands" according to the Dayton
Daily News, because. he ministered
to them in a new and unique field. He
hunted out those who prey upon the
eullible. and they fell before the white
light Of exposure like moths before
the candles flame. The name of
Harry IIoudini will not perish from
the pages of theatrical history"
The Memphis News-Scimitar. OBJ
serving that there is none to take
his place in the crusade against the
| imposition on mental delinquents,
declares that "his example will live,
and so long as the memory Of the
man lives. that portion of humanity
which followed his career will not be
so easily beguiled by the trickster
who would claim a supernatural gift
perhaps the highest tribute that
could be paid to Houdini," in the
opinion of the Little Rock Arkansas s
| Democrat. would be to say that he
was among the colossi Of the world
who have at all times carried high the
torch of TRUTH No scientist in his
laboratory, or digging into the past