A Maiden in Midair

1895

Professor Herrmann Explains the Trick of "Aerial Suspension."

The first aerial suspension that attracted any considerable attention showed a page, usually a young woman, brought to the center of the stage, hypnotized and stood erect between two slight wooden rods, which had been previously inspected by a committee chosen from the audience, says Professor Herrmann in the Boston Herald. These rods were placed under the woman's elbows, and she was then raised from the floor, so that her feet cleared it a few inches only. After this one rod would be removed, and the performer would cause the body of the page to slowly rise from a perpendicular to a horizontal position, the only support visible being the rod on which the one arm was apparently resting in the lightest and most insecure manner possible. The magician would then pass his wand all around the body of the page in order to convince the spectators that there were no wires or unseen supports aiding in the deception. After allowing the page to slumber in midair for a few moments she would be slowly lowered until her feet touched the ground. Then she would step forward and smilingly acknowledge the applause that always followed this seemingly marvelous illusion.

Now, the manner in which this trick was performed Was this: One of the uprights, or rods, was a remarkably strong one. One end of it fitted into a socket in the stage or the platform used for the performance, while the other end was hollow. When the rods, which were the same in appearance, were placed under the page's elbows, a steel plug fastened about the girl's elbows fitted into the socket on the stage. Now the page's figure was really incased in a network of slight but very strong stool bands, all jointed in such a manner as to allow her to move about apparently without the slightest restraint. The cage, or framework, of steel bands was fitted together with noiseless butt joints that set themselves as soon as the page was raised from the floor and straightened out at right angles with the supporting rod, the joint at the elbow being strong enough to sustain the whole figure the moment it was perfectly horizontal, and thus it was that the page was enabled to lie apparently sleeping in the air, with no other support than the tip of her elbow resting on a slender rod. When the performer desired to release the subject, he simply raised her body slowly, touched a little spring, released the elbow joint, lowered her to her foot, and the performance was over.

A Brilliant Idea

1895

A German paper tells an amusing story of Cumberland, the thought reader. On a journey from Vienna to St. Petersburg he entertained his fellow passengers by guessing their thoughts. One of the travelers, a Polish Jew, who took the whole thing for a hoax, offered to pay Cumberland the sum of 50 rubles if he could divine his thoughts. Visibly amused, Cumberland acceded to his request and said: "You are going to the fair at Nijni-Novgorod, where you intend to purchase goods to the extent of 20,000 rubles, after which you will declare yourself a bankrupt and compound with your creditors for 3 per cent."

On hearing these words the Jew gazed at the speaker with reverential awe. He then, without uttering a syllable, drew out of the leg of his boot a shabby purse and handed him the 50 rubles, whereupon the great magician triumphantly inquired, "Then I have guessed your thoughts, eh?" "No," replied the Jew, "but you have given me a brilliant idea."


Trivia

Several flutes, still perfect and capable of producing musical tones, have been taken from the Egyptian catacombs.

New London, Connecticut, was at first called Tawagog.

The Magical Box — Great Trick of Magicians

1874

MAGICAL BOX

A magician has lately been giving a series of performances, some of which are as surprising as they are entertaining and amusing. One of them is as follows:

A common empty packing box, with a lid hung by iron, hinges, is placed upon the stage, and a committee from the audience asked to examine it. They report that it is a firmly made packing box. After a thorough examination, outside and inside, they take a rope and tie it up, passing twice around the ends and sides, passing it through the staples for the two padlocks, and then tie the ends firmly, and seal them with sealing wax. They then envelop the box in a canvas, which covers all six sides, when another rope is added, tied and sealed. Surely the box is safe from any attempt to get into or out of it without removing the ropes!

The assistant then comes forward with a canvas sack, open at one end. This is examined by the committee and by the audience. It is then placed over the head of the assistant, and tied below his feet and the knots sealed. He is then laid in the box, and the box surrounded by a screen. In two and a half minutes the sack is thrown over the screen, the knot and seals untouched. The screen is instantly removed, and the committee, after examining the seals and finding them unbroken, commence untying the ropes and removing the canvas. The box is opened and the man found inside!


1909

No More Teddy Bears?

The days of the Teddy bear are over, but while they lasted, the inventor of that popular plaything reaped a rich harvest. It is said his profits are up in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.


Genius Hair

"Why is it," asks a writer in Fliegende Blatter, "that when a man discovers that he is a 'genius' he allows his hair to grow long, and that when a woman becomes similarly conscious she has her hair cut short?"

—Van Wert Daily Bulletin, Van Wert, Ohio, Nov. 30, 1909, p. 2.

The Wonderful Tree – Story for Christmas

The Wonderful Tree
By Christopher G. Hazard
(1922, Western Newspaper Union)

It stood in the corner of a rather needy room. It was festooned with strings of popcorn and cables of cranberries. Wisps of tissue paper and tinsel ornaments were out upon the branches, and small candles stood ready to illuminate the occasion. There were many invisible things upon the tree, too. The imaginations of the children had been as busy as their dreams. Family resources may be limited, but there are no bounds in the realms of Santa Claus and hope. In the magical Christmas time the clouds of poverty are all as gilded and beautiful as any sunset can furnish. Anything may happen then. Cinderella is as hopeful as her more favored sisters; not an urchin but has an expectant eye. So the Tanner Christmas tree was as beautiful as a picture and as full of presents as a picture could be.

But, however pictured by fancy and made of good wishes, the presents were all invisible. No one could see what was in the heads of the dreamers and the hearts of the anxious but needy providers. For weeks the mill had been closed, and now the family pocketbook was about empty. Father Tanner looked at the tree, could not see a gift on it, and shook his head. Mother Tanner was inclined to make the best of it.

Yes, the tree was one of the family. It had been the tree of last year's Christmas and the tree of the year before that. It was a tree that kept its evergreen habit and that did not seem to grow old. It was like a living tree, made to bring forth its fruit every year. It had been so good to them that they had named it Bounty. And now it stood there in the dark, all dressed up, but with nothing but blossoms, without any fruit. It could see the hurrying children running to their morning disappointment. It could hear their cries of surprise and chagrin. Silly Sam, more needy of amusement than the others, would look in vain for his expected go-cart; Sue would miss the two dress patterns for her big doll, her new hat and high chair for her little doll; Bill Tanner would not get his skates; Dick would still need a sled. It was anything but a merry tree.

But it was a wonderful tree. It had a power of making itself felt all over a neighborhood. It could summon Santa Claus by a kind of wireless message that went through walls and everything. It reached as far as the folks who were having a Christmas eve party two blocks away and made them think of Mr. Folsom's mill boss and Mrs. Folsom's laundry woman. They had been wishing for some new fun for their party that day and now it came into their heads to go over and be Santa for the Tanners. So the tree drew a very silent but very busy company to the Tanners' back door.

As the children had left directions for Santa on the table it was easy to find out what the tree was expected to do, so, presently, it did it. There was more, too, than orders for the wanted things; the merrymakers had brought with them enough to satisfy any reasonable tree; there were picture books, picture puzzles, games, a scissors grinder that could make the sparks fly, a train of cars that could go, a doll that could say "mama," and candy enough to go round. For Father and Mother Tanner there was a pocketbook with gold in it, and a note of good cheer that was better than the gold.

So the wonderful tree spent the rest of the night in trembling joy. It could not sleep for thinking of the friendly love that had provided such a happy morning to come. And when the first of the morning light brought all the Tanners downstairs the tree fairly shook with pleasure, amid the wonder and the glee of that Christmas day.

As for the servants of Santa Claus, they had never had such a merry Christmas before. Their hearts were so warm that they did not mind the frost. They sang over the pleasure of giving pleasure and relief. They said they knew that Santa Claus had to live up North so that he could cool off after his warm interest in the happiness of others. They addressed him in verses that must have made him jollier than ever, calling him:

THE MAGIC MAN
There is a man who lives up north
All clad in robes and furs,
And every year he sallies forth
As love his going spurs.

He mitigates the winter's cold
That otherwise would freeze,
And keeps himself from growing old
By tending Christmas trees.

The children for his coming wait,
So do the old folks, too;
Unhappiness goes out the gate
When Santa comes to you.

And their own presents never seemed so large and good before.

Gypsy Oracle Arranges Ego Transference for Brothers As One Dies

1901

CHANGED SOULS AT DEATH-BED

Queer Story Comes From Budapest

Evidence Bears Out the Fact that Something Queer Was Done But it is Believed by Experts that it Was a Hypnotic Trick

BUDAPEST, Dec. 28. — Vienna is not to be outdone by Paris in the production of remarkable canards.

Last week Paris correspondents recording the resurrecting of the dead in leading Paris hospitals. Today we have, perhaps, an even more absorbing story here.

How far it is true I cannot say, but the old philosophers averred the performance recorded here was a matter of no uncommon occurrence in ancient Egypt.

From a small village in the neighborhood of Budapest comes the following remarkable story:

"The horrors of the death-bed have apparently been added to in a new and unexpected manner and the question of the raising of the dead has assumed a new phase.

"Modern surgery has hitherto stopped at the limits of the physical being and has been content to consider the transfusion of blood as the greatest miracle which it was capable of accomplishing.

"An old and wealthy Czech named Rageli, had two sons, Rudolph and Jean, and the latter, who was his favorite, lay at the point of death. In his despair over the threatened loss of his favorite son Rageli had recourse to the assistance of a well known gypsy oracle and between these two a plot was arranged, it is alleged, which will possibly send both of the plotters to the gallows. Rageli betrayed to the oracle the fact that his distress would have been minimized if it had been his other son's life which was attacked by disease as his whole hope was based upon the assistance of his younger son Jean.

The oracle at once saw a way to enrich himself and lessen the distress of Rageli, and told him that if he desired to have such a plan consummated it would be possible for him at the critical moment when death was taking place to bring about a transference of egos so that the soul of his favorite son could be transferred to the healthy organism of his brother whilst the latter's would assume the place of the one which left the defunct body.

In order to accomplish this mysterious feat the gypsy claimed that the brother must absolutely be present.

"There was no difficulty whatever in bringing such an arrangement about, as Rudolph naturally desired to be at the bedside of his brother at such a solemn occasion as his death. The gypsy oracle was there, of course, for the avowed purpose of trying to prevent the fatal catastrophe.

"What weird scene actually transpired in that remarkable death chamber no earthly tongue has yet told and but for the strange stories which have floated out of the quiet village to the world beyond the gossiping of peasants and chatter of servants, nothing would ever have come to light, for those who made the guilty compact are naturally silent on the subject.

"Both of the brothers were married and it is to this fact that the really tangible evidence which has been found in support of the extraordinary story has been forthcoming.

"The brothers were both affectionate, devoted and faithful husbands, and among the many freaks attributed to Rudolph since his brother's death is that he has deserted his own wife and is now living with the widow of his brother, showing the most passionate devotion for one another.

"In reply to the expostulations of his wife Rudolph solemnly avers that although he retains the outward semblance of his former self he is in reality Jean.

"This story, which was at first received with ridicule by the villagers and servants, has been coupled with the fact that the old gypsy was around the Rageli house so much at the termination of the younger son's illness and his well founded reputation as a sorcerer has furnished the necessary link in this most sensational story.

"To add to the mystery of the situation the old father has shut himself up in his lonely mansion and refuses to see anybody. The servants aver that he is haunted by the spirit of Rudolph, which is trying by every means in its power to avenge the diabolical act that caused its disembodiment in favor of Jean.

"They aver and state themselves as being willing to bear witness to the fact and ready to face any court of law, that they have seen the apparition of Rudolph a dozen times in the old chateau since the death of Jean and that its countenance is so disfigured by hatred and despair that it resembles a fiend more than it does the only happy brother.

"Another rumor credits Jean with being so horrified by the strange tales which are afloat and which so peculiarly corroborate his own belief that he acts at times like a demented person.

"The rustic population are firm believers in the supernatural and it is difficult to find any of them who do not firmly believe the story.

"Their superstitions are so firmly rooted that they would not dare to molest the gypsy or the elder Rageli, although it is said that the police have investigated the case under the belief that the stories which have gone abroad were only a cover invented to hide a murder growing out of jealousy on the part of the brothers over the love of Jean's wife.

"They have abandoned the murder theory, however, and are at a loss to know how they can possibly take any action in the strange matter.

Psychologists say the changes of identity, or the transposition of egos are by no means impossible and that many well authenticated cases of such happenings have been recorded.

"These, however, have always been accidental so far as the record shows.

"Hindu fakirs, who claim to be able to withdraw their own egos from their bodies and traverse space at will say that one of the principal dangers with which they have to contend in these experiments is the possibility that some disembodied ego may attempt to establish itself in their own physical shells whilst they are absent from them.

"This is the supreme danger they apprehend when passing into what Western people call the trance state.

"There are many cases on record familiar to every newspaper reader in which living persons have been other than themselves for a number of years, afterward again assuming their own identity. It seems possible that these may have been due to the transference of egos.

"Some of the more thoughtful persons here who have devoted their attentions to the subject do not hesitate to aver their belief that Rudolph was hypnotized by the old magician at the time of his brother's death and made to believe that he was Jean so that the old magician could obtain money from his father.

"This would not, according to the hypnotic authorities, be at all an impossible feat and therefore there may be truth in the main part of the story to the effect that Rudolph and the father had been led into such a remarkable delusion." — VALERIE DELAMAR.

—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, Iowa, December 29, 1901, page 16.

Brush, The Great

The third number of the School Lyceum Course, Brush the Great and his company, in illusions, tricks and displays of magic, was given Wednesday night in the School auditorium before a good sized audience, who were pleasantly perplexed, entertained, enlivened and mystified by one of the best performances of the kind ever seen here.

--The Pinnacle News, Middlesboro, Kentucky, April 1, 1915, page 1.