MIRACLE MONGERS

AND THEIR METHODS

A COMPLETE EXPOSE OF THE MODUS
OPERANDI OF FIRE EATERS, HEAT
RESISTERS, POISON EATERS, VENOMOUS
REPTILE DEFIERS, SWORD SWALLOWERS,
HUMAN OSTRICHES, STRONG MEN, ETC.

BY ,
HOUDINI
.[Link] o•
.. To [Link] or RoBD'l' Ho11Dm," 11!'0.

NBWYou:
E. P. DUTfON & COMPANY
681 Firm AVBNUII

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 Copyright 1920
By E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY

Prinled in CAe UniUciSIGiu o/ AIIMrico

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 AFFECl'IONATELY DEDICATED

TO MY LIFE'S JIELPKATE,

WHO STARVED AND STARRED WITH IIlii

DUBING TlDII YEARS WE SPENT

AMONG "MIRACLE KONGEBS"

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 PREFACE

" ALL wonder," said Samuel Johnson, "is

1"1. the effect of novelty on ignorance." Yet
we are so created that without something to
wonder at we should find life scarcely worth
living. That fact does not make ignorance
bliss, or make it "folly to be wise." For the
wisest man never gets beyond the reaeh of
novelty, nor can ever make it his boast that
there is nothing he is ignorant of; on the con-
trary, the wiser he becomes the more clearly
he sees how much there is of which he remains
in ignorance. The more he knows, the more
he will find to wonder at.
My professional life has been a constant
record of disillusion, and many things that
seem wonderful to most men are the every-day
commonplaces of my business. But I have
never 'Men without some seeming marvel to
v

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vi PREFACE

pique my curiosity and challenge my investiga~

tion. In this book I have set down some of
the stories of strange folk and unusual per-
formers that I have gathered in many years
of such research.
Much has been written about the feats of
miracle-mongers, and not a little in the way
of explaining them. Chaucer was by no means
the :first to turn shrewd eyes upon wonder-
workers and show the clay feet of these popu-
lar idols. And since his time innumerable
marvels, held to be supernatural, have been
exposed for the tricks they were. Yet to-day,
if a mystifier lack the ingenuity to invent a
new and startling stunt, he can safely fall back
upon a trick that has been the favorite of press-
agents the world over in all ages. He can
imitate tli.e Hindoo fakir who, having thrown
a rope high into the air, has a boy climb it until
he is lost to view. He can even have the feat
photographed. The camera will click; nothing
will appea:r on the developed film; and this,
the performer will glibly explain, "proves"
that the whole company of onlookers was h~
notized! And he can be certain of a very

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 PREFACE

profitable following to defend and advertise

him.
So I do not feel that I need to apologize for
adding another volume to the shelves of works
dealing with the marvels of the miracle-
mongers. My business has given me an in-
timate knowledge of stage illusions, together
with many years of experience among show
people of all types. My familiarity with the
former, and what I have learned of the psy-
chology of the latter, has placed me at a cer-
tain advantage in uncovering the natural ex-
planation of feats that to the ignorant have
seemed supernatural. And even if my readers
are too well informed to be interested in my
descriptions of the methods of the various per-
formers who have seemed to me worthy of at-
tention in these pages, I hope they will find
some amusement in following the fortunes and
misfortunes of all manner of strange folk who
once bewildered the wise men of their day. If
I have accomplished that much, I shall feel
amply repaid for my labor.
HOUDINI.

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 CONTENTS

CHAP'l'JDB PAOli
I. Fire worship.-Fire eating and heat resist&nce.-The
Middle Ages.-Among the Navajo Indians.-~
walkers of Japan.-The [Link] of Fiji. . . . . . • 1
ll. Watton's Ship-swabber from the Indies.-ruchard-
son, 1667.-De Heiterkeit, 1713.-Robert Powell,
1718-1780.-Dufour, 1783.--Quackensalber, 1794. 17
ill. The nineteenth century.-A "Wonderful Phenom-
enon."-" The Incombustible Spaniard, Sefior
Lionetto," 1803.-Josephine Gir&rdelli, 1814.-John
Brooks, 1817.-W. C. Houghton, 1832.-J. A. B.
Chylinski, 1841.--ch&[Link], the Russian SaJa..
mander, 1869.-Professor Rei Maeub, 1876.-
ruvelli..(died 1900)............. . ............ . . 37
IV.-The Master-ch&bert, 1792-1859.. . . . ... . .. •• • . . 54
V. Fire-eating magicians: Ching Ling Foo and Chung
Ling Soo.-[Link] employed by magicians:
The Man-Sa.l&m&nder, 1816.-Mr. Carlton, Pro-
fessor of Chemistry, 1818.-Miss [Link], aged
nine, 1820. The African· Wonder, 1843.-Ling
Look and Y &m&deva die in China during Kellar's
world tour, 1877.-Ling Look's double, 1879.-Eleo-
trical effects, The Sal&mbos.-Bueno Core.-Del
Kano.-Barnello.-Edwin Forrest as a heat-resister
-The Elder Sothern as a fire..[Link].-The Twilight
of the Art.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
ix.

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 CONTENTS
CIUP1'Wa ...
VI. The Arcana of the [Link]: The formula ol
Albertus Magnus.-Of Hocus Pocus.-Richardaon'e
method. - Philopyraphagus Aehbumiensie.- To
breathe forth sparks, smoke and ftamee.-To spout
natural gae.-Profeeeor Bementini'e diecoveriee.-
To bite off red-hot iron.-To cook in a burning cage.
-Chabert'e oven.-To eat coa1e of fire.-Todrink
burning oil-To chew molten lead.-To chew
burning brimstone.-To wreathe the face in ftamee.
-To ignite paper with the breath.-To drink boil-
ing liquor and eat flaming wu. . . . . . . . . . . • . • • • • • . 9o
VII. The spheroidal condition of liquids.-Why the hand
may be dipped in molten metale.-Principlee of heat
resistance put to practical usee: Aldini, 1829.-In
early fire-fighting.-Temperaturee the body can
endure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . • • • • • • 121 .
VIII. Sword-swallowers: Cliquot, Delno Fritz, Deodota, a
razor-swallower, an umbrella-swallower, William
Dempster, John Cumming, Edith Clifford, Vic-
torina........ . ....... . ... . .. . ....... .. . .. .••• 187
IX. [Link]: A Silesian in Prague, 1006; Francois
Battali&, ca. 1641; Platerus' beggar boy; Father
Paulian's lithophagus of Avignon, 1760; "The
Only One in the World," London, 1788; Spaniards
in London, 1790; a secret for two and six; Japr.-
neee training.-Frog~wallowers: Norton; En&-
lish Jack; Bosco; the snake-eater; Billington's
prescription for hangmen; 0aptain Veitro.-Water-
spouters; Blaise Manfrede, ca. 1650; Floran Mar-
chand, 1650. . . . . . . • . . . . . . . • • . . • . . . . • • . . . . . . • • 154
X. Defiers of poisonous reptiles: Thardo; Mrs. Learn,
dealer in rattlHnakee.-Bir Arthur Thurlow
Cunynghame on antidotes for [Link]-bite.-Jack

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 CONTENTS
CII.U'IIIa• [Link]
the V"Iper.-William Oliver, 1735.-The advice ol
Cornelius Heimieh .Agrippa, (148)-1535).-An
Australian make [Link].-Antidotea for various
poisons. . . • • • • • • • . • . . . . . . . . . . . . • • . . . . . . . . • • • . 176
XL 8Vongmen ol the eighteenth century: Thomas Top-
bam (died, 1749); Joyce, 1703; Van Eskeberg,
1718; BanBbu and his sister; The Italian Female
Sampson, 1724; The "liUle woman from Geneva,"
1751; Beboni, 1778-1823 ..•.................... 192
XU. Contemporary strong people: Charles Jefferson;
Louis Cyr; John Gnm Man:; William LeRoy.-
The Nail King, The Human Claw-hammer; Alex-
ander Weyer; Mexican Billy Wells; A foolhardy
Italian; Wilson; Hennan; Sampson; Sandow;
Yucca; La Blanche; Lulu Hurst.-The Georgia
Magnet, The Electric Girl, etc.; Annie Abbot;
Mattie Lee Price.-The Twilight of the Freaks.-
'I'J:ae dime Dl'U8el11D8. ••••••••••••• ' ' ' •••• t • • • • • • • 221)

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 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Hondini ........•......•................... l'~

John Evelyn .. .. .. .... ..•.....•..•... . ....... ... . P . 19
Lady Sunderland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 23
Z1
Robert Powell.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "
Handbill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "
44
Madame GirardeUi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 45
Yamadeva. ..........••....•.••... . ..... ... Facing fHJf11J 52
Professor Maeub. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 52 "
" Fire-king , Chabert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 52 "
Handbill ........................................ P• 65
Portion of Chabert's Handbill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 61
Handbill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "
81
Harry Kellar•....... ..... ..........•••.... . Facing fHJfiiJ 84
Edith Cli1rord•......................•............ Page 149
Thomas Topham. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 195
Dr. Jean ~phile Desaguliers. •••••••••••••••.• ••• " 203
Johann Carl v. Eckenberg .... .... .... ..... .. ...... " ?111
Feats of Strength (Plate 19) . . . . . • • . • .. .. .. .. .. .. .. " 211

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 CHAPTER ONE
FIRE WORSHIP.-FIRE EATING AND HEAT
RESISTANCE.-IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
-AMONG THE NAVAJO INDIANS.-
FIRE-WALKERS OF JAPAN.-:rHE FIERY
ORDEAL OF FIJI.

F IRE has always been and, seemingly, wiD

always remain, the most terrible of the
elements. To the early tribes it must also have
been the most mysterious; for, while earth and
air and water were always in evidence, fire
came and went in a manner which must have
been quite unaccountable to them. Thus it
naturally followed that the custom of deifying
all things which the primitive mind was un-
able to grasp, led in direct line to the fire.
worship of later days.
Tliat fire could be produced through friction
finally came into the knowledge of man, but
the early methods entailed much labor. Con-
sequently our ease-loving forebears cast about

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for a method to ''keep the home fires buming''
aDd hit upon the plan of appointing a person
in eacl1 community who should at all times
earry a buming brand. This arrangement had
many faults, however, and after a while it was
superseded by the expedient of a fire kept con-
tinually buming in a building erected for the
purpoee.
The Greeks worshiped at an altar of this
kind which they called the Altar of Hema and.
which the Romans called the Altar of Vesta.
The sacred fire itself was known as Vesta, and
its burning was considered a proof of the
presence of the goddess. The Persians had
such a building in each town and village; and
the Egyptians, such a fire in every temple;
while the Mexicans, N atches, Peruvians and
Mayas kept their "national fires" burning
upon great pyramids. Eventually the keeping
of such fires became a sacred rite, and the
''Eternal Lamps'' kept burning in synagogues
and in Byzantine and Catholic churches may
be a survival of these customs.
There is a theory that all architecture, pub-
lic and private, sacred and profane, began with

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 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND TBBIR [Link] I

the erection of sheds to protect the aaered fire.

This naturally led men to build for their own
protection as well, and thua the family hearth
had its genesis.
Another theory holds that the keepers of the
sacred fires were the first public servants, and
that from this small beginning sprang the in-
tricate public service of the present.
The worship of the fire itself had been a
legacy from the earliest tribes; but it remained
for the Rosicrucians and the fire philosOphers
of the Sixteenth Century under the lead of
Paracelsus to establish a concrete religious be-
lief on that basis, finding in the Scriptures
what seemed to them ample proof that fire
was the symbol of the actual presence of God,
as in all cases where· He is said to have visited
this earth. He came either in a :flame of fire,
or surrounded with g~ory, which they conceived
to mean the same thing.
For example: when God appeared on Mount
Sinai (Exod. xix, 18) "The Lord descended
upon it in fire." Moses, repeating this history,
said: "The Lord spake unto you out of the
midst of fire" (Deut. iv, 12). Again, when

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" MlllACLE-MONGEBS AND THEIR METHODS

the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses out

of the flaming bush, "the bush burned with
I
fire and the bush was not consumed" (Exod.
iii, 3). Fire from the Lord consumed the
burnt offering of .Aaron (Lev. ix, 24), the
sacrifice of Gideon (Judg. vi, 21), the burnt
offering of David {1 Chron. xxxi, 26), and
that at the dedication of King Solomon's
temple ( Chron. vii, 1). And when Elijah made
his sacrifice to prove that Baal was not God,
"the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the
burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones,
and the dust and the water that was in the
trench." {1 Kings, xvili, 38.)
Since sacrifice had from the earliest days
been considered as food offered to the gods,
it was quite logical to argue that when fire
from Heaven fell upon the offering, God him-
self was present and consumed His own. Thus
the Paracelsists and other fire believers sought,
and as they believed found, high authority for
continuing a part of the fire worship of the
early tribes.
Tlie Theosophists, according to Hargrave
Jennings in "The Rosicrucians," called the

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 ..
MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS I

soul a fire taken from the eternal ocean of

light, and in common with other Fire-Philos-
ophers believed that all knowable things, both
of the soul and the body, were evolved out of
fire and finally resolvable into it; and that fire
was the last and only-to-be-known God.
In passing I might call attention to the fact
that the Devil is supposed to dwell in the same
element.
Some of the secrets of heat resistance as
practiced by the dime-museum and sideshow
performers of our time, secrets grouped under
the general title of "Fire-eating," must have
been known in very early times. To quote
from Chambers' "Book of Days": "In ancient
history we find several examples of people who
possessed the art of touching fire without be-
ing burne<L The Priestesses of Diana, at
Castabala, in Cappadocia, commanded public
veneration by walking over red-hot iron. The
Herpi, a people of Etruria, walked among
glowing embers at an annual festival held on
Mount Soracte, and thus proved their sacred
character, receiving certain privileges, among
others, exemption from military service, :from

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e MIIlACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS
the Roman Senate. One of the mosi astound-
ing stories of antiquity is related in the' Zenda-
Vesta,' to the eifect that Zoroaster, to confute
his calumniators, allowed fluid lead to be
poured over his body, without receiving any
injury."
To me the "astounding" part of this story
is not in the feat itself, for that is extremely
easy to accomplish, but in the fact that the
secret was known at such an early date, which
the best authorities place at 500 to 1000 B.C.
It is said that the earliest recorded instance,
in our era, of ordeal by fire was in the fourth
century. Simplicius, Bishop of Autun, who
had been married before his promo~on, con-
tinued to live with his wife, and in order to
demonstrate the Platonic purity of their inter-
course placed burning coals upon their flesh
without injury.
That the clergy of the Middle Ages, who
caused accused persons to walk blindfold
among red-hot plowshares, or hold heated
irons in their hands, were in possession of the
secret of the trick, is shown by the fact that
after trial by ordeal had been abolished the

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 JUBACLB-IIOlfGJUIS AND TIIXIJl KBTHODS '

aeeret of their methods was published by Al-

bert, Count of Bollstadt, usually ealled Al-
bertus Magnus but sometimes Albertus TeU-
tonicus, a man distinguished by the range of
his inquiries and his e1forts for the spread of
knowledge.
These secrets will be fully explained in the
section of this history devoted to the Arcana
of the Fire-Eaters (Chapter Six).
I take the following from the N s• Y Of'k
[Link] of 1885:

The famous fire dance of the Navajo

Indians, often described as though it in-
volved some sort of genuine necromancy,
is explained by a matter-of-fact spectator.
It is true, he says, that the naked wor-
shipers cavort round a big bonfire, with
blazing faggots in their hands, and dash
the flames over their own and their fel-
lows' bodies, all in a most picturesque and
malrlacal fashion; but their skins are first
so thickly coated with a clay paint that
they cannot easily be burned.

An illustrated article entitled Rites of ths

Firewalking Fanatics of Japan, by W. 0.
...-

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8 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

Jameson Reid, in the Chicago Sunday Inter-

Ocean of September 27th, 1903, reveals so
splendid an example of the gullibility of the
well-informed when the most ordinary trick
is cleverly presented and surrounded with the
atmosphere of the occult, that I am impelled
to place before my readers a few illuminating
excerpts from Mr. Reid's narrative. This man
would, in all probability, scom to spend a dime
to witness the performance of a fire-eater in
a circus sideshow; but after traveling half
round the world he pays a dollar and spends
an hour's time watching the fanatical incanta-
tions of the solemn little Japanese priests for
the sake of seeing the "Hi-W attarai "-which
is merely the stunt of walking over hot coals
-and he then writes it down as the "eighth
wonder of the world," while if he had taken
the trouble to give the matter even the most
superficial investigation, he could have dis-
covered that the secret of the trick had been
made public centuries before.
Mr. Reid is authority for the statement that
the Shintoist priests' fire-walking rites have
"long been one of the puzzling mysteries of

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 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR. METHODS 9

the scientific world," and adds "If you ever

are in Tokio, and can find a few minutes to
spare, by all means do not neglect [Link]
at least one performance of 'ffi-Wattarai'
(fire walking, and that is really what takes
place), for, if you are of that incredulous na-
ture which laughs with scom at so-called
Eastern mysticism, you will come away, as has
many a visitor before you, with an impression
suticient to last through an ordinary lifetime."
Further on he says "If you do not come away
convinced that you have been witness of a
spectacle which makes you disbelieve the evi-
dence of your own eyes and your most matter-
of-fact judgment, then you are a man of
stone." All of which proves nothing more
than that Mr. Reid was inclined to make posi-
tive statements ~bout suojects in which he
knew little or nothing.
He tells us further that formerly this rite
was performed only in the spring and fall,
when, beside the gratuities of the foreigners,
the native worshipers brought ''gifts of wine,
large trays of fish, fruit, rice cakes, loaves,
vegetables, and candies.'' Evidently the com-

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10 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

bination of box-office receipts with donation

parties proved extremely tempting to the
thrifty priests, for they now give what might
be termed a "continuous performance."
Those who have read the foregoing pages
will apply a liberal sprinkling of salt to the
solemn assurance of Mr. Reid, advanced on
the authority of Jinrikisha boys, that "for
days beforehand the priests connected with
the temple devote themselves to fasting and
prayer to prepare for the ordeal. • • • The
performance itself usually takes place in the
late afternoon during twilight in the temple
court, the preceding three hours being spent
by the priests in :final outbursts of prayer be-
fore the unveiled altar in the inner sanctuary
of the little matted temple, and during these
invocations no visitors are allowed to enter the
sacred precincts."
Mr. Reid's description of the fire walking
itself may not be out of place; it will show
that the J aps had nothing new to offer aside
from the ritualistic ceremonials with which
tliey camou11aged the hocus-pocus of the per-

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Jrt:IRACLE-KONGERS AND THEIR METHODS ll

formance, which is merely a survival of the

ordeal by fire of earlier religions.
"Shortly before 5 o'clock the priests filed
from before the altar into some interior apart-
ments, where they were to change their beau-
tiful robes for the coarser dress worn during
the fire walking. In the meantime coolies had
been set to work in the courtyard to ignite the
great bed of charcoal, which had already been
laid. The dimensions of this bed were about
twelve feet by four, and, perhaps, a foot deep.
On the top was a quantity of straw and kind-
ling wood, which was lighted, and soon burst
into a roaring blaze. 1'he charcoal became
more and more thoroughly ignited until the
whole mass glowed in the uncertain gloom, like
some gigantic and demoniacal eye of a modem
Prometheus. As soon as the mass of charcoal
was thoroughly ignited from top to bottom, a
small gong in the temple gave notice that the
wonderful spectacle of 'Hi-Wattarai' was
about to begin.
"Soon two of the priests came out, said
prayers of almost interminable length at a tiny
shrine in the corner of the enclosure, and

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11 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

turned their attention to the fire. Taking long

poles and fans from the coolies, they poked
and encouraged the blaze till it could plainly
be seen that the coal was ignited throughout.
The whole bed was a glowing mass, and the
heat which rose from it was so intense that
we found it uncomfortable to sit fifteen feet
away from it without screening our faces with
fans. Then they began to pound it down more
solidly along the middle; as far as possible
inequalities in its surface were beaten down,
and ~he coals which protruded were brushed
aside."
There follows a long and detailed descrip-
tion of further ceremonies, the receiving of
gifts, etc., which need not be repeated her~
Now for the trick itself.
"One of the priests held a pile of white
powder on a small wooden stand. This was
said to be salt-which in Japan is credited with
great cleansing properties-but as far as could
be ascertained by superficial examination it
was a mixture of alum and salt. He stood at
one end of the fire-bed and poised the wooden
tray over liis head, and then sprinkled a hand-

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KI:aACLE-MONGEllS AND THEIR METHODS 11

ful of it on the ground before the glowing bed

of coals. .At the same time another priest who
stood by him chanted a weird recitative of in-
vocation and struck sparks from Hint and steel
which he held in his hands. This same process
was repeated by both the priests at the other
end, at the two sides, and at the comers.
"Ten minutes, more or less, was spent in
various movements and incantations about the
bed of coals. .At the end of that time two small
pieces of wet matting were brought out and
placed at eitlier end and a quantity of the
white mixture was placed upon them. .At a
signal from the head priest, who acted as
master of ceremonies during the curious suc-
ceeding function, the ascetics who were to per-
form the first exhibition of fire-walking gath-
ered at one end of the bed of coals, which by
this time was a fierce and glowing furnace.
"Having raised both his hands and pros-
trated himself to render thanks to the god who
had [Link] out the 'soul' of the fire, the priest
about to undergo the ordeal stood upon the
wet matting, wiped his feet lightly in the white
mixture, and while we held our breaths, and

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1• MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

our eyes almost leaped from their sockets iD

awe-struck astonishment, he walked over the
glowing mass as unconcernedly as if treading
on a carpet in a drawing-room, his feet coming
in contact with the white hot coals at every
step. He did not hurry or take long steps,
but sauntered along with almost incredible
sang-froid, and before he reached the opposite
side he turned around and sauntered as care-
lessly back to the mat from which he had
started.''
The story goes on to tell how the perform-
ance was repeated by the other priests, and
then by many of the native audience; but none
of the Europeans tried it, although invited to
do so. Mr. Reid's closing statement is that
"no solution of the mystery can be gleaned,
even from high scientific authorities who have
witneBSed and closely studied the physical fea-
tures of these remarkable Shinto fire-walking
rites." Many who are confronted with some-
thing that they cannot explain take refuge in
tlie claim that it puzzles the scientists too. .As
a matter of fact, at the time Mr. Reid wrote,
such scientists as had given the subject serious

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 15

study were pretty well posted on the methods

involved.
An article under the title The Fierg Ordeal
of Fiji, by Maurice Delcasse, appeared in the
Wide World Magaaine for May, 1898. From
Mr. Delcasse's account it appears that the
Fijian ordeal is practically the same as that
of the Japanese, as described by Mr. Reid, ex-
cept that there is very little ceremony sur-
rounding it. The people of Fiji until a com-
paratively recent date were cannibals; but
their islands are now British possessions, most
of the natives are Christians, and most of their
ancient customs have become obsolete, from
which I deduce that the fire-walking rites
described in this article must have been per-
formed by natives who had retained their old
religious beliefs.
The ordeal takes place on the Island of
Benga, which is near Suva, the capital of Fiji,
and which, Mr. Delcasse says, "was the sup-
posed residence of some of the old gods of Fiji,
and was, therefore, considered a sacred land."
Instead of walking on the live coals, as the
Japanese priests do, the Fijians walk on stones

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16 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

that have been brought to a white heat in a

great fire of logs.
The familiar claim is made that the per~
formance puzzles scientists, and that no satis-
factory solution has yet been discovered. We
are about to see that for two or three hundred
years the same claims have been made by a
long line of more or less clever public per-
formers in Europe and America.

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 CHAPTER TWO

WATTON'S SHIP-SWABBER "FROM THE IN-

DIES."-RICHARDSON, 1667-DE HEIT-
ERKEIT, 1713.-ROBERT POWELL, 1718-
178o.-DUFOUR, 178J.--QUACKENSAL-
BER, 1794-

T HElic earliest mention I have founcl of a pub-

fire-eater in England is in the corre-
spondence of Sir Henry Watton, under date of
June 3rd, 1633. He speaks of an Englishman
"like some swabber of a ship, come from the
Indies, where he has learned to eat fire as
fami1iarly as ever I saw any eat cakes, even
whole glowing brands, which he will crush with
his teeth and swallow." This was shown in
London for two pence.
The first to attract the attention of the up-
per classes, however, was one Richardson, who
appeared in France in the year 1667 and en-
joyed a vogue sufficient to justify the record
of his promise in the Journal des Savants.
Later on he came to London, and John Evelyn,
17

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18 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

in his diary, mentions him under date of

October 8th, 1672, as follows:

I took leave of my Lady Sunderland,

who was going to Paris to my Lord, now
Ambassador there. She made me stay
dinner at Leicester House, and afterwards
sent for Richardson, the famous fire-eater.
He devoured brimstone on glowing coals
before us, chewing and swallowing them;
he melted a beere-glass and eate it quite up;
then taking a live coale on his tongue he
put on it a raw oyster; the coal was blown
on with bellows till it flamed and sparkled
in his mouthe, and so remained until the
oyster gaped and was quite boil'd.
Then he melted pitch and wax with sul-
phur, which he drank down as it flamed:
I saw it flaming in his mouthe a good while;
he also took up a thick piece of iron, such
as laundresses use to put in their smooth-
ing-boxes, when it 'was :fiery hot, held it
between his teeth, then in his hand, and
threw it about like a stone; but this I ob-
serv'd he cared not to hold very long.
Then he stoode on a small pot, and, bend-
ing his body, tooke a glowing iron with
his mouthe from betweene his feete, with-

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3'0HN JIIVEL'YW
19

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 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 21

out -toucliing the pot or ground with his

hands, with divers other prodigious feats.

The secret methods employed by Richardson

were disclosed by his servant, and this pub-
licity seems to have brought his career to a
sudden close; at least I have found no record
of his subsequent movements•
.About 1713 a fire-eater named De Heiter-
keit, a native of Annivi, in Savoy, flourished
for a time in London. He performed five times
a day at the Duke of Marlborough's Head, in
Fleet Street, the prices being half-a-crown,
eighteen pence and one shilling.
.According to London Tit-Bits, "De Heiter-
keit had the honor of exhibiting before Louis
XIV., the Emperor of .Austria, the King of
Sicily and the Doge of Venice, and his name
having reaclied the Inquisition, that holy office
proposed experimenting on him to find out
whether he was fireproof externally as well as
internally. He was preserved from this un-
welcome ordeal, however, by the interference
of the Duchess Royal, Regent of Savoy."
His programme did not differ materially

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12 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

from that of his predecessor, Richardson, who

bad antedated him by nearly fifty years.
By far the most famous of the early fire-
eaters was Robert Powell, whose public career
extended over a period of nearly sixty yearst
and who was patronized by the English peer-
age. It was mainly through the instrumental-
ity of Sir Hans Sloane that, in 1751, the Royal
Society presented Powell a purse of gold and
a large silver medal.
Lounger's Commonplace Book says of
Powell: "Such is his passion for this terrible
element, that if be were to come hungry into
your kitchen, while a sirloin was roasting, be
would eat up the fire and leave the beef. It
is somewhat surprising that the friends of reoJ
merit have not yet promoted him, living as we
do in an age favorable to men of genius.
Obliged to wander from place to place, instead
of indulging himself in private with his
favorite dish, he is under the uncomfortable
necessity of eating in public, and helping him-
self from the kitchen fire of some paltry ale-
house in tlie country."
His advertisements show that he was before

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 l

II
r
LADY SUNDERLAND
23

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-- -
.....- .
Digitized byGoogle
MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 25

the public from 1718 to 1780. One of his later

advertisements runs as follows:

SUM BOLUS

Please observe that there are two dif-

ferent performances the same evening,
which will be performed by the famous

MR. POWELL, FIRE-EATER, FROM

LONDON:

who has had the honor to exhibit, with

universal applause, the most surprising
performances that were ever attempted by
mankind, before His Royal Highness
William, late Duke of Cumberland, at
Windsor Lodge, May 7th, 1752; before
His Royal Highness the Duke of Glou-
cester, at Gloucester House, January 30th,
1769; before His Royal Highness th~
present Duke of Cumberland, at Windsor
Lodge, September 25th, 1769; before Sir
Hans Sloane and several of the Royal
Society, March 4th, 1751, who made Mr.
Powell a compliment of a purse of gold,
and a fine large silver medal, which the

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16 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

curious may view by applying to him; and

before most of the Nobility and Quality in
the Kingdom.
He intends to sup on the following
articles: 1. He eats red-hot coals out of
the fire as natural as bread. 2. He licks
with his naked tongue red-hot tobacco
pipes, flaming · with brimstone. 3. He
takes a large bunch of deal matches, lights
them altogether; and holds them in his
mouth till the flame is extinguished. 4.
He takes a red-hot heater out of the fire,
licks it with his naked tongue several
times, and carries it around the room be-
tween his teeth. 5. He fills his mouth with
red-hot charcoal, and broils a slice of beef
or mutton upon his tongue, and any per-
son may blow the fire with a pair of bel-
lows at the same time. 6. He takes a
quantity of resin, pitch, bees '-wax, sealing-
wax, brimstone, alum, and lead, melts
them all together over a chafing-dish of
coals, and eats the same combustibles with
a spoon, as if it were a porringer of broth
(which he calls his dish of soup), to the
great and agreeable surprise of the spec-
tators; with various other extraordinary
performances never attempted by any

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 $ 011

ROBERT :POWELL.t the Fire eater,Df&wn from Life IC\.

.)tc was exhibiting (t Gtrilclford in the Year l78t> He exhibited. iDI
CN"fi'Jclc floom the Yearl718 to the above mentfonedYear•.u m'v\•
CQUectcd t'rom hfs-Ad'artifements dllrinc that. l'ertod:

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Digitized by GoogIe
 [Link]-MONGEBS AND THEIR METHODS 1t.

other person of this age, and there is

scarce a possibility ever will; so that those
who neglect this opportunity of seeing the
wonders performed by this artist, will lose
the sight of the most amazing exhibition
ever done by man.
The doors to be opened by six and he
sups precisely at seven o'clock, without
any noti~ given by sound of trumpet.
If gentry do not choose to come at seven
o'clock, no performance.
Prices of admission to ladies and gentle-
men, one shilling. Back Seats for Chil-
dren and Servants, six pence.
Ladies and children may have a private
performance any hour of the day, by giv-
ing previous notice.
N. B.-He displaces teeth or stumps so
easily as to scarce be felt. He sells a
chemical liquid which discharges inflam-
mation, scalds, and burns, in a short time,
and is necessary to be kept in all families.
His stay in this place will be but short,
not exceeding above two or three nights.
Good fire to keep the gentry warm.

This shows how little advance had been made

in the art in a oontury. Richardson had pre..

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10 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

sented practically the same programme a hun-

dred years before. Perhaps the exposure of
Richardson's method by his servant put an
end to fire-eating as a form of amusement for
a long time, or until the exposure had been
forgotten by the public. Powell himself,
though not proof against exposure, seems to
have been proof against its effects, for he kept
on the even tenor of his way for sixty years,
and at the end of his life was still exhibiting.
Whatever the reason, the eighteenth century
fire-eaters, like too many magicians of the
0
0

present day, kept to the stereotyped pro. .

grammes of their predecessors. A very few
did, however, step out of the beaten track and,
by adding new tricks and giving a new dress
to old ones, succeeded in securing a following
that was financially satisfactory.
In tiM class a Frenchman by the name of
Dufour deserves special mention, from the fact
that he was the first to introduce comedy into
an act of this nature. He made his bow in
Paris in 1783, and is said to have created quite
a sensation by his unusual performance. I
am indebted to Martin's NaturZiche Magie,

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 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 11

1792,. for a very complete description of the

work of this artist.
Dufour made use of a portable building,
which was specially adapted to his purposes,
and his table was spread as if for a banquet,
except that the edibles were such as his per-
formance demanded. He employed a trum-
peter and a tambour player to furnish music
for his repast-as well as to attract public
attention. In addition to fire-eating, Dufour
gave exhibitions of his ability to consume im-
mense quantities of solid food, and he dis-
played an appetite for live animals, reptiles,
and insects that probably proved highly enter-
taining to the not overrefined taste of the
audiences of his day. He even advertised a
banquet of which the public was invited to
partake at a small fee per plate, but since the
menu consisted of the delicacies just described,
his audiences declined to join him at table.
His usual bill-of-fare was as follows:
Soup-boiling tar torches, glowing coals and
small, round, super-lreated stones.
The roast, when Dufour was really hungry,
consisted of twenty pounds of beef or a whole

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81 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

calf. His hearth was either the :ftat of his hand

or his tongue. The butter in which the roast
was served was melted brimstone or burning
wax. When the roast was cooked to suit him
he ate coals and roast together.
As a dessert he would swallow the knives
and forks, glasses, and the earthenware dishes.
He kept his audience in good humor by pre-
senting all this in a spirit of crude comedy
and, to increase the comedy element, he in-
troduced a number of trained cats. Although
the thieving proclivities of cats are well known,
Dufour's pets showed no desire to share his
repast, and he had them trained to obey his
commands during mealtime. At the close of
the meal he would become violently angry with
one of them, seize the unlucky offender, tear
it limb from limb and eat the carcass. One
of his musicians would then beg him to produce
the cat, dead or alive. In order to do this
he would go to a nearby horse-trough and
drink it dry; would eat a number of pounds
of soap, or other nauseating substance, clown-
ing it in a manner to provoke amusement in-
stead of disgust; and, further to mask the dis-

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MIBACLE-MONGEBS AND THEIR METHODS II

agreeable featureir-and also, no doubt, to

conceal the trick-would take the cloth from
the table and cover his face; whereupon he
would bring forth the swallowed cat, or one
tliat looked like it, which would howl piteously
and seem to struggle wildly while being dis-
gorged. When freed, the poor cat would rush
away among the spectators.
Dufour gave his best performances in the
evening, as he could then show his hocus-pocus
to best advantage. At these times he appeared
with a halo of fire about his head.
His last appearance in Paris was most re-
markable. The dinner began with a soup of
asps in simmering oil. On each side was a
dish of vegetables, one containing thistles and
burdocks, and the other fuming acid. Other
side dishes, of turtles, rats, bats and moles,
were garnished with live coals. For the fish
course he ate a dish of snakes in boiling tar
and pitch. His roast was a screech owl in a
sauce of glowing brimstone. The salad proved
to be spider webs full of small explosive squibs,
a plate of butterfly wings and manna worms,
a dish of toads surrounded with flies, crickets,

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It MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THKIB KBTHODi

grasshoppers, church beetles, spiders, and

caterpillars. ·He washed all this down with
flaming brandy, and for dessert ate the four
large candles standing on the table, both of
the hanging side lamps with their contents,
and finally the large center lamp, oil, wick and
all. This leaving the room in darkness, Du-
four's face shone out in a mask of living flames.
A dog had come in with a farmer, who was
probably a confederate, and now began to bark.
Since Dufour could not quiet him, he seized
him, bit off his head and swallowed it, throw-
ing the .body aside. Then ensued a comic scene
between Dufour and the farmer, the latter de-
manding that his dog be brought to life, ·which
threw the audience into paroxysms of laughter.
Then suddenly candles reappeared and seemed
to light themselves. Dufour made a series of
hocus-pocus passes over the dog's body; then
the head suddenly appeared in its proper place,
and the dog, with a joyous yelp, ran to his
master.
Notwithstanding the fact that Dufour must
have been by all odds -the best performer of his
time, I do not find reference to him in any;

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 15

other authority. But something of his origin-

ality appeared in the work of a much humbler
practitioner, contemporary or very nearly con-
temporary with him.
We have seen that Richardson, Powell,
Dufour, and generally the better class of fire-
eaters were able to secure select audiences and
even to attract the attention of scientists in
England and on the Continent. But many of
their effects had been employed by mounte-
banks and street fakirs since the earliest days
of the art, and this has continued until com-
paratively recent times.
In N atUrliche Magie, in 1794, Vol. VI, page
11~, I find an account of one Quackensalber,
who gave a new twist to the fire-eating indus-
try by making a ''High Pitch" at the fairs and
on street corners and exhibiting feats of fire-
resistance, washing his hands and face in
melted tar, pitch and brimstone, in order to
attract a crowd. He then strove to sell them a
compound-composed of fish glue, alum and
brandy-which he claimed would cure burns in
two or three hours. He demonstrated that this
mixture was used by him in his heat resistance:

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86 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

and then, doubtless, some ''capper'' started the

ball rolling, and Herr Quackensalber (his
name indicates a seller of salves) [Link] a
good harvest.
I have no doubt but that even to-day a clever
performer with this ''High Pitch'' could do a
thriving business in that overgrown country
village, New York. At any rate there is the
so-called, "King of Bees," a gentleman from
Pennsylvania, who exhibits himself in a cage
of netting filled with bees, and then sells the
admiring throng a specific for bee-stings and
the wounds of angry wasps. Unfortunately
the only time I ever saw his majesty, some of
his bee actors must have forgotten their lines,
for he was thoroughly stung.

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THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.-A "WONDER-
FUL PHENOMENON."-"THE INCOMBUS-
TmLE SPANIARD, SENOR UONETTO," 18o3.
-. -JOSEPHINE GIRARDEU.I, 1814--]0HN
BROOKS, 1817.- W. C. HOUGHTON, 1832.
-J. A. B. CHYUNSKI, 1841.-CHAMOUNI,
THE RUSSIAN SALAMANDER, 186).-PRO-
FESSOR REL MAEUB, 1876,-RIVAU.I (died
19()0).

I N distinguished
the nineteenth century by far the most
heat-resister was Chabert,
who deserves and shall have a chapter to him-
self. He commenced exhibiting about 1818,
but even earlier in the century certai.D obscurer
performers had anticipated some of his best
e1fects. Among my clippings, for instance, I
find the following. I regret that I cannot give
the date, but it is evident from the long form
of the letters that it was quite early. Thia is
the first mention I have found of the hot-oven
e1fect afterwards made famous by Chabert.
~

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18 lrfiRACLE-lrfONGEJlS AND THEIR METHODS

WONDERFUL PHENOMENON
A correspondent in France writes as
follows: ''Paris has, for some days, rung
with relations of the wonderful exploits
of a Spaniard in that city, who is endowed
with qualities by which he resists the
action of very high degrees of heat, as well
as the influence of strong chemical re-
agents. Many histories of the trials to
which he has been submitted before a
Commission of the Institute and Medical
School, have appeared in the public pa-
pers; but the public waits with impatience
for the report to be made in the name of
the Commission by Professor Pinel.
The subject of these trials is a young
man, a native of Toledo, in Spain, 23
years of age, and free of any apparent
peculiarities which can announce any-
thing remarkable in the organization of his
skin; after examination, one would be
rather disposed to conclude a peculiar
softness than that any hardness or thick-
ness of the cuticle existed, either naturally
or from mechanical causes. Nor was there
any circumstance to indicate that the per-

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 89

son had been previously rubbed with any

matter capable of resisting the operation
of the agents with which he was brought
in contact.
This man bathed for the space of five
minutes, and without any injury to his
sensibility or the surface of the skin, his
legs in oil, heated at 97° of Reaumur (250
degrees of Fahrenheit) and with the same
oil, at the same degree of heat, he washed
his face and superior extremities. He
held, for the same space of time, and with
as little inconvenience, his legs in a solu-
tion of muriate of soda, heated to 102 of
the same scale, (2611/2 ° Fahr.) He stood
on and rubbed the soles of his feet with a
bar of hot iron heated to a white heat; in
this state he held the iron in his hands and
rubbed the surface of his tongue.
He gargled his mouth with concen-
trated sulphuric and nitric acids, without
the smallest injury or discoloration; the
nitric acid changed the cuticle to a yellow
color; with the acids in this state he
rubbed his hands and arms. All these ex-
periments were continued long enough to
prove tlieir inefficiency to produce any im-
pression. It is [Link], on unquestionable

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~ MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

authority, that he remained a considerable

time in an oven heated to 65° or 70°, (178-
1890 Fahr.) and from which he was with
difficulty induced to retire, so comfortable
did he feel at that high temperature.
It may be proper to remark, that this
nian seems totally uninfluenced by any
motive to mislead, and, it is said, he has
refused flattering offers from some re-
ligious sectaries of turning to emolument
his singular qualities; yet on the whole it
seems to be the opinion of most philosoph-
ical men, that this person must possess
some matter which counteracts the opera-
tion of these agents. To suppose that na-
ture has organized him differently, would
be unphilosophic: by habit he might have
blunted his sensibilities against those im-
pressions that create pain under ordinary
circumstances; but how to explain the
power by which he resists the action of
those agents which are known to have the
strongest affinity for animal matter, is a
circumstance difficult to comprehend. It
has not failed, however, to excite the won-
der of the ignorant and the inquiry of the
learned at Paris."

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 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS tl

This "Wonderful Phenomenon" may have

been "the incombustible Spaniard, Se:iior
Lionetto,'' whom the London MiN'Of' mentions
as performing in Paris in 1803 "where he
attracted the particular attention of Dr.
Sementeni, Professor of Chemistry, and other
scientific gentlemen of that city. It appears
that a considerable vapor and smell rose from
parts of his body when the fire and heated
substances were applied, and in this he seems
to di:ffer from the person now in this country.''
The person here referred to was M. Chabert.
Dr. Sementeni became so interested in the
subject that he made a series of experiments
upon himself, and these were finally crowned
with success. His experiments will receive
further attention in the chapter "The Arcana
of the Fire-Eaters."
A veritable sensation was created in Eng-
land in the year 1814 by Senora Josephine
Girardelli, who was heralded as having "just
arrived from the Continent, where she had the
honor of appearing before most of the crowned
heads of Europe.'' She was first spoken of

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.u KlllACLE-KONGEBS AND THEIJl METHODS
as German, but afterwards proved to be of
[Link] birth.
Entering a field of endeavor which had here-
tofore been exclusively occupied by the sterner
sex, this lady displayed a taste for hot meals
that would seem to recommend her as a matri-
monial venture. Like all the earlier exploiters
of the devouring element, she was proclaimed
as "The Great Phenomena of Nature"-why
the plural form was used does not appear-
and, doubtless, her feminine instincts led her
to impart a daintiness to her performance
which must have appealed to the better class
of audience in that day.
The portrait that adorned her first English
handbill, which I produce from the Picture
Magazi~, was engraved by Page and pub-
lished by Smeeton, St. Martins Lane, London.
It is said to be a faithful representation of
her stage costume and setting.
Richardson, of Bartholomew Fair fame,
who was responsible for the introduction of
many novelties, first presented Girardelli to
an English audience at Portsmouth, where her
success was so pronounced that a London ap-

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•[Link] tie.,_,_, ~or.
,PERFORMANCES. AND A JIIVJIDOUI

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COMPANY of PERFORMERS,
'-1M [Link].. .....,Jr-...
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._.....,.. • • ._, ""' [Link].e. .

SIGNORA JOSEPHINE

Girardelli
1..,
6WDOil Heodl
FROM THE CONTINENT,
of Europe, who n~ tJoo •Ia-
'
llllod the , . . . , . qf liN Jp, bu llo<l the hea• of appeari111 .,.,..., ,.,... of tloo
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...[Link] P""'"""DHI ODd abo II tile 'l"'[Link], Loodoa, witll uai....U oppla.e ,
Her PottJnl of Re1i1tance agai1111 Beat are •'ncndwle,
llle putet Rod Hot Jrona over her Hair, also over her Tongue. ·Arml. and Lego,

.. .
Jiold• her Arms over an immense Body of f'lame. Washea her Haods io

BOILING LEAD,
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Po•n 1M - iloto lwr Mollllo! I

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 [Link] GlltARDELLI
"'The Celebrated Fireproof Female"
40

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Digitized byGoogle
MIBACLE-MONGEBS AND THEIR METHODS t7

pearance was arranged for the same year; and

at Mr. Laxton's rooms, 23 New Bond Street,
her performance attracted the most fashion-
able metropolitan audiences for a considerable
time. Following this engagement she ap-
peared at Richardson's Theater, at Barthol-
omew Fair, and afterwards toured England
in the company of Signor Germondi, who ex-
hibited a troupe of wonderfUl trained dogs.
One of the canine actors was billed as the
''Russian Moscow Fire Dog, an animal un-
known in this country, (and never exhibited
before) who now delights in that element, hav-
ing been trained for the last six months at very
great expense and fatigue."
Whether Girardelli accumulated sufficient
wealth to retire or became discouraged by the
exposure of her methods cannot now be de-
termined, but after she had occupied a promi-
nent position in the public eye and the public
prints for a few seasons she dropped out of
sight, and I have been unable to find where
or how she passed the later years of her life.
I am even more at a loBS concerning her con-
temporary, John Brooks, of whom I have no

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•s MIRACLE-MONGERS .AND THEIR METHODS

other record than the following letter, which

appears in the autobiography of the famous
author-actor-manager, Thomas Dibdin, of the
Theaters Royal, Covent Garden, Drury Lane,
Haymarket and others. This one communica-
tion, however, absolves of any obligation to dig
up proofs of John Brooks' versatility: he ad-
mits it himself.

To Mr. T. Dibdin, Esq. Pripetor of the

Royal Circus.

!May 1st, 1817.

Sir:
I have taken the Liberty of Riting those
few lines to ask you the favour if a Gree-
able for me to Come to your House, as i
Can do a great many different things i
Can Sing a good Song and i Can Eat Boil-
ing hot Lead and Rub my naked arms
With a Red liot Poker ana Stand on a
Red hot sheet of iron, and do Diferent
other things.-Sir i hope you Will Excuse
me in Riting I do not Want any thing
for my Performing for i have Got a Busi-
ness that will Sirport me I only want to
pass a Way 2 or 3 Hours in the Evening.

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 49

Sir i hope you Will Send me an Answer

Weather Agreeple or not.
I am your Humble Servant,
J. B.
Direct to me No. 4 fox and Knot Court
King Street Smithfield.
JOHN BROOKS.

We shall let this versatile John Brooks close

the pre-Chabert record and turn our attention
to the fire-eaters of Chabert's day. Imitation
may be the sincerest. flattery, but in most cases
the victim of the imitation, it is safe to say,
will gladly dispense with that form of adula-
tion. When Chabert first came to America
and gave fresh impetus to the fire-eating art
by the introduction of new and startling ma-
terial, he was beset by many imitators, or-
as they probably styled themselves-rivals,
who immediately proceeded, so far as in them
lay, to out-Chabert Chabert.
One of the most prominent of these was a
man named W. C. Houghton, who claimed to
have challenged Chabert at various times. In
a newspaper advertisement in Philadelphia,
where he was scheduled to give a benefit per-

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60 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

formance on Saturday evening, February 4th,

1832, he practically promised to expose the
method of poison eating. Like that of all ex-
posers, however, his vogue was of short dura-
tion, and very little can be found about this
super-Chabert except his advertisements. The
following will serve as a sample of them:

~CH STREET THEATRE

BENEFIT
OF THE AMERICAN FffiE KING

A CARD.-W. C. Houghton, has the

honor to announce to the ladies and gen-
tlemen of Philadelphia, that his BENE-
FIT will take place at the ARCH
STREET THEATRE, on Saturday even-
ing next, 4th February, when will be pre-
sented a variety of entertainments aided
by the whole strength of the company.
Mr. H. in addition to his former experi-
ments will exhibit several fiery feats, pro-
nounced by Mons. Chabert an IMPOSSI-
BILITY. He will give a COMPLETE
explanation by illustrations of the PRIN-

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 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 11

CIPLES of the EUROPEAN and the

AMERICAN CHESS PLAYERS. He
will also (unless prevented by indisposi-
tion) swallow a sufficient quantity of phos-
phorus, (presented by either chemist or
druggist of this city) to destroy the ltfe
of any individual. Should he not feel dis-
posed to take the poison, he will satis-
factorily explain to the audience the man-
ner it may be taken without injury.

· In our next chapter we shall see how it went

with others who challenged Chabert.
A Polish athlete, J. A. B. Chylinski by name,
toured Great Britain and Ireland in 1841, and
presented a more than usually diversified en-
tertainment. Being gifted by nature with ex-
ceptional bodily strength, and trained in gym-
nastics, he was enabled to present a mixed
programme, combining his athletics with feats
of strength, fire-eating, poison-swallowing, and
fire-resistance.
In The Book of .Wonderful Characters, puD-
lished in 1869 by John Camden Hotten, Lon-
don, I find an account of Chamouni, the Rus-
sian Salamander: ''He was insensible, for a

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52 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

given time, to the effects of heat. He was

remarkable for the simplicity and singleness
of his character, as well as for that idiosyn-
crasy in his constitution, which enabled him
for so many years, not merely to brave the
effects of fire, but to take a delight in an ele-
ment where other men find destruction. He
was above all artifice, and would often entreat
his visitors to melt their own lead, or boil their
own mercury, that they might be perfectly
satisfied of the gratification he derived from
drinking these preparations. He would also
present his tongue in the most obliging manner
to all w)lo wished, to pour melted lead upon
it and stamp an impression of their seals."
A fire-proof billed as Professor Rei Maeub,
was on the programme at the opening of the
New National Theater, in Philadelphia, Pa.,
in the spring of 1876. If I am not mistaken
the date was April 25th. He called himself
"The Great Inferno Fire-King," and his
novelty consisted in having a strip of wet car-
peting running parallel to the hot iron plates
on which he walked barefoot, and stepping on
it occasionally and back onto the hot iron, when

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 YA:\IADEVA
From portrait taken in 1876

PROFESSOR l\IAEUB "FIRE-KING" CHABERT

"Great Inferno Fire King" From a drawing from life by J.
Minas!, artist to the King of Naples

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 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 51

a loud hissing and a cloud of steam bore ample

proof of the high temperature of the metal.
One of the more recent fireproofs was
Eugene Rivalli, whose act included, besides the
usual effects, a cage of fire in which he stood
completely surrounded by flames. Rivalli,
whose right name was John Watkins, died in
1900, in England. He had appeared in Great
Britain and Ireland as well as on the Continent
during the later years of the 19th century.
The cage of fire has been used by a number
of Rivalli 's followers also, and the reader will
find a full explanation of the methods em-
ployed for it in the chapter devoted to the
Arcana of the Fire-eaters, to which we shall
come when we have recorded the work of the
master Chabert, the history of some of the
heat-resisters featured on magicians' pro-
grammes, particularly in our own day, and the
interest taken in this art by performers whose
chief distinction was won in other fields, as
notably Edwin Forrest and the elder Sothern.

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 CHAPTER FOUR

THE MASTER--CHABERT, 1792-1859

I VAN IVANITZ OHABERT, the only

Really Incombustible Phenomenon, as be
was billed abroad, or J. Xavier Obabert, A.M.,
M.D., etc., as he was afterwards known in this
country, was probably the most notable, and
certainly the most interesting, character in
the history of fire-eating, fire-resistance, and
poison eating. He was the last prominent figure
in the long line of this type of artists to appeal
to the better classes and to attract the attention
of scientists, who for a considerable period
treated his achievements more or less seriously.
Henry Evanion gave me a valuable collection
of Ohabert clippings, hand-bills, etc., and re-
lated many interesting incidents in connection
with this man of wonders.
It seems quite impossible for me to write
.14

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 PAil lN~ qJIDAlDliiB'It
fll~ OHIY

Really Incombustible Phenomeaoa

u... -._..,...,,IO_..........,.w.. [Link]·~

Tbia,and every euceeeding Day,until furtherNClllce,

At No. 87, PALL MALL,
l'nt...yOITWO [Link] in [Link] ....n 11 EIGHT"' lila E•n...
FRONT SEATS :1>. SECOND [Link] ito BACit SEA.'l'S &J.
CMILDUW [Link]

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 57

of any historical character in Magic or its

allied arts without recalling my dear old friend
Evanion, who introduced me to a throng of
fascinating characters, with each of whom he
seemed almost as familiar as if they had been
daily companions.
Subsequently I discovered an old engraving
of Chabert, published in London in 1829, and
later still another which bore the change of
name, as well as the titles enumerated above.
The latter was published in New York, Sep-
tember, 1836, and bore the inscripton: "One
of the most celebrated Chemists, Philosophers,
and Physicians of the present day." These
discoveries, together with a clue from Evanion,
led to further investigations, which resulted in
the interesting discovery that this one-time
Batholomew Fair entertainer spent the last
years of liis life in New York City. He re-
sided here for twenty-seven years and lies
buried in the beautiful Cypress Hills Ceme-
tery, quite forgotten by the man on the street.
Nearby is the grave of good old Signor Blitz,
and not far away is the plot that holds all that
is mortal of my beloved parents. When I

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58 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

finally break away from earthly chains and

restraints, I hope to be placed beside them.
During my search for data regarding Cha-
bert I looked in the telephone book for a pos-
sible descendant. By accident I picked up the
Suburban instead of the Metropolitan edition,
and there I found a Victor E. Cbabert living
at .Allenhurst, N. J. I immediately got into
communication with him and found that he
was a grandson of the Fire King, but ·he could
give me no more information than I already
possessed, which I now spread before my
readers.
M. Chabert was a son of Joseph and Therese
Julienne Chabert. He was born on May loth,
1792, at Avignon, France.
Chabert was a soldier in the Napoleonic
wars, was exiled to Siberia and escaped to Eng-
land. His grandson has a bronze Napoleon
medal which was presented to Cbabert, pre-
sumably for valor on the field of battle. Na-
pol eon was exiled in 1815 and again three years
later. Chabert first attracted public notice in
Paris, at which time his demonstrations of
heat-resistance were sufficiently astonishing to

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 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEill METHODS 59

merit the attention of no less a body than the

National Institute.
To the more fammar feats of his predeces-
sors he added startling novelties in the art of
heat-resistance, the most spectacular being
that of entering a large iron cabinet, which
resembled a common baker's oven, heated to
the usual temperature of such ovens. He car-
ried in his hand a leg of mutton and remained
until the meat was thoroughly cooked. An-
other thriller involved standing in a flaming
tar-barrel until it was entirely consumed
around him.
In 1828, Chabert gave a series of perform-
ances at the .Argyle Rooms in London, and
created a veritable sensation. A correspondent
in the London Mirror has this to say of
Chabert's work at that time: "Of M. Chabert's
wonderful power of withstanding the opera-
tion of the fiery element, it is in the recollection
of the writer of witnessing, some few years
back, this sarr,.e individual (in connection with
the no-less fire-proof Signora Girardelli) ex-
hibiting 'extraordinary proofs of his super-
natural power of resisting the most intense

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~
GO MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

heat of every kind.' Since which an improve-

ment of a more formidable nature has to our
astonished fancy been just demonstrated. In
the newspapers of the past week it is reported
that he, in the first instance, refreshed him-
self with a hearty meal of phosphorus, which
was, at his own request, supplied to him very
liberally by several of his visitors, whcr were
previously unacquainted with him. He washed
down (they say) this infernal fare with solu-
tions of arsenic and oxalic acid; thus throwing
into the background the long-established fame
of Mithridates. He next swallowed with great
gout, several spoonfuls of boiling oil; and, as
a dessert to this delicate repast, helped him-
self with his naked hands to a considerable
quantity of molten lead. The experiment, how-
ever, of entering into a hot oven, together with
a quantity of meat, sufficient, when cooked, to
regale those of his friends who were specially
invited to witness his performance, was the
chef-d'muvre of the day. Having ordered
three fagots of wood, which is the quantity
·generally used by bakers, to be thrown into
the oven, and they being set on fire, twelve

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 61

more fagots of the same size were subsequently

added to them, which being all consumed by
three o'clock, M. Ohabert entered the oven with
a dish of raw meat, and when it was sufficiently
done he handed it out, took in another, and
remained therein until the second quantity was
also well cooked; he then came out of the oven,
and sat down, continues the report, to partake,
with a respectable assembly of friends, of
those viands he had so closely attended during
the culinary process. Publicly, on a subse-
quent day, and in an oven 6 feet by 7, and at
a heat of about 220, he remained till a steak
was properly done, and again returned to his
fiery den and continued for a period of thirty
minutes, in complete triumph over the power
of an element so much dreaded by humankind,
and so destructive to animal nature. It has
been properly observed, that there are prepa-
rations which so indurate the cuticle, as to
render it insensible to the heat of either boil-
ing oil or melted lead; and the fatal qualities
of certain poisons may be destroyed, if the
medium through which they are imbibed, as
we suppose to. h~ the case here, is a strong

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641 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

alkali. Many experiments, as to the extent to

which the human frame could bear heat, with-
out the destruction of the vital powers, have
been tried from time to time; but so far as
recollection serves, Monsieur Chabert 's fire-
resisting qualities are greater than those pro-
fessed by individuals who, before him, have
undergone tliis species of ordeal."
It was announced some time ago, in one of
the French journals, that experiments had
been tried with a female, whose fire-standing
qualities had excited great astonishment. She,
it appears, was placed in a heated oven, into
which live dogs, cats, and rabbits were con-
veyed. The poor animals died in a state of
convulsion almost immediately, while the Fire-
queen bore the heat without complaining. In
that instance, however, the heat of the oven
was not so great as that which M. Chabert en-
countered.
Much of the power to resist greater degrees
of heat than can other men may be a natural
gift, much the result of chemical applications,
and much from having the parts indurated by
long practice; probably all three are combined

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 65

in this phenomenon, with some portion of

artifice.
In Timbs' Curiosities of London, published
in 1867, I find the following:
At the Argyle Rooms, London, in 1829,
Mons. Chabert, the Fire-King, exhibited
his powers of resisting poisons, and with-
standing extreme heat. He swallowed
forty grains of phosphorus, sipped oil at
333° with impunity, and rubbed a red-hot
fire-shovel over his tongue, hair, and face,
unharmed.
On September 23d, on a challenge of
£50, Chabert repeated these feats and won
the wager; he next swallowed a piece of
burning torch; and then, dressed in coarse
woolen, entered an oven heated to 380°,
sang a song, and cooked two dishes of beef
steaks.
Still, the performances were suspected,
and in fact, proved to be a chemical juggle.

Another challenge in the same year is re-

corded under the heading, ''Sights of Lon-
don," as follows:
We were tempted on W [Link] to the

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86 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

Argyle Rooms by the challenge of a per-

son of the uncommon name of J. Smith
to M. Chabert, our old friend the Fire
King, whom this individual dared to in-
vite to a trial of powers in swallowing
poison and being baked I The audacity
of such a step quite amazed us; and
expecting to see in the competitor at
least a Vulcan, the God of all Smiths,
was hastened to the scene of strife•
.Alas, our disappointment was complete I
Smith had not even the courage of a
blacksmith for standing fire, and yielded
a stake of £50, as was stated, with-
out a contest, to M. Chabert, on the latter
coming out of his oven with his own two
steaks perfectly cooked. On this occasion
Chabert took 20 grains of pho8phorus,
swallowed oil heated to nearly 100° above
boiling water, took molten lead out of a
ladle with his fingers and cooled it on his
tongue; and, besides performing other re-
markable feats, remained five minutes in
the oven at a temperature of between 300°
and ~o by the thermometer. There was
about 150 persons present, many of them
medical men; and being convinced that
these things were fairly done, without

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 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS Of

trickery, mudl aatoniahm81lt waa &-

pressed.

The following detailed account of the latter

challenge appeared in the Okronicle1 London,
September, 1829.

THE FffiE KING AND IDS [Link]-

LENGER.-An advertisement appeared
lately in one of the papers, in which a
.Mr. J. Smith after insinuating that M.
Chabert practised some juggle when he
appeared to enter an oven heated to five
hundred degrees, and to swallow twenty
grains of phosphorus, challenged him to
perform the exploits which he professed
to be performing daily. In consequence
M. Chabert publicly accepted Mr. J.
Smith's challenge for £50, requesting him
to provide the poison himself. A day was
fixed upon which the challenge was to be
determined, and at two o'clock on that
day, a number of gentlemen assembled in
the Argyle-rooms, where the exhibition
was to take place. .At a little before three
the fire-king made his appearance near his
oven, and as some impatience had been
exhibited, owing to the non-arrival of Mr.

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G8 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

J. Smith, he offered to amuse the company

with a few trifling experiments. He made
a shovel red-hot and rubbed it over his
tongue, a trick for which no credit, he said,
was due, as the moisture of the tongue was
sufficient to prevent any injury arising
from it. He next rubbed it over his hair
and face, declaring that anybody might
perform the same feat by first washing
themselves in a mixture of spirits of sul-
phur and alum, which, by cautersing the
epiderms, hardened the skin to resist the
fire.
He put his hand into some melted lead,
took a small portion of it out, placed it in
his mouth, and then gave it in a solid state
to some of the company. This perform-
ance, according to his account, was also
very easy; for he seized only a very small
particle, which, by a tight compression
between the forefinger and the thumb, be-
came cool before it reached the mouth. At
this time Mr. Smith made his appearance,
and M. Chabert forthwith prepared him-
self for mightier undertakings. A cruse
of oil was brought forward and poured
into a saucepan, which was previously
turned upside down, to show that there

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 69

was no water in it. The alleged reason

for this step was, that the vulgar con-
jurors, who profess to drink boiling oil,
place the oil in water, and drink it when
the water boils, at which time the oil is
not warmer than an ordinary cup of tea.
He intended to drink the oil when any
person might see it bubbling in the sauce-
pan, and when the thermometer would
prove that it was heated to three hundred
and sixty degrees. The saucepan was ac-
cordingly placed on the fire, and as it was
acquiring the requisite heat, the fire-king
challenged any man living to drink a
spoonful of the oil at the same tempera-
ture as that at which he was going to drink
it. In a few minutes afterwards, he
sipped off a spoonful with greatest ap-
parent ease, although the spoon, from con-
tact with the boiling fluid, had become too
hot for ordinary fingers to handle.
"And now, Monsieur Smith," said the
fire-king, "now for your challenge. Have
you prepared yourself with phosphorus,
or will you take some of mine, which is
laid on that table'" Mr. Smith, walked
up to the table, and pulling a vial bottle

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 '10 MlBACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

out of his pocket, oi!ered it to the poison-

swallower.
Fire-king-"! aak you, on your honor
as a gentleman, is this genuine unmixed
poison!" ·
Mr. Smith-" It is, upon my honor."
Fire-king-"Is there any medical gen-
tleman here who will examine it!"
A person in the room requested that
Dr. Gordon Smith, one of the medical
professors in the London University,
would examine the vial, and decide
whether it contained genuine phosphorus.
The professor went to the table, on
which the formidable collection of poisons
-such ~ red and white arsenic, hydro-
cyanic acid, morphine and phosphorus-
was placed, and, examining the vial, de-
clared, that, to the best of his judgment,
it was genuine phosphorus.
M. Chabert asked Mr. Smith, how many
grains he wished to commence his first
draught with. Mr. Smith-''Twenty
grains will do as a commencement.''
A medical gentleman then came forward
and cut off two parcels of phosphorus,
contailrlng twenty grains each. He was
placing them in the water, when the fire-

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 71

king requested that his phosphorus might

be cut into small pieces, as he did not wish
the pieces to stop on their way to his
stomach. The poisons were now · pre-
pared. A wine-glass contained the portion
set aside for the fire-king-a tumbler the
portion reserved for Mr. Smith.
The Fire-king-"! suppose, gentlemen,
I must begin, and to convince you that
I do not juggle, I will first take off my
coat, and then I will trouble you, doctor
(speaking to Dr. Gordon Smith), to tie my
hands together behind me. After he had
been bandaged in this ~er, he planted
himself on one knee in the middle of the
room, and requested some gentleman to
place the phosphorus on his tongue and
pour the water down his throat. This was
accordingly done, and the water and phos-
phorus were swallowed together. He then
opened his mouth and requested the com-
pany to look whether any portion of the
phosphorus remained in his mouth. Sev-
eral gentlemen examined his mouth, and
declared that there was no phosphorus
perceptible either upon or under his
tongue. He was then by his own desire
unbandaged. The fire-king forthwith

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'1J MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

turned to Mr. Smith and offered him the

other glass of phosphorus. Mr. Smith
started back in infinite alarm-' Not for
worlds, Sir, not for worlds; I beg to de-
cline 1•t,
•
The Fire-king-"Then wherefore did
you send me a challenge! You pledged
your honor to drink it, if I did; I have
done it; and if you are a gentleman, you
must drink it too."
Mr. Smith-" No, no, I must be excused:
I am quite satisfied without it."
Here several voices exclaimed that the
bet was lost. Some said there must be a
confederacy between the challenger and
the challenged, and others asked whether
any money had been deposited Y The fire-
king called a Mr. White forward, who
deposed that he held the stakes, which had
been regularly placed in his hands, by both
parties, before twelve o'clock that morn-
ing.
The fire-king here turned round with
great exultation to the company, and pull- .
ing a bottle out of his pocket, exclaimed,
''I did nev~r see this gentleman before this
morning, and I did not know but that he
migh+ be bold enough to venture to take

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 78

this quantity of poison. I was determined

not to let him lose his life by his foolish
wager, and therefore I did bring an anti·
dote in my pocket, which would have pre.
vented him from suffering any harm."
Mr. Smith said his object was answered by
seeing twenty grains of genuine phos-
phorus swallowed. He had conceived it
impossible, as three grains were quite suffi-
cient to destroy life. The fire-king then
withdrew into another room for the pro-
fessed purpose of putting on his usual
dress for entering the oven, but in all
probability for the purpose of getting the
phosphorus out of his stomach.
After an al:!sence of twenty minutes, he
returned, dressed in a coarse woolen coat,
to enter the heated oven. Before he en-
tered it, a medical gentleman ascertained
that his pulse was vibrating ninety-eight
times a minute. He remained in the oven
five minutes, during which ·time he sung
Le Vaillant Troubadour, and superin-
tended the cooking of two dishes of beef
steaks. At the end of that time he came
out, perspiring profusely, and with a pulse
making one hundred and sixty-eight vi-
brations in a minute. The thermometer,

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' ' KillACLB-KONGBBS AND THEIR KETHODI

when brought out of the oven, stood at

three hundred and eighty degrees; within
the oven he said it was above six hundred.

Although he was 8U8pOOted of trickery by

many, was often challenged, and had an army
of rivals and imitators, all available records
show that Chabert was beyond a doubt the
greatest fire and poison resister that ever ap-
peared in London.
Seeking new laurels, he came to America in
1832, and although he was successful in New
York, his subsequent tour of the States was
financially disastrous. He evidently saved
enough from the wreck, however, to start in
business, and the declining years of his event-
ful life were passed in the comparative ob-
scurity of a little drug store in Grand Street.
As his biographer I regret to be obliged to
chronicle the fact that he made and sold an
alleged speciftc for the White Plague, thus en-
abling his detractors to couple with his name
the word Quack. The following article, which
appeared in the New York Herald of Septem-
ber 1st, 1859, three days after Chabert's death,

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IIIBACLB-IIONGBBB AND TBBill METHODS 75

gives further details of his [Link] in this

country:

We published among the obituary no-

tices in yesterday's H wtild the death of
Dr. Julian Xavier Chabert, the "Fire
King," aged f11 years, of pulmonary con-
sumption. Dr. C. was a native of France,
and came to this country in 1832, and was
first introduced to the public at the lecture
room of the old Clinton Hall, in Nassau
Street, where he gave exhibitions by enter-
ing a hot oven of his own construction,
and while there gave evidence of his
salamander qualities by cooking beef
steaks, to the surprise and astonishment
of his audiences. '
It was a question to many whether the
Doctor's oven was red-hot or not, as he
never allowed any person to approach him
during the exhibition or take part in the
proceedings. He made a tour of the
United States in giving these exhibitions,
which resulted in financial bankruptcy.
At the breaking out of the cholera in 1832
he turned Doctor, and appended M.D., to
his name, and suddenly his newspaper ad-
vertisements claimed for him the title of

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76 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

the celebrated Fire King, the curer of

consumption, the maker of Chinese Lo-
tion, etc.
While the Doctor was at the height of
his popularity, some wag perpetrated the
following joke in a newspaper paragraph:
"During some experiments he was mak-
ing in chemistry last week, an explosion
took place which entirely bewildered his
faculties and left him in a condition bor-
dering on the grave. He was blown into
a thousand atoms. It took place on Wed-
nesday of last week and some accounts
state that it grew out of an experiment
with phosphoric ether, others that it was
by a too liberal indulgence in Prussic acid,
an article which, from its resemblance to
the peach, he was remarkably fond of hav-
ing about him.''
The Doctor was extensively accused of
quackery, and on one occasion when the
H eraJ,d touched on the same subject; it
brought him to our office and he exhibited
diplomas, certificates and medical honors
without number.
The Doctor was remarkable for his pro-
lific display of jewelry and medals of
honor, and by his extensive display of

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 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS '1'1

beard. He found a rival in this· city in

the person of another French "chemist,"
who gave the Doctor considerable opposi-
tion and consequently much trouble.
The Doctor was famous, also, for his
four-horse turnouts in Broadway, alter-
nating, when he saw proper, to a change
to the "tandem" style. He married an
Irish lady whom he at first supposed to
be immensely rich, but after the nuptials
it was discovered that she merely had a
life interest in a large estate in common
with several others.
The Doctor, it appears, was formerly a
soldier in the French Army, and quite
recently he received from thence a medal
of the order of St. Helena, an account of
which appeared in the Herald. Prior to
his death he was engaged in writing his
biography (in French) and had it nearly
ready for publication.

Here follows a supposedly humorous speech

in broken English, quoted from the London
Lancet, in which the Doctor is satirized. Con-
tinuing, the articles says:
"The Doctor was what was termed a

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fl [Link]-KONGBJlS AND THBI:a METHODS

'fast liver,' and at the time of his death

he kept a drug store in Grand Street, and
had very little of this world's goods. He
leaves three children to mourn his loss,
one of them an educated physician, resid-
ing in Hoboken, N. J.
Dr. 0. has 'gone to that bourne whence
no traveller returns,' and we fervently
trust and hope that the disembodied
spirits of the tens of thousands whom he
has treated in this sphere will treat him
with the same science with which he
treated them while in this wicked world."

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 CHAPTER FIVE

FIRE-EATING MAGICIANS: CHING UNG FOO

AND CHUNG LING SOO.-FIRE-EATERS
EMPLOYED BY MAGACIANS: THE MAN-
SALAMANDER, 1816; MR. CARLTON, PRO-
FESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, 1818; MISS CAS.
SELL!, AGED NINE, 182o; THE AFRICAN
WONDER, t84J; UNG LOOK AND YAMA-
DEVA DIE IN CHINA DURING KELLAR'S
WORLD TOUR, 1872; LING LOOK'S DOUBLE,
187g.-ELECI'RICAL EFFECTS, THE SA-
LAMBOS.-BUENO CORE.-DEL KANO.
-BARNELLO.-EDWIN FORREST AS A
HEAT-REGISTER.-THE ELDER SOTHERN
AS A FIRE-EATER.-THE TWILIGHT OF
THE ART.

M :ANY of our most noted magicians have

considered it not beneath their dignity
to introduce ftre..eating into their programmes,
either in their own work or by the employment
of a "Fire A..rtist." Although seldom present-
ing it in his recent performances, Ching Ling
Foo is a fire-eater of the highest type, reftnin1
"
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80 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

the effect with the same subtle artistry that

marks all the work of this super-magician.
Of Foo 's thousand imitators the only posi-
tively successful one was William E. Robinson,
whose tragic death while in the performance of
the bullet-catchingtrickisthelatest addition to
the long list of casualties chargeable to that
ill-omened juggle. He carried the imitation
even as far as the name, calling himself Chung
Ling Soo. Robinson was very successful in
the classic trick of apparently eating large
quantities of cotton and blowing smoke and
sparks from the mouth. His teeth were finally
quite destroyed by the continued performance
of this trick, the method of which may be
found in Chapter Six.
The employment of fire-eaters by magicians
began a century ago; for in 1816 the magician
Sieur Boaz, K. C., featured a performer who
was billed as the "Man-Salamander." The
fact that Boaz gave him a place on his pro-
gramme is proof that this man was clever, but
the effects there listed show nothing original.
In 1818 a Mr. Carlton, Professor of Chem-
istry, toured England in company with Rae,

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 ·'

WONDERS!!!
Sieur Boa~, K. C.·
o. ... ..,..................._ .........lllt\
[Link]'.
_ OROLIG~VIr!St
.On Monday [Link] the 19th of Augnst 1816'~ at the ~
modious Room· Swan
.la6o0ionofllw.._._,...._., Yani _
... _ _,...., Think
_ • .,.,_. ~

HE WILL SWALLOW
.Knivea·and Forka,
Yoiill~-Ciitld
.... _. ,....._. ....,.;;;_

...........Jtl11·
.
-..a.-.
.
Y.....eiiNDIOL 1
- ... ~ ...............
AITI&ftlt8,'111&
·PMIIOI'ilenon of Human F...xt-rtibo 1
.......... ii:[Link]: ..... ' .J.
•
.....
....,._..,
.
- _.......,..,., .,__... ............,_....,_,.._
...,_..._,llll.,_
.... .. _ ... _,_\o
. . . . .-..
~
___ .......... _..........

__
~--=..,-~- --··~-.ttl

.. . . ~'!!!!'![!:tass:='
.... _......,._ . .!::.
--.. ...--.. -··-
-~_, .. . . _
................
~,..,__,................
.·~. -~

81

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Dig1t1zed by Google
MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 88

the Bartholomew Fair magician. .As will be

seen by the handbill reproduced here, Carlton
promised to explain the "Deceptive Part" of
the performance, "when there is a sufficient
company."
In 1820 a Mr. Cassillis toured England with
a juvenile company, one of the features of
which was Miss Cassillis, aged nine years,
whose act was a complete reproduction of the
programme of Boaz, concluding her perform.;
ance with the "Chinese Fire Trick."
.A Negro, Carlo .Alberto, appeared in a bene-
fit performance given by Herr Julian, who
styled himself the "Wizard of the South," in
London, on November 28th, 1~3. .Alberto was
billed as the ''Great .African Wonder, the Fire
King" and it was promised that he would "go
through part of his wonderful performance as
given by him in the principal theaters in
America, in Boston, New York, Philadelphia,
etc."
.A later number on the same bill reads: "The
African Wonder, Carlo Alberto, will ·sing sev-
eral new and popular Negro melodies." Col- ·
lectors of minstrel data please take notice!

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It MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

In more recent times there have been anum-

ber of Negro fire-eaters, but none seems to
have risen to noticeable prominence.
Ling Look, one of the best of contemporary
fire performers, was with Dean Harry Kellar
when the latter made his famous trip around
the world in 1877. Look combined fire-eating
and sword-swallowing in a rather startling
manner. His best e:ffect was the swallowing
of a red-hot sword.1 Another thriller consisted
in fastening a long sword to the stock of a
musket; when he had swallowed about half the
length of the blade, he discharged the gun and
the recoil drove the sword suddenly down his
throat to the very hilt. Although Look always
appeared in a Chinese make-up, Dean Kellar
told me that he thought his right name was
Dave Gueter, and that he was born in Buda
Pesth.
Yamadeva, a brother of Ling Look, wa.S also
1 I never saw Ling Look's work, but I know that some of

the sword awallowers have made use of a sheath which was

ewallowed before the performance, and the swords were simply
puabed into it. · A sheath of this kind lined with asbestos
might euil;y have served as a protection agaiDat the reel-bot
blade.

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HARRY KELLAR

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KIBACLE-MONGEBS AND THEIR METHODS 85

with the Kellar Company, doing cabinet mani-

festations and rope escapes. Both brothers
died in China during this engagement, and a
strange incident occurred in connection with
their deaths. Just before they were to sail
from Shanghai on the P. & 0. steamer Kkiva
for Hong Kong, Yamadeva and Kellar visited
the bowling alley of The Hermitage, a pleasure
resort on the Bubbling Well Road. They were
watching a husky sea captain, who was using
a huge ball and making a "double spare" at
every roll, when Yamadeva suddenly re-
marked, "I can handle one as heavy as that big
loafer can." Suiting the action to the word,
he seized one of the largest balls and drove
it down the alley with all his might; but he
had misjudged his own strength, and he paid
for the foolhardy act with his life, for he had
no sooner delivered the ball than he grasped
his side and moaned with pain. He had hardly
sufficient strength to get back to the ship,
where he went immediately to bed and died
shortly afterward. An examination showed
that he had ruptured an artery.
Kellar and Ling Look had much difficulty

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88 MJRACLB-MONOBRS AND THEIR METHODS

in persuading the captain to take the body to

Hong Kong, but he finally consented. On the
way down the Yang Tse Kiang River, Look
was greatly depressed; but all at once he be-
came strangely excited, and said that his
brother was not dead, for he had just heard
the peculiar whistle with which they had al-
ways called each other. The whistle was sev-
eral times repeated, and was heard by all on
board. Finally the captain, convinced that
something was wrong, had the lid removed
from the coffin, but the body of Y amadeva gave
no indication of life, and all save Ling Look
decided that they must have been mistaken.
Poor Ling Look, however, sobbingly said to
Kellar, "I shall never leave Hong Kong alive.
My brother has called me to join him." This
prediction was fUlfilled, for shortly after their
arrival in Hong Kong he underwent an opera-
tion for a liver trouble, and died under the
knife. The brothers were buried in Happy
Valley, Hong Kong, in the year 1877.
All this was related to me at the Marlbor-
ough-Blenheim, .Atlantic City, in June, 1908,
by Kellar himself, and portions of it were re-

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS . 87

peated in 1917 when Dean Kellar sat by me

at the Society of American Magicians' dinner.
In 1879 there appeared in England a per-
former who .claimed to be the original Ling
Look. He wore his make-up both on and off
the stage, and copied, so far as he could, Ling's
style of work. His fame reached this country
and the New York Clipper published, in its
Letter Columns, an article stating that Ling
Look was not dead, but was alive and working
in England. His imitator had the nerve to
stick to his story even when confronted by
Kellar, but when the latter assured him that
he had personally attended the burial of Ling,
in Hong Kong, he broke down and confessed
that he was a younger brother of the original
Ling Look.
Kellar later· informed me that the resem-
blance was so strong that had he not seen the
original Ling Look consigned to the earth, he
himself would have been duped into believing
that this was the man who had been with him
in Hong Kong.
The Salambos were among the first to use
electrical effects in a fire act, combining these

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a [Link]-KONGEBS AND THEIR METHODS

with the natural gas and "human volcano"

stunt. of their predecessors, so that they were
able to present an extremely spectacular per-
formance without having recourse to such un-
pleasant :features u had marred the effeet of
earlier 1lre act& Bueno Core, too, deserves
honorable mention for the cleanness and snap
of his aet; and Del Kano should also be named
among the cleverer performers.
One of the best known of the modem fire-
eaters wu Bamello, who was a good business
man as well, and kept steadily employed at
a better salary than the rank and file of his
contemporaries. He did a thriving busineM
in the sale of the various concoctions used in
his art, and published and sold a most com-
plete book of formulas and general instrue-
tions for those interested in the craft. He had,
indeed, many irons in the fire, and he kept
them all hot.
It will perhaps surprise the present genera-
tion to learn that the well-known circus man
Jacob Showles was once a fire-eater, and that
Del Fugo, well-known in his clay as a dancer
In the music halls, began as a fire-resister, and

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 89

did his dance on hot iron plates. But the

reader has two keener surprises in store for
him befere I close the long history of the heat-
resisters. The first concerns our great Ameri-
can tragedian Edwin Forrest (1806-1872) who,
according to James Rees (Colley Cibber), onee
essayed a fire-resisting act. Forrest was al-
ways fond of athletics and at one time made
an engagement with the manager of a circus
to appear as a tumbler and rider. The engage-
ment was not fulfilled, however, as his friend
Sol Smith induced him to break it and return
to the legitimate stage. Smith afterwards ad-
mitted to Cibber that if Forrest had remained
with the circus he would have become one of
the most daring riders and vaulters that ever
appeared in the ring.
His adventure in fire-resistance was on the
oceasion of the benefit to ''Charley Young,'' on
which eventful night, as the last of his acro-
batic feats, he made a flying leap through a
barrel of red fire, singeing his hair and eye-
brows terribly. This particular leap through
fire was the big sensation of those days, and
Forrest evidently had a hankering to show hia

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90 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

friends that he could accomplish it-and he

did.
The second concerns an equally popular
actor, a comedian this time, the elder Sothern
(1826-1881). On March 20, 1878, a writer in
the Chicago Inter-Ocean communicated to that
paper the following curiously descriptive arti-
cle:

Is Mr. Sothern a medium t

This is the question that fifteen puzzled
investigators are asking themselves this
morning, after witnessing a number of
astounding manifestations at a private
seance given by Mr. Sothern last night.
It lacked a few minutes of 12 when a
number of Mr. Sothern's friends, who had
been given to understand that something
remarkable was to be performed, assem-
bled in the former's room at the Sherman
House and took seats around a marble-top
table, which was placed in the center of
the apartment. On the table were anum-
ber of glasses, two very large bottles, and
five lemons. .A sprightly young gentleman
attempted to crack a joke about spirits be-
ing confined in bottles, but the company

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 91

frowned him down, and for once Mr.

Sothern had a sober audience to begin
with.
There was a good deal of curiosity re.
garding the object of the gathering, but
no one was able to explain. Each gentle-
man testified to the fact Mr. Sothern 's
agent had waited upon him, and solicited
his presence at a little exhibition to be
given by the actor, not of a comical nature.
Mr. Sothern himself soon after ap-.
peared, and, after shaking hands with the
party, thus addressed them:
"Gentlemen, I have invited you here
ths evening to witness a few manifesta-
tons, demonstrations, tests, or whatever
you choose to call them, which I have acci~
dentally discovered that I am able to per~
form.
"I am a fire-eater, as it were. {A~
plause).
"I used to dread the fire, having been
scorched once when an innocent child. (A
laugh.)
Mr. Sothern (severely)-"! hope there
will be no levity here, and I wish to say
now that demonstrations of any kind are
liable to upset me, while demonstrations

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92 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

of a particular kind may upset the audi-

ence."
Silence and decorum being restored,
Mr. Sothern thus continued:
"Thirteen weeks ago, while walking up
Greenwich Street, in New York, I stepped
into a store to buy a cigar. To show you
there is no trick about it, here are cigars
out of the same box from which I selected
the one I that day lighted." (Here Mr.
Sothern passed around a box of tolerable
cigars.)
"Well, I stepped to the little hanging
gas-jet to light it, and, having done so,
stood contemplatively holding the gas-jet
and the cigar in either hand, thinking
what a saving it would be to smoke a pipe,
when, in my absent-mindedness, I dropped
the cigar and put the gas-jet into my
mouth. Strange as it may appear, I felt
Iio pain, and stood there holding the thing
in my mouth and puffing till the man in
charge yelled out to me that I was swal-
lowing his gas. · Then I looked up, and,
sure enough, there I was pulling away at
the slender flame that came from the glass
tube.
"I dropped it instantly, and felt of my

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 98

mouth, but noticed no inconvenience or

unpleasant sensation whatever.
"'What do you mean by itt' said the
proprietor.
".As I didn't know what I meant by it
I couldn't answer, so I picked up my cigar
and went home. Once there I tried the
experiment again, and in doing so I found
that not only my mouth, but my hands and
face, indeed, all of my body, was proof
against fire. I called on a physician, and
he examined me, and reported nothing
wrong with my flesh, which appeared to be
in normal condition. I said nothing about
it publicly, but the fact greatly surprised
me, and I ha-ye invited you here to-night
to witness a few experiments.''
Saying this, Mr. Sothern, who had lit a
cigar while pausing in his speech, turned
the fire end into his mouth and sat down,
smoking unconcernedly.
''I suppose you wish to give us the fire-
test," remarked one of the company.
Mr. Sothern nodded.
There was probably never a gathering
more dumbfounded than that present in
the room. A few questions were asked,
and then five gentlemen were appointed to

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H MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

examine Mr. Sothern's hands, etc., before

he began his experiments. Having thor-
oughly washed the parts that he proposed
to subject to the flames, Mr. Sothern be-
gan by burning his arm, and passing it
through the gas-jet very slowly, twice
stopping the motion and holding it still in
the flames. r::e then picked up a poker
with a sort of hook on the end, and pro-
ceeded to fish a small coil of wire from the
grate. The wire came out fairly white
with the heat. Mr. Sothern took the coil
in his hands and cooly proceeded to wrap
it round his left leg to the knee. Having
done so, he stood on the table in the cen-
ter of the circle and requested the com-
mittee to examine the wrappings and the
leg and report if both were there. The
committee did so and reported in the
affirmative.
While this was going on, there was a
smile, almost seraphic in its beauty, on
Mr. Sothern 's face.
After this an enormous hot iron, in the
shape of a horseshoe, was placed on Mr.
Sothern's body, where it cooled, without
leaving a sign of a burn.
As a final test, a tailor's goose was put

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 95

on the coals, and, after being thoroughly

heated, was placed on Mr. Sothern 's chair.
The latter lighted a fresh cigar, and then
coolly took a seat on the goose without the
least seeming inconvenience. During the
last experiment Mr. Sothem sang in an
excellent tone and voice, "I'm Sitting on
the Stile, Mary."
The question now is, were the fifteen
auditors of Mr. Sothern fooled and de-
ceived, or was this a genuine manifesta-
tion of extraordinary power t Sothern is
such an inveterate joker that he may have
put the thing upon the boys for his own
amusement; but if so, it was one of the
nicest tricks ever witnessed by yours truly,
ONE OF THE COMMITTEE.
P. B.-What is equally marvellous to
me is that the fire didn't burn his clothes
where it touched them, any more than his
flesh. P. C.
(There is nothing new in this. Mr.
Sothern has long been known as one of the
most expert jugglers in the profession.
Some years ago he gained the soubriquet
of the "Fire King!" He frequently
amuses his friends by eating fire, though
he long ago ceased to give public exhibi-

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96 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEI:a MBTHODS

tions. Probably the success of the experi-

ments last night were largely owing to the
lemons present. There is a good deal of
trickery in those same lemons.-Editor
I nter-Oceaf'.)

which suggests that the editor of the I flfw-

Ocean was either pretty well acquainted with
the comedian's addiction to spoofing, or else
less susceptible to superstition than certain.
scientists of our generation.
The great day of the Fire-eater-or, should
I say, the day of the great Fire-eater-has
passed. No longer does fashion fiock to his
doors, nor science .study his wonders, and he
must now seek a following in the gaping
loiterers of the circus side-show, the pumpkin-
and-prize-pig country fair, or the tawdry
booth at Coney Island. The credulous, won-
der-loving scientist, however, still abides with
us and, while his serious-minded brothers are
wringing from Nature her jealously guarded
secrets, the knowledge of which benefits all
mankind, he gravely follows that periennial
Will-of-the-wisp, spiritism, and lays the fiat-

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 97 ,

tering unction to his soul that he is investigat-

ing "psychic phenomena," when in reality he
is merely gazing with unseeing eyes on the
[Link] juggling of pseudo-mediums.

-·

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 CHAPTER SIX

THE ARCANA OF THE FIRE-EATERS: THE

FORMULA OF ALBERTUS MAGNUS.-
OF HOCUS POCUS.-RICHARDSON'S
METHOD.- PHILOPYRAPHAGUS ASH-
BURNIENSIS.-TO BREATHE FORTH
SPARKS, SMOKE, AND FLAMES.-TO
SPOUT NATURAL GAS.-PROFESSOR SE-
MENTINI'S DISCOVERIES.-TO BITE OFF
RED-HOT IRON.-TO COOK IN A BURN-
ING CAGE.-CHABERT'S OVEN.-TO
EAT COALS OF FIRE.-TO DRINK BURN•
lNG OIL.-TO CHEW MOLTEN LEAD.-
TO CHEW BURNING BRIMSTONE.-TO
WREATHE THE FACE IN FLAMES.-TO
IGNITE PAPER WITH THE BREATH.-TO
DRINK BOILING J,.IQUOR AND EAT FLAM-
ING WAX.

T HE yellow thread of exposure seems to be

inextricably woven into all fabrics whose
strength is secrecy, and experience proves that
it is much easier to become fireproof than to
become exposure proof. It is still an ·open
question, liowever, as to what extent exposure
tl8

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 99

really injures a performer. Exposure of the

secrets of the fire-eaters, for instance, dates
back almost to the beginning of the art itself.
The priests were exposed, Richardson was ex-
posed, Powell was exposed and so on down the
line; but the busineBB continued to prosper, the
really clever performers drew quite fashion-
able audiences for a long time, and it was prob-
ably the demand for a higher form of enter-
tainment, resulting from a refinement of the
public taste, rather than the result of the many
exposures, that finally relegated the Fire-
eaters to the haunts of the proletariat.
How the early priests came into poBBeBBion of
these secrets does not appear, and if there were
ever any records of this kind the Church would
hardly allow them to become public. That
tliey used practically the same system which
has been adopted by all their followers is
amply proved by the fact ·that after trial by
ordeal had been abolished Albertus MagnWI, in
his work De Mirabt"Ubus Mundi, at the end of
his book De Secretis Mulierum, Amstelod,
1702, made public the underlying principles of
heat-resistance; namely, the use of certain

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JOO MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEI1l METHODS

compounds which render the exposed parts

to a more or less extent impervious to heal
Many dilferent formulas have been discovered
which accomplish the purpose, but the prin-
ciple remains unchanged. The formula set
down by Albertus Magnus was probably the
first ever made public: the following transla-
tion of it is from the LcmdoJt, Mi"or:

Take juice of marshmallow, and white

of egg, fiea-bane seeds, and lime; powder
them and mix juice of radish with the
white of egg; mix all thoroughly and with
this composition annoint your body or
hand and allow it to dry and afterwards
annoint it again, and after this you may
boldly take up hot iron without hurt.

"Such a paste," says the correspondent to

the Mirror, "would indeed be very visible."
Another early formula is given in the 1763
(~dition of Hocus Pocus. Examination of the
dii!erent editions of this book in my library
discloses the fact that there are no fire formu-
las in the second edition, 1635, which is the
earliest I have (first editions are very rare and

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 101

there is only one record of a sale of that edition

at auction). From the fact that this formula
was published during the time that Powell was
appearing in England I gather that that cir-
cumstance may account for its addition to the
book. It does not appear in the German or
Dutch editions.
The following is an exact copy:

HOW TO WALK ON .A HOT IRON

BAR WITHOUT ANY DANGER
OF SCALDING OR BURNING.
Take half an ounce of samphire, dis-
solve it in two ounces of aqurevitre, add to
it one ounce of quicksilver, one ounce of
liquid storax, which is the droppings of
Myrrh and hinders the camphire from
firing; take also two ounces of hematitus,
a red .stone to be had at the druggist's, and
when you buy it let them beat it to powder
in their great mortar, for it is so very hard
that it cannot be done in a small one; put
this to the afore-mentioned composition,
and when you intend to walk on the bar
you must annoint your feet well therewith,
and you may walk over without danger:

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101 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

by this you may wash your hands in boil-

ing lead.

This was the secret modus operandi made

use of by Richardson, the first notably success-
ful fire artist to appear in Europe, and it was
disclosed by his servant.'
Hone's Table Book, London, 1827, page 315,
gives Ricllardson 's method as follows:

It consisted only in rubbing the hands

and thoroughly washing the mouth, lips,
tongue, teeth and other parts which were
to touch the fire, with pure spirits of sul-
phur. This burns and cauterizes the epi-
dermis or upper skin, till it becomes as
hard and thick as leather, and each time

1 Such dialoyalty in trusted iervanta is one of the mOlt

diaheartening things that can happen to a public performer.

But it must not be thought that I aay this out of peraonal
experience: for in the many years that I have been before
the public my secret methods have been steadily shielded
by the strict integrity of my [Link], mOlt of whom have
been with me for years. Only one man ever betrayed my
conftdence, and that only in a minor matter. But then, so
far as I know, I am the only performer who ever pledged
his aaaistanlll to secrecy, honor and allegiance under a notarial
oath.

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 101

the experiment is tried it becomes still

easier. But if, after it bas been very· often
repeated the upper skin should grow so
callous and hard as to become trouble-
some, washing the parts affected with very
warm water, or hot wine, will bring away
all the shrivelled or parched epidermis.
The flesh, however, will continue tender
and unfit for such business till it has been
frequently rubbed over with the 8&Dle
spirit.
· This preparation may be rendered much
stronger and more efficacious by mixing
equal quantl_ties of spirit of sulphur, sal
ammoniac, essence of rosemary and juice
of onions. The bad effects which fre-
quently swallowing red-hot coals, melted
sealing wax, rosin, brimstone and other
calcined and inflammable matter, lnight
have had upon his stomach were pre-
vented by drinking plentifully of warm
water and oil, as soon as he left the com-
pany, till he had vomited it all up again.
This anecdote was communicated to the
author of the J oumal des Savants by Mr. Pan-
thot, Doctor of Physics and Member of the
College at Lyons. It appeared at the time

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JCK MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

Powell was showing his tire-eating stunts in

London, and the correspondent naively added:

Whether Mr. Powell will take it kindly

of me thus to have published his secret I
cannot tell; but as he now begins to drop
into years, [Link] children that I know of
and may die suddenly, or without making
a will, I think it a great pity so genteel an
occupation should become one of the artes
perditae, as possibly it may, if proper care
is not taken, and therefore hope, after this
information, some true-hearted English-
man will take it up again, for the honor of
his country, when he reads in the news-
papers, uYesterday, died, muck lamented,
the famous Mr. Powell. He was the best,
if not the only, fire-eater in the world, and
it is greatly to be feared that his art is
dead with kim."

After a couple of columns more in a similar

strain, the correspondent signs himself Pkilo-
pyrapkagus Askburniensis.
In his History of Inventions, Vol. III, page
272, 1817 edition, Beckmann thus describes the
proceBB:

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 105

The deception of breathing out flames,

which at present excites, in a particular
manner, the astonishment of the ignorant,
is very ancient. When the slaves in Sicily,
about a century and a half before our era,
made a formidable insurrection, and
avenged themselves in a cruel manner, for
the severities which they had suffered,
there was amongst them a Syrian named
Eunus-a man of great craft and courage;
who having passed through many scenes
of life, had become acquainted with a
variety of arts. He pretended to have im-
mediate communication with the gods;
was the oracle and leader of his fellow-
slaves; and, as is usual on such occasions
confirmed his divine mission by miracles.
When heated by enthusiasm and desirous
of inspiring his followers with courage, he
breathed flames or sparks among them
from his mouth while he was addressing
them. We are told by historians that for
this purpose he pierced a nut shell at both
ends, and, having filled it with some burn-
ing substance, put it into his mouth and
breathed through it. This deception, at
present, is performed much better. The
juggler rolls together some fta:x: or hemp,

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lOG MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

so as to form a ball about the size of a wal-

nut; sets it on fire; and suffers it to burn
until it is nearly consumed; he then rolls
round it, while burning, some more ftax;
and by these means the fire may be re-
tained in it for a long time. When he
wishes to exhibit he slips the ball unper-
ceived into his mouth, and breathes
through it; which again revives the fire,
so that a number of weak sparks proceed
from it; and the performer sustains no
hurt, provided he inspire the air not
through the mouth, but the nostrils. By
this art the Rabbi Bar-Cocheba, in the
reign of the Emperor Hadrian, made the
credulous Jews believe that he was the
hoped-for Messiah; and two centuries
after, the Emperor Constantius was
thrown into great terror when V alen-
tinian informed him that he had seen one
of the body-guards breathing out fire and
flames in the evening.
Since Beckmann wrote, the method of pro-
ducing smoke and sparks from the mouth has
been still further improved. The fire can now
be produced in various ways. One way is by
the use of a piece of thick cotton string which

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 107

has been soaked in a solution of nitre and then

thoroughly dried. This string, when once
lighted, burns very slowly and a piece one inch
long is sufficient for the purpose. Some per-
formers prefer a small piece of punk, as it re-
quires no preparation. Still others use tinder
made by burning linen rags, as our forefathers
used to do. This will not flame, but merely
smoulders until the breath blows it into a glow.
The tinder is made by charring linen rags, that
is, burning them to a crisp, but stopping the
combustion before they are reduced to ashes.
Flames from the lips may be produced by
holding in the mouth a sponge saturated with
the purest gasoline. When the breath is ex-
haled sharply it can be lighted from a torch
or a candle. Closing the lips firmly will ex-
tinguish the flame. A wad of oakum will give
better results than the sponge.
Natural gas is produced as simply. A T-
shaped gas pipe has three or four gas tips on
the cross-piece. The long end is placed in the
mouth, which already holds concealed a
sponge, or preferably a ball of oakum, satu-
rated with pure gasoline. Blowing through

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108 MIRACLE-MONG:eRS AND THEIR METHODS

the pipe will force the gas through the tips,

where it can be ignited with a match. It will
burn as long as the breath lasts.
In a London periodical, The Terrific Record,
appears a reprint from the Mercure de France,
giving an account of experiments in Naples
which led to the discovery of the means by
which jugglers have appeared to be incombus-
tible. They first gradually habituate the skin,
the mouth, throat and stomach to great degrees
of heat, then they rub the skin with hard soap.
The tongue is also covered with hard soap and
over that a layer of powdered sugar. By this
means an investigating professor was enabled
to reproduce the wonders which had puzzled
many scientists.
The investigating professor in all probabil-
ity, was Professor Sementini, who experi-
mented with Lionetto. I find an account of
Sementini 's discoveries in an old newspaper
clipping, the name and date of which have un-
fortunately been lost:

Sementini 's efforts, after performing

several experiments upon himself, were

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 109

finally crowned with success. He found

that by friction with sulphuric acid de-
luted with water, the skin might be made
insensible to the action of the heat of red-
hot iron; a solution of alum, evaporated
till it became spongy, appeared to be more
effectual in these frictions. .After having
rubbed the parts which were thus ren-
dered in some degree insensible, with hard
soap, he discovered, on the application of
hot iron, that their insensibility was in-
creased. He then determined on again
rubbing the parts with soap, and after
that found that the hot iron not only oc-
casioned no pain but that it actually did
not burn the hair.
Being thus far satisfied, the Professor
applied hard soap to his tongue until it
became insensible to the heat of the iron;
and having placed an ointment composed
of soap .mixed with a solution of alum
upon it, burning oil did not burn it; while
the oil remained on the tongue a slight
hissing was heard, similar to that of hot
iron when thrust into water; the oil soon
cooled and might then be swallowed with-
out danger.
Several scientific men have since re-

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peated the experiments of Professor

Sementini, but we would not recommend
any except professionals to try the experi-
ments.
Liquid storax is now used to anoint the
tongue when red-hot irons are to be placed
in the mouth. It is claimed that with this
alone a red-hot poker can be licked until it
is cold.
.Another formula is given by Griffin, as
follows: 1 bar ivory soap, cut fine, 1
pound of brown sugar, 2 ounces liquid
storax (not the gum). Dissolve in hot
water and add a wine-glassful of carbolic
acid. This is rubbed on all parts liable
to come in contact with the hot articles.
After anointing the mouth with this solu-
tion rinse with strong vinegar.
No performer should attempt to bite off red-
hot iron unless he has a good set of teeth. A
piece of hoop iron may be prepared by bending
it back and forth at a point about one inch
from the end, until the fragment is nearly
broken off, or by cutting nearly through it
with a cold chisel. When the iron has been
heated red-hot, the prepared end is taken be-

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 111

tween the teeth, a couple of beni!s will com-

plete the break. The piece which drops from
the teeth into a dish of water wll make a puff
of steam and a hissing sound, which will dem-
onstrate that it is still very hot.
The mystery of the burning cage, in which
the Fire King remains while a steak is thor-
oughly cooked, is explained by Barnello as fol-
lows:

Have a large iron cage constructed

about 4: x 6 feet, the bottom made of heavy
sheet iron. The cage should stand on iron
legs or horses. Wrap each of the bars of
the cage with cotton l!atting saturated
with oil. Now take a raw beefsteak in
your hand and enter the cage, which is now
set on fire. Remain in the cage until the
fire has burned out, then issue from the
cage with the steak burned to a crisp.
Explanation: On entering the cage the
performer places the steak on a large iron
hook which is fastened in one of the upper
corners. The dress worn is of asbestos
cloth with a hood that completely covers
the head and neck. There is a small hole
over the mouth through which he breathes.

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As soon 88 the fire starts the smoke and

flames completely hide the performer
from the spectatol'B, and he immediately
lies down on the bottom of the cage, plac-
ing the mouth over one of the small air
holes in the floor of the same.
Heat always goes up and will soon cook
the steak.

I deduce from the above that the performer

arises and recovers the steak when the fire
slackens but while there is still sufticient flame
and smoke to mask his action.
It is obvious that the above explanation
covers the baker's oven inystery 88 well. In
the case of the oven, however, the inmate is
concealed from start to finish, and this gives
him much greater latitude for his actions. M.
Chabert made the oven the big feature of his
programme and succeeded in puzzling many of
the best informed scientists of his day.
Eating coals of fire has always been one of
the sensational feats of the Fire Kings, as it
is quite generally known that charcoal burns
with an extremely intense heat. This fervent
lunch, however, like many of the feasts of the

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Fire Kings, is produced by trick methods.

Mixed with the charcoal in the brazier are a
few coals of soft white pine, which when burnt
look exactly like charcoal. These will not burn
the mouth as charcoal will. They should be
picked up with a fork which will penetrate the
pine coals, but not the charcoal, the latter be-
ing brittle.
Another method of eating burning coals em-
ploys small balls of burned cotton in a dish of
burning alcohol. When lifted on the fork
these have the appearance of charcoal, but are
harmless if the mouth be immediately closed,
so that the flame is extinguished.
In all feats of fire-eating it should be noted
that the head is thrown well back, so that the
flame may pass out of the open mouth instead
of up into the roof, as it would if the head were
held naturally.
To drink burning oil set fire to a small quan-
tity of kerosene in a ladle. Into this dip an
iron spoon and bring it up to all appearance,
filled with burning oil, though in reality the
spoon is merely wet with the oil. It is carried
blazing to the mouth, where it is tipped, as if to

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Ut MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

pour the oil into the mouth, just as a puff of

breath blows out all the flame. The process is
continued until all the oil in the ladle has been
consumed; then the ladle is turned bottom up,
in order to show that all the oil has been drunk.
A method of drinking what seems to be
molten lead is given in the Chambers' Book of
Days, 1863, Vol. II, page 278:

The performer taking an iron spoon,

holds it up to the spectators, to show that
it is empty; then, dipping it into a pot
containing melted lead, he again shows it
to the spectators full of the molten metal;
then, after putting the spoon in his mouth,
he once more shows it to be empty; and
after compressing his lips, with a look ex-
pressive of pain, he, in a few moments,
ejects from his mouth a piece of lead im-
pressed with the exact form of his teeth.
Ask a spectator what he saw, and he will
say that the performer took a spoonful of
molten lead, placed it in his mouth, and
soon afterwards showed it in a solid state,
bearing tlie exact form and impression of
his teeth. If deception be insinuated, the
spectator will say. "No l Having the

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS lllJ

evidence of my, senses, I cannot be de-

ceived; if it had been a matter of opinion
I might, but seeing, you know, is believ-
ing." Now the piece of lead, cast from a
plaster mould of the performer's teeth,
has probably officiated in a thousand pre-
vious performances, and is placed in the
mouth between the gum and the cheek,
just before the trick commences. The
spoon is made with a hollow handle con-
taining quicksilver, which, by a simple
motion, can be let run into the bowl, or
back again into the handle at will.
The spoon is first shown with the quick-
silver concealed in the handle, the bowl is
then dipped just within the rim of the pot
containing the molten lead, but not into
the lead itself, and, at the same instant the
quicksilver is allowed to run into the bowl.
The spoon is then shown with the quick-
silver (which the audience takes to be the
melted lead) in the bowl, and when placed
in the mouth, the quicksilver is again al-
lowed to run into the handle.
The performer, in fact, takes a spoonful
of nothing, and soon after exhibits the
lead bearing the impression of the teeth.

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lUI MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

Molten lead, for fire-eating purposes, is

made as follows:
Bismuth . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 oz.
Lead ............... 3 oz.
Block tin. . . . . . . . . . . . 2 oz.
Melt these to~ether. When the metal has
cooled, a piece the size of a silver quarter can
be melted and taken into the mouth and held
there until it hardens. This alloy will melt in
boiling water. Robert-Houdin calls it Arcet's
metal, but I cannot find the name elsewhere.
The eating of burning brimstone is an en-
tirely fake performance. A number of small
pieces of brimstone are shown, and then
wrapped in cotton which has been saturated
with a half-and-half mixture of kerosene and
gasoline, the surplus oil having been squeezed
out so there shall be no drip. When these are
lighted they may be held in the palm of any
hand which has been anointed with one of the
fire mixtures described in this chapter. Then
throw back the head, place the burning ball in
the mouth, and a freshly extinguished candle
can be lighted from the flame. Close the lips

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 11'1

firmly, which will extinguish the flame, then

chew and pretend to swallow the brimstone,
which can afterwards be removed under cover
of a handkerchief.
Observe that the brimstone has not been
burned at all, and that the cotton protects the
teeth. To add to the effect, a small piece of
brimstone may be dropped into the furnace, a
very small piece will suffice to convince all that
it is the genuine article that is being eaten.
To cause the face to appear ir1 a mass of
flame make use of the following: mix together
thoroughly petroleum, lard, mutton tallow and
quick lime. Distill this over a charcoal fire,
and the liquid which results can be burned on
the face without harm.1
To set paper on fire by blowing upon it,
small pieces of wet phosphorus are taken into
the mouth, and a sheet of tissue paper is held
about a foot from the lips. While the paper
is being blown upon the phosphorus is ejected
on it, although this passes unnoticed by the
spectators, and as soon as the continued blow-

1 Barnello's Rea Demon.

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118 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

ing has dried the phosphorus it will ignite the

paper.
Drinking boiling liquor is accomplished by
using a cup with a false bottom, under which
the liquor is retained.
A solution of spermaceti in sulphuric ether
tinged with alkanet root, which solidifies at
50° F., and melts and boils with the heat of
the hand, is described in Beckmann's History
of Inventions, Vol. II., page 121.
Dennison's No.2 sealing wax: may be melted
in the flame of a candle and, while still blazing,
dropped upon the tongue without causing a
burn, as the moisture of the tongue instantly
cools it. Care must be used, however, that
none touches the hands or lips. It can be
chewed, and apparently swallowed, but re-
moved in the handkerchief while wiping the
lips.
The above is the method practiced by all the
Fire-Eaters, and absolutely no preparation is
necessary except that the tongu~ must be well
moistened with saliva.
Bamello once said, ''A person wishing to
become a Fire-Eater must make up his or her

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 119

mind to suffer a little at first from burns, as

there is no one who works at the business but
that gets burns either from ~elessness or
from accident."
This is verified by the following, which I
clip from the London Globe of August 11th,
1880:
Accident to a Fire-Eater. A corre-
spondent teiegraphs: A terrible scene was
witnessed in the market place, Leighton
Buzzard, yesterday. A travelling Negro
fire eater was performing on a stand, lick-
ing red-hot iron, bending heated pokers
with his naked foot, burning tow in his
mouth, and the like. At last he filled his
mouth with benzolene, saying that he
would burn it as he allowed it to escape.
He had no sooner applied a lighted match
to his lips than the whole mouthful of spirit
took fire and before it was consumed the
man was burned in a frightful manner,
the blazing spirit running all over his
face, neck and chest as he dashed from his
stand and raced about like a madman
among the assembled crowd, tearing his
clothing from him and howling in most
intense agony. A portion of the spirit was

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110 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

swallowed and the inside of his mouth was

also terribly burnt. He was taken into a
chemist's shop and oils were administered
and applied, but afterwards in agonizing
frenzy he escaped in a state almost of
nudity from a lodging house and was cap-
tured by the police and taken to the work-
house infirmary, where he remains in a
dreadful condition.

Remember! .Always have a large blanket at

hand to smother flames in burning clothing-
also a bucket of water and a quantity of sand.
.A siphon of carbonic water is an excellent fire
extinguisher.
The gas of gasoline is heavier than air, so
a container should never be held above a flame.
Keep kerosene and gasoline containers well
corked and at a distance from fire.
Never inhale breath while performing with
fire. Flame drawn into the lungs is fatal to
life.
So much for the entertaining side of the art.
There are, however, some further scientific
principles so interesting that I reserve them
for another chapter.

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 CHAPTER SEvEN

THE SPHEROIDAL CONDITION OF UQUIDS.

-WHY THE HAND MAY BE DIPPED IN
MOLTEN METALS-PRINCIPLES OF
HEAT-RESISTANCE PUT TO PRACTICAL
USES: ALDIN!, t829--IN EARLY FIRE-
FIGHTING.-TEMPERATURES THE BODY
CAN ENDURE.

T HE spheroidal condition of liquids was dis-

covered by Leidenfrost, but M. Boutigny
was the first to give this singular subject careful
investigation. From time out of mind the test
of letting a drop of water fall on the face of
a hot Hat-iron has been employed to discover
whether it may safely be used. Everybody
knows that if it is not too hot the water will
spread over the surface and evaporate; but if
it is too hot, the water will glance oft without
wetting the iron, and if this drop be allowed
to fall on the hand it will be found that it is
still cool. The fact is that the water never
121

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111 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

touches the hot iron at all, provided the heat

is sufficiently intense, but assumes a slightly
elliptical shape and is supported by a cushion
of vapor. If, instead of a fiat-iron, we use a
concave metal disk about the size and shape
of a watch crystal, some very· interesting re-
sults may be obtained. If the temperature of
the disk is at, or slightly above, the boiling
point, water dropped on it from a medicine
dropper will boil; but if the disk is heated to
340° F., the drop practically retains its round-
ness-becoming only slightly oblate-and does
not boil. In fact the temperature never rises
above 206° F., since the vapor is so rapidly
evaporated from the surface of the drop that
it forms the cushion just mentioned. By a
careful manipulation of the dropper, the disk
may be filled with water which, notwithstand-
ing the intense heat, never reaches the boiling
point. On the other hand, if boiling water be
dropped on the superheated disk its tempera-
ture will immediately be reduced to six de-
grees below the boiling point; thus the hot
metal really cools the water.
By taking advantage of the fact that dif-

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 118

ferent liquids assume a spheroidal form at

widely [Link] temperatures, one may obtain
some startling results. For example, liquid
sulphurous acid is 80 volatile as to have a tem-
pe~ature of only 13° F. when in that state,
or 19° below the freezing point of water, 80
that if a little water be dropped into the acid,
it will immediately freeze and the pellet of
ice may be dropped into the hand from the
still red-hot disk. Even mercury can be frozen
in this way by a combinatiQn of chemicals.
Through the action of this principle it is
possible to dip the hand for a short time into
melted lead, or even into melted copper, the
moisture of the skin supplying a vapor which
prevents direct contact with the molten metal;
no more than an endurable degree of heat
reaches the hand while the ·moisture lasts, al-
though the temperature of the fusing copper
is 1996°. The natural moisture of the hand
is usually sufficient for this result, but it is
better to wipe the hand with a damp towel.
In David A. Wells' Things not Generally
Known, New York, 1857, I find a trail!lation
of an article by M. Boutigny in The Oomptes

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lit MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

Rendus, in which he notes that "the portion

of the hands which are not immersed in the
fused metal, but are exposed to the action of
the heat radiated from its surface, experience
a painful sensation of heat." He adds that
when the hand was dampened with ether
"there was no sensation of heat, but, on the
contrary, an agreeable feeling of coolneBB."
Beckmann, in his History of Inventions,
Vol. II., page 122, says:

In the month of September, 1765, when

I visited the copper works at Awested,
one of the workmen, for a little drink
money, took some of the melted copper in
his hand, and after showing it to us, threw
it against the wall. He then squeezed the
fingers of his horny hand close together,
put it for a few minutes under his armpit,
to make it sweat, as he said; and, taking
it again out, drew it over a ladle filled with
melted copper, some of which he skimmed
off, and moved his hand backwards and
forwards, very quickly, by way of ostenta-
tion.
While I was viewing this performance,
I remarked a smell like that of singed

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 115

horn or leather, though his hand was not

burnt.
The workmen at the Swedish melting-
house showed the same thing to some
travellers in the seventeenth century; for
Regnard saw it in 1681, at the copper-
works in Lapland.
My friend Quincy Kilby, of Brookline,
Mass., saw the same stunt performed by work-
men at the Meridan Brittania Company's
plant. They told him that if the hand had
been wet it would have been badly scalded.
Thus far our interest in heat-resistance has
uncovered secrets of no very great practical
value, however entertaining the uses to which
we have seen them put. But not all the in-
vestigation of these principles has been dic-
tated by considerations of curiosity and enter-
tainment. As long ago as 1829, for instance,
an English newspaper printed the following:
Proof against Fire-On Tuesday week
an experiment was made in presence of
a Committee of the .Academy of Sciences
at Paris, by M. .Aldini, for the purpose of
showing that be can secure the body

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116 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

against the action of flames so as to enable

firemen to carry on their operatioM with
safety. His experiment is stated to have
given satisfaction. The pompiers were
clothed in asbestos, over which was a net-
work of iron. Some of them, it was stated,
who wore double gloves of amianthus, held
a red-hot bar during four minutes.

Sir David Brewster, in his Letters on Nat-

ural Magic, page 305, gives a more detailed
account of Aldini, from which the natural de-
duction is that the Chevalier was a showman
with an intellect fully up to the demands of
his art. Sir David says:

In our own times the art of defending

the hands and face, and indeed the whole
body, from the action of heated iron and
intense fire, has been applied to the nobler
purpose of saving human life, and rescu-
ing property from the flames. The revival
and the improvement of this art we owe
to the benevolence and the ingenuity of
the Chevalier Aldini of Milan, who has
travelled through all Europe to present
this valuable gift to his species. Sir H.

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 127

Davy had long ago shown that a safety

lamp for illuminating mines, containing
inflammable air, might be constructed of
wire-gauze, alone, which prevented the
flame within, however large or intense,
from setting fire to the inflammable air
without. This valuable property, which
has been long in practical use, he ascribed
to the conducting and radiating power of
the wire-gauze, which carried off the heat
of the flame, and deprived it of its power.
The Chevalier Aldini conceived the idea of
applying the same material, in combina-
tion with other badly conducting sub-
stances, as a protection against fire. The
incombustible pieces of dress which he
uses for the body, arms, . and legs, are
formed out of strong cloth, which has been
steeped in a solution of alum, while those
for the head, hands, and feet, are made
of cloth of asbestos or amianthus. The
head dress is. a large cap which envelops
the whole head down to the neck, having
suitable perforations for the eyes, nose,
and mouth. The stockings and cap are
single, but the gloves are made of double
amianthus cloth, to enable the fireman to
take into his hand burning or red-hot

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118 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

bodies. The piece of ancient asbestos

cloth preserved in the Vatican was formed,
we believe, by mixing the asbestos with
other fibrous substances; but M. [Link]
has executed a piece of nearly the same
size, 9 feet 5 inches long, and 5 feet
3 inches wide, · which is much stronger
than the ancient piece, and possesses
superior qualities, in consequence of
having been woven without the intro-
duction of any foreign substance. In this
manufacture the fibers are prevented
from breaking by action of steam, the
cloth is made loose in its fabric, and the
threads are about the :fiftieth of an inch
in diameter.
The metallic dress which is superadded
to these means of defence consists of five
principal pieces, viz., a casque or cap, with
a mask large enough to leave a proper
space between it and the asbestos cap; a
cuirass with its brassets; a piece of armour
for the trunk and thighs; a pair of boots
of double wire-gauze; and an oval shield
5 feet long by 2% feet wide, made by
stretching the wire-gauze over a slender
frame of iron. All these pieces are made
of iron wire-gauze, having the interval be-

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 119

tween its threads the twenty-fifth part of

an inch.
In order · to prove the efficacy of this
apparatus, and inspire the firemen with
confidence in its protection, he showed
them that a finger first enveloped in
asbestos, and then in a double case of wire-
gauze, might be held a long time in the
:flame of a spirit-lamp or candle before the
heat became inconvenient. A fireman hav-
ing his hand within a double asbestos
glove, and its palm protected by a piece of
asbestos cloth, seized with impunity a
large piece of red hot iron, carried it de-
liberately to the distance of l50 feet, in-
flamed straw with it, and brought it back
again to the furnace. On other occasions
the fireman handled blazing wood and
burning substances, and walked during
five minutes upon an iron grating placed
over :flaming fagots.
In order to show how the head, eyes, and
lungs are protected, the fireman put on
the asbestos and wire-gauze cap, and the
cuirass, and held the shield before his
breast. A fire of shavings was then lighted,
and kept burning in a large raised chafing-
dish; the fireman plunged his head into the

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110 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

middle of the flames with his face to the

fuel, and in that position went several
times round the chafing-dish for a period
longer than a minute. In a subsequent
trial, at Paris, a fireman placed his head
in the middle of a large brazier filled with
flaming hay and wood, and resisted the
action of the fire during five or six min-
utes and even ten minutes.
In the experiments which were made at
Paris in the presence of a committee of
the Academy of Sciences, two parallel
rows of straw and brushwood supported
by iron wires, were formed at the dis-
tance of 3 feet from each other, and
extended 30 feet in length. When this
combustible mass was set on fire, it was
necessary to stand at a distance of 8
or 10 yards to avoid the heat. The flames
from both the rows seemed to :fill up the
whole space between them, and rose to
the height of 9 or 10 feet. At this mo-
ment six firemen, clothed in the incom-
bustible dresses, and marching at a slow
pace behind each other, repeatedly passed
through the whole length between the two
rowa of [Link], whieh were conatantly fed
with additional combustibles. Olle of the

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 181

firemen carried on his back a child eight

years old, in a wicker-basket covered with
metallic gauze, and the child had no other
dress than a cap made of amianthine cloth.
In February, 1829, a still more striking
experiment was made in the yard of the
barracks of St. Gervais. Two towers were
erected two stories high, and were sur-
rounded with heaps of inflamed materials,
consisting of fagots and straw. The fire-
men braved the danger with impunity. In
opposition to the advice of M. [Link], one
of them, with the basket and child, rushed
into a narrow place, where the :flames were
raging 8 yards high. The violence of
the fire was so great that he could not be
seen, while a thick black smoke spread
around, throwing out a heat which was un-
supportable by spectators. The fireman
remained so long invisible that serious
doubts were entertained of his safety. He
at length, however, issued from the fiery
gulf uninjured, and proud of having suc-
ceeded in braving so great a danger.
It is a remarkable result of these ex-
periments, that the firemen are able to
breathe without difficulty in the middle of
the flames. This effect is owing not only

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181 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

to the heat being intercepted by the wire-

gauze as it passes to the lungs, in conse-
quence of which its temperature becomes
supportable, but also to the singular power
which the body possesses of resisting great
heats, and of breathing air of high tem-
peratures. ·
A series of curious experiments were
made on this subject by M. Tillet, in
France, and by Dr. Fordyce and Sir
Charles Blagden, in England. Sir Joseph
Banks, Dr. Solander, and Sir Charles
Blagden entered a room in which the air
had a temperature of 198° Fahr., and re-
mained ten minutes; but as the thermom-
eter sunk very rapidly, they resolved to
enter the room singly. Dr. Solander went
in alone and found the heat 210°, and Sir
Joseph entered when the heat was 211 o.
Though exposed to such an elevated tem-
perature, their bodies preserved their
natural degree of heat. Whenever they
breathed upon a thermometer it sunk
several degrees; every expiration, particu-
larly if strongly made, gave a pleasant
impression ·of coolness to their nostrils,
and their cold breath cooled their fingers
whenever it reached them. On touching

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 111

his side, Sir Charles Blagden found it cold

like a corpse, and yet the heat of his body
under his tongue was 98 o. Hence they con-
cluded that the human body possesses the
power of destroying a certain degree of
heat when communicated with a certain
degree of quickness. This power, how-
ever, varies greatly in different media.
The same person who experienced no in-
convenience from air heated to 211 o, could
just bear rectified spirits of wine at 130°,
cooling oil at 129°, cooling water at 123°,
and cooling quicksilver at 118°. A familiar
instance of this occurred in the heated
room. All the pieces of metal there, even
their watch-chains, felt so hot that they
could scarcely bear to touch them for a
moment, while the air from which the
metal had derived all its heat was only
unpleasant. M. Duhamel and Tillet ob-
served, at Rochefoucault in France, that
the girls who were accustomed to attend
ovens in a bakehouse, were capable of en-
during for ten minutes a temperature of
270°.
The same gentleman who performed the
experiments above described ventured to
expose themselves to still higher tempera-

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lU MIKACLE-MONGEilS AND THEIR METHODS

ture& Sir Charles Blagden went into a

:room where the heat was 1 o or 2° above
260°, and remained ~ight minutes in this
situation, frequently walking about to all
the di1ferent parts of the room, but stand-
ing still most of the time in the coolest spot,
where the heat waa above ~o. The air,
though very hot, gave no pain, and Sir
Charles and all the other gentlemen were
of opinion that they could support a much
greater heat. During seven minutes Sir
C. Blagden's breathing continued per-
fectly good, but after that time he felt an
oppression in his lungs, with a sense of
anxiety, which induced him to leave the
room. His pulse was then 144, double its
ordinary quickneBB. In order to prove
that there was no mistake respecting the
degree of heat indicated by the thermom-
eter, and that the air which they breathed
was capable of producing all the well-
known e:ffects of such a heat on inanimate
matter, they placed some eggs and a beef-
steak upon a tin frame near the thermom-
eter, but more distant from the furnace
than from the wall of the room. In the
space of twenty minutes the eggs were
roasted quite hard, and in forty-seven

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MIRACLE-MONGEltS AND THEIR METHODS 116

minutes the steak was not only dreued,

but almost dry. Another beef-steak, simi-
larly placed, was rather overdone in
thirty-three minutes. In the evening,
when the heat was still more elevated, a
third beef-steak was laid in the same
place, and as they had noticed that the
effect of the hot air was greatly increased
by putting it in motion, they blew upon
the steak with a pair of bellows, and thus
hastened the dressing of it to such a de-
gree, that the greatest portion of it was
found to be pretty well done in thirteen
minutes.
Our distinguished countryman, Sir F.
Chantrey, has very recently exposed him-
self to a temperature still higher than any
which we have mentioned. The furnace
which he employs for drying his moulds
is about 14 feet long, 12 feet high, and
12 feet broad. When it is raised to its
highest temperature, with the doors closed,
the thermometer stands at 350°, and the
iron floor is red hot. The workmen often
enter it at a temperature of [Link], walking
over the iron floor with wooden clogs,
which are of course charred on the sur-
face. On one occasion Sir F. Chantrey,

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116 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

accompanied by five or six of his friends,

entered the furnace, and, after remaining
two minutes, they brought out a thermom-
eter which stood at 320°. Some of the
party experienced sharp pains in the tips
of their ears, and in the septum of the
nose, while others felt a pain in their eyes.

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 CHAPTER EIGHT

SWORD-SWALLOWERS: CLIQUOT, DELNO

FRITZ, DEODATA, A RAZOR-SWALLOWER,
AN UMBRELLA-SWALLOWER, WILLIAM
DEMPSTER, JOHN CUMMING, EDITH CLIF-
FORD, VICTORINA.

I T ing
has sometimes been noted in the forego-
pages, that fire-eaters, finding it dif-
ficult to invent new effects in their own sphere,
have strayed into other fields of endeavor in
order to amplify their programmes. Thus we
• find them resorting to the allied arts of poison-
eating, sword-swallowing and the stunts of the
so-called Human Ostrich.
In this connection I consider it not out of
place for me to include a description of a num-
. ber of those who have, either through unusual
gifts of nature or through clever artifice, seem-
ingly submitted to tests which we have been
taught to believe were far and away beyond
the outposts of human endurance. By the in-
137

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118 MIBACLE-MONOE&S AND THEIR METHODS

troduction of these thrills each notable new-

comer has endeavored to go his predecessors
one better, and the issue of challenges to all
comers to match these startling effects has
been by no means infrequent, but I fail to dis-
cover a single acceptance of such a challenge.
To accomplish the sword-swallowing feat,
it is only neceBBary to overcome the nausea
that results from the metal's touching the
mucous membrane of the pharynx, for there
is an unobstructed passage, large enough to
accommodate several of the thin blades used,
from the mouth to the oottom of the stomach.
This passage is not straight, but the passing
of the sword straightens it. Some throats are
more sensitive than others, but practice will ·
soon accustom any throat to the· passage of
the blade. When a sword with a sharp point
is used the performer secretly slips a rubber
cap over the point to guard against accident.
It is said that the medical fraternity first
learned of the possibility of overcoming the
sensitiveness of the pharynx by investigating
the methods of the sword-swallowers.
Cliquot, who was one of the most prominent

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS lit

sword-swallowers of his time, ftnally "re-

formed'' and is now a music hall agent in Eng-
land. The StrOind. Magazine (1896) baa this
to say of Cliquot and his art:

The Chevalier Cliquot (these fellows

must have titles) in the act of swallowing
the major part of a cavalry sword 22
inches long.
Cliquot, whose name suggests the swal-
lowing of something much more grateful
and comforting than steel swords, is a
French Canadian by birth, and has been
the admitted chief in his profession for
more than 18 years. He ran away from
his home in Quebec at an early age, and
joined a travelling circus bound for South
America. On seeing an arrant old hum-
bug swallow a small machete, in Buenos
Ayres, the boy took a fancy to the per-
formance, and approached the old hum-
bug aforesaid with the view of being
taught the business. Not having any
money, however, wherewith to pay the
necessary premium, the overtures of the
would-be apprentice were repulsed; where-
upon he set about experimenting with his
own ~esophagus with a piece of silver wire.

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ItO MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEilt METHODS

To say the preliminary training for this

sort of thing is painful, is to state the
fact most moderately; and even when stem
purpose has triumphed over the laws of
anatomy, terrible danger still remains.
On one occasion having swallowed a
sword, and then bent his body in different
direetions, as an adventurous sensation,
Cliquot found that the weapon also had
bent to a sharp angle; and quick as
thought, realizing his own position as well
as that of the sword, he whipped it out,
tearing his throat in a dreadful manner.
Plainly, had the upper part of the weapon
become detached, the sword swallower's
career must infallibly have come to an
untimely end. Again, in New York, when
swallowing 14 nine-inch bayonet swords
at once, Cliquot had the misfortune to
have a too sceptical audience, one of whom,
a medical man who ought to have known
better, rushed forward and impulsively
dragged out the whole bunch, inflicting
such injuries upon this peculiar enter-
tainer as to endanger his life, and inca-
pacitate him for months.
In one of his acts Cliquot swallows a
real bayonet sword, weighted with a cross-

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 1'1

bar, and two 18-lb. dumb bells. In order

to vary this performance, the sword-swal-
lower allows only a part of the weapon to
pass into his body, the remainder being
"kicked" down by the recoil of a rifle,
which is fixed to a spike in the centre of ·
the bar, and fired by the performer's
sister.
The last act in this extraordinary per-
formance is the swallowing of a gold
watch. As a ru1e, Cliquot borrows one,
but as no timepiece was forthcoming at
the private exhibition where I saw him, he
proceeded to lower his own big chro-
nometer into his msophagus by a slender
goTd chain. Many of the most eminent
physicians and surgeons in this country
immediately rushed forward with various
instruments, and the privileged few took
turns in listening for the ticking of the
watch inside the performer's body.
"Poor, outraged nature is biding her
time," remarked one physician, "but
mark me, she will have a terrible revenge
sooner or later!"
Eaters of glass, tacks, pebbles, and like ob-
jects, actually swallow these seemingly impos-

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1411 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

sible things, and disgorge them after the per-

formance is over. That the disgorging is not
always successful is evidenced by the hospital
records of many surgical operations on per-
formers of this class, when quantities of solid
matter are found lodged in the stomach.
Delno Fritz was not only an excellent sword-
swallower, but a good showman as well. The
last time I saw him he was working the "halls"
in England. I hope he saved his money, for
he was a clean man with a clean reputation,
and, I can truly say, he was a master in his
manner of indulging his appetite for the cold
steel.
Deodota, an Italian Magician, was also a
sword-swallower of more than average ability.
He succumbed to the lure of commercialism
finally, and is now in the jewelry business in
the "down-town district" of New York City.
Sword-swallowing may be harmlessly im-
itated by the use of a fake sword with a tele-
scopic blade, which slides into the handle.
Vosin, the Paris manufacturer o£ magical ap-
paratus, made swords of this type, but they
were generally used in theatrical enchantment

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS ld

scenes, and it is very doubtful if they were

ever used by professional swallowers.
It is quite probable that the swords now moat
generally used by the profession, which are
cut from one piece of metal-handle and all-
were introduced to show that they were free
from any telescoping device. Swords of this
type are quite thin, less than one-eighth of an
inch thick, and four or five of them can be
swallowed at once. Slowly withdrawing them
one at a time, and threwing them on the stage
in different directions, makes an e:[Link] dis-
play.
A small, but strong, electric light bulb at-
tached to the end of a cane, is a very effective
piece of apparatus for sword swallowers, as,
on a darkened stage, the passage of the light
down the throat and into the stomach can be
plainly seen by the audience. The medical pro-
fession now make use of this idea.
By apparently swallowing sharp razors, a
dime-museum performer, whose name I do not
recall, gave a variation to the sword-swallow-
ing stunt. This was in the later days, and
the act was partly fake and partly genuine.

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144 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

That is to say, the swallowing was fair enough,

but the sharp razors, after being tested by
cutting hairs, etc., were exchanged for dull
duplicates, in a manner that, in better hands,
miglit have been effective. This chap belonged
to the great army of unconscious exposers, and
the "switch" was quite apparent to all save
the most careless observers.
His apparatus consisted of a fancy rack on
which three sharp razors were displayed, and
a large bandanna handkerchief, in which there
were several pockets of the size to hold a razor,
the three dull razors being loaded in t)ris. After
testing the edge of the sharp razors, he pre-
tended to wipe them, one by one, with the hand-
kerchief, and under cover of this he made the
"switch" for the dull ones, which he proceeded
to swallow in the orthodox fashion. His work
was crude, and the crowd was inclined to poke
fun at him.
I have seen one of these performers on the
street, in London, swallow a borrowed um-
brella, after carefully wiping the ferrule, and
then return it to its owner only slighty damp-
ened from its unusual journey. A borrowed

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 145

watch was swallowed by the same performer,

and while one end of the chain hung from the
lips, the incredulous onlookers were invited to
place their ears against his chest and listen
to the ticking of the watch, which had passed
as far into the resophagus as the chain would
allow.
The following anecdote from the Carlisle
Journal, shows that playing with sword-swal-
lowing is about as dangerous as playing with
fire.

DISTRESSING OCCURRENCE

On Monday evening last, a man named

William Dempster, a juggler of inferior
dexterity while exhibiting his tricks in a
publichouseinBotchergate, kept by a·per-
son named Purdy, actually accomplished
the sad reality of one of those feats, with the
semblance only of which he intended to
amuse his audience. Having introduced
into his throat a common table knife which
he was intending to swallow, he accident-
ally slipped his hold, and the knife p~ssed
into his stomach. An alarm was imme-

,-

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IM KI&[Link] AND THEIR METHODS

cliately given, and surgical aid procured,

but the knife had [Link] beyond the reach
of instruments, and now remains in his
stomach. He has since been attended by
moat of the medical gentlemen of this
eity; and we understand that no very
alarming symptoms have yet appeared,
and that it is possible he may exist a con-
siderable time, even in this awkward state.
His sufferings at first were very severe,
but he is now, when not in motion, com-
paratively easy. The knife is 9% inches
long, 1 inch broad in the blade, round
pointed, and a handle of bone, and may
generally be distinctly felt by applying
the finger to the unfortunate man's belly;
but occasionally, however, from change of
its situation it is not perceptible. A brief
notice of the analogous case of John Cum-
ming, an American sailor, may not be un-
acceptable to our readers. About the year
1799 he, in imitation of some jugglers
whose exhibition he had then witneBSed, in
an hour of intoxication, swallowed four
clasp knives such as sailors commonly use;
all of which passed from him in a few daya
without much inconvenience. Six years
afterward, he awallowed fourteen knives

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 147

of different sizes; by these, however, he

was much disordered, but recovered; and
again, in a paroxysm of intoxication, he
actually swallowed seventeen, of the
effects of which he died in March, 1809.
On dissection, fourteen knife blades were
found remaining in his stomach, and the
back spring of one penetrating through
the bowel, seemed the immediate cause of
his death.

Several women have adopted the profession

[Link]-swallowing, and some have won much
more than a passing fame. Notable among
these is Mlle. Edith Clifford, who is, perhaps,
the most generously endowed. Possessed of
more than ordinary personal charms, a refined
taste for dressing both herself and her stage,
and an unswerving devotion to her art, she
has perfected an act that has found favor even
in the Royal Courts of Europe.
Mlle. Clifford was born in London in 1884
and began swallowing the blades when only
15 years of age. During the foreign tour of
the Barnum & Bailey show she joined that
organization in Vienna, 1901, and remained

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148 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

with it for five years, and now, after eighteen

years of service, she stands well up among the
stars. She has swallowed a 26-inch blade, but
the physicians advise her not to indulge her
appetite for such luxuries often, as it is quite
dangerous. Blades of 18 or 20 inches give her
no trouble whatever.
In the spring of 1919 I visited the Ringling
Bros., ~d the Barnum & Bailey Show espe-
cially to witness Mlle. Clifford's act. In ad-
dition to swallowing the customary swords
and sabers she introduced such novelties as a
specially constructed razor, with a blade five
or six times the usual length, a pair of scissors
of unusual size, a saw which is 2~ inches wide
at the broadest point, with ugly looking teeth,
although somewhat rounded at the points, and
several other items quite unknown to the bill-
of-fare of ordinary mortals. A set of ten thin
blades slip easily down her throat and are re-
moved one at a time.
The sensation of her act is reached when the
point of a bayonet, 23~ inches long, fastened
to the breech· of a cannon, is placed in her
mouth and the piece discharged; the recoil

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 EDITH CLIFFORD
"Champion Sword Swallower of the World"
149

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 151

driving the bayonet suddenly down her throat.

The gun is loaded with a 10 gauge cannon
shell.
Mlle. Clifford's handsomely arranged stage
occupied the place of honor in the section de-
voted to freaks and specialties.
Cliquot told me that Delno Fritz was his
pupil, and Mlle. Clliford claims to be a pupil
of Fritz.
Deserving of honorable mention also is a
native of Berlin, who bills herself as Victorina.
This lady is able to swallow a dozen sharp-
bladed swords at once. Of Victorina, the Bos-
ton Herald of December 28th, 1902, said:

By long practice she has accustomed

herself to swallow swords, daggers, bayo-
nets, walking sticks, rods, and other dan-
gerous articles.
Her throat and food passages have be-
come so expansive that she can swallow
three long swords almost up to the hilts,
and can accommodate a dozen shorter
blades.
This woman is enabled to bend a blade
after swallowing it. By moving her head

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151 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

back and forth she may even twist instru-

ments in her throat. To bend the body
after one has swallowed a sword is a dan-
gerous feat, even for a professional swal-
lower. There is a possibility of severing
some of the ligaments of the throat or else
large arteries or veins. Victorina has al-
ready had several narrow escapes.
On one occasion, while sword-swallow-
ing before a Boston audience, a sword
pierced a vein in her throat. The blade
was half-way down, but instead of imme-
diately drawing it forth, she thrust it
farther. She was laid up in a hospital
for three months after this performance.
In Chicago she had a still narrower
escape. One day while performing at a
museum on Clark Street, Victorina passed
a long thin dagger down her throat. In
withdrawing it, the blade snapped in two,
leaving the pointed portion some distance
in the passage. The woman nearly fainted
when she realized what had occurred, but,
by a masterful effort, controlled her feel-
ings. Dropping the hilt of the dagger on
the floor, she leaned forward, and placing
her finger and thumb down her throat,

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS llSI

just succeeded in catching the end of the

blade. Had it gone down an eighth of an
inch farther her ~eath would have been
certain.

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 CHAPTER NINE

STONE-EATERS: A SILESIAN IN PRAGUE, roo6;

FRANCOIS BATTALIA, ca. 1641 ; PLATERUS'
BEGGAR BOY ; FATHER PAULIAN'S LITH-
OPHAGUS OF AVIGNON, 176o; "THE ONLY
ONE IN THE WORLD," LONDON, 1788;
SPANIARDS IN LONDON, 1790; A SECRET
FOR TWO AND SIX; JAPANESE TRAINING.
-FROG-SWALLOWERS: NORTON; ENG-
LISH JACK; BOSCO, THE SNAKE-EATER;
BILLINGTON'S PRESCRIPTION FOR HANG-
MEN; CAPTAIN VEITRO.-WATER-
SPOUTERS: BLAISE MANFREDE, ca. r6so;
FLORAM MARCHAND, 1650.

T HAT the genesis of stone-eating dates back

hundreds of years farther than is generally
supposed, is shown by a statement in W anley's
·Wonders of the Little World, London, 1906,
Vol. II, page 58, which reads as follows:

.Anno 1006, there was at Prague a cer-

tain Silesian, who, for a small reward in
money, did (in the preeence of many per-
154

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS Ill

sons) swallow down white stones to the

number of thirty-six; they weighed very
near three pounds; the least of them was
of the size of a pigeon's egg, so that I
could scarce hold them all in my hand at
four times: this rash adventure he divers
years made for gain, and was !ell8ible of
no injury to his health thereby.

The next man of this type of whom I find

record lived over six hundred years later.
This was an Italian named Francois Battalia.
The print shown here is from the Book of
Wonderful Characters, and is a reproduction
from an etching made by Hollar in 1641.
Doctor Bulwer, in his Artificial Changeling,
tell8 a preposterous story of Battalia '• being
born with two pebbles in one hand and one in
the other; tliat he refused both the breast and
the pap oft:ered him, but ate the pebbles and
continued to subsist on stones for the re-
mainder of his life. Doctor Bulwer thus
describea his manner of feeding:

His manner is to put three or four

stones into a spoon, and so putting them

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ue MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

into his mouth together, he swallows them

all down, one after another; then (first
spitting) he drinks a glass of beer after
them. He devours about half a peck of
these stones every day, and when he clinks
upon his stomach, or shakes his body, you
may hear the stones rattle as if they were
in a sack, all of which in twenty-four
hours are resolved. Once in three weeks
be voids a great quantity of sand, after
which be bas a fresh appetite for these
stones, as we have for our victuals, and by
these, with a cup of beer, and a pipe of
tobacco, be has his whole subsistence.

From a modem point of view the Doctor

"looks easy."
The Book of Wonderful Characters con-
tinues:

Platerus speaks of a beggar boy, who

:Cor four farthings would suddenly swal-
low many stones which he met with by
chance in any place, though they were big
as walnuts, so filling his belly that by the
collision of them while they were pressed,
the sound was distinctly beard. Father
Paulian says that a true lithopbagus, or

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS llJT

stone-eater, was brought to Avignon in the

beginning of May, 1760. He not only
swallowed flints an inch and a half long,
a full inch broad, and half an inch thick,
but such stones as he could reduce to pow-
der, such as marble, pebbles, etc., he made
up into paste, which to him was a most
agreeable and wholesome food. Father
Paulian examined this man with all the
attention he possibly could, and found his
gullet very large, his teeth exceedingly
strong, his saliva very corrosive, and his
stomach lower than ordinary.
This stone eater was found on Good
Friday, in 1757, in a northern inhabited
island, by some of the crew of a Dutch
ship. He was made by his keeper to eat
raw flesh with his stones; but he never
could be got to swallow bread. He would .
drink water, wine, and brandy, which last
liquor gave him infinite pleasure. He slept
at least twelve hours a day, sitting on the
ground with one knee over the other, and
his chin resting on his right knee. He
smoked almost all the time he was not
asleep or not eating. Some physicians at
Paris got him blooded; the blood had little

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151 KIRACLE-MONGEBS AND THEI:a METHODS

or no serum, and in two hours time it be-

came as fragile as coral.
He was unable to pronounce more than
a few words, such as Oui, Non, Oaillou,
Bon. "He has been taught," adds the
pious father, evidently pleased with the
docility of his interesting pupil, "to make
the sign of the cross, and was baptized some
months ago in the church of St. Come, at
Paris. The respect he shows to ecclesi-
astics and his reaiJ,g disposition to please
them, afforded me the opportunity of
satisfying myself as to all these par-
ticulars; and 1 am fully convinced that he
is no cheat.,,

Here is the advertisement of a stone-eater

who appeared in England in 1788.

An Extraordinary Stone-Eater
The Original
STONE-EATER
The Only One in the World,
Has arrived, and means to perform this,
and every day (Sunday excepted) at Mr.
Hatch's, trunk maker, W Strand, op-
posite Adelphi.

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 118

STONE-EATING
and
[Link]
And after the stones are swallowed m&J.
be heard to clink in
the belly, the same as in a poeket.
The present is allowed to be the age of
Wonders and Improvements in the Arta.
The idea of !Man's flying in the .Air,
twenty years ago, before the discovery of
the use of the balloon, would have been
laughed at by the most credulous t Nor
does the History of Nature afford ao ex-
traordinary a relation as that of the man's
eating and subsisting on pebbles, flints,
tobacco pipes and mineral excrescences;
but so it is and the Ladies and Gentlemen
of this MetropoliS and its vicinity have
now an opportunity of witnessing this ex-
traordinary Fact by seeing the Most Won-
derful Phenomenon of the Age, who
Grinds and Swallows stones, etc., with u
much ease as a Person would crack a nut,
and masticate the kernel
This Extraordinary Stone-eater ap-
pears not to suffer the least Inconvenience
from so ponderous, and to all other per-

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180 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

sons in the World, so indigestible a Meal,

which he repeats from twelve at noon to
seven.
Any Lady or Gentleman may bring
Black Flints or Pebbles with them.
N. B.-His Merit is ·fully demonstrated
by Dr. Monroe, who in his Medical Com-
mentary, 1772, and several other Gentle-
men of the Faculty. Likewise Dr. John
Hunter and Sir Joseph Banks can witness
the Surprising Performance of this most
Extraordinary STONE-EATER.
Admittance, Two shillings and Six
pence.
A Private Performance for five guineas
on short notice.

A Spanish stone-eater exhibited at the Rich-

mond Theater, on August 2nd, 1790, and an-
other at a later date, at the Great Room, late
Globe Tavern, corner of Craven Street,
Strand.
All of these phenomenal gentry claimed to
subsist entirely on stones, but their modern
followers hardly dare make such claims, so
that the art has fallen into disrepute.
A number of years ago, in London,

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEiR METHODS 161

I watched several performances of one of these

chaps who swallowed half a hatful of stones,
nearly the size of hen's eggs, and then jumped
up and down, to make them rattle in his stom-
ach. I could discover no fake in the perform-
ance, and I finally gave him two and six for
his secret, which was simple enough. He
merely took a dose of powerful physic to clear
himself of the stones, and was then ready for
the next performance.
During my engagement in 1895 with Welsh
Bros. Circus I became quite well acquainted
with an aged J ap of the San Kitchy .[Link]
troupe and from him I learned the method of
swallowing quite large objects and bringing
them up again at will. For practice very small
potatoes are used at first, to guard against
accident; and after one has mastered the art
of bringing these up, the size is increased
gradually till objects as large as the throat will
receive can be swallowed and returned.
I recall a very amusing incident in connec-
tion with this old chap.
In one number of the programme he sat
down on the ring bank and balanced a bamboo

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181 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

pole, at the top of which little Massay went

through the regular routine of posturings.
After years spent in this work, my aged friend
became so used to his job that he did it auto-
matically, and scarcely gave a thought to the
boy at the top. One warm day, however, he
carried liis indifference a trifle too far, and
dropped into a quiet nap, from which he woke
only to find that the pole was falling and had
already gone too far to be recovered, but the
agility of the boy saved him from injury. As
my knowledge of Japanese is limited to the
more polite forms, I cannot repeat the remarks
of the lad.
Until a comparatively recent date, incred-
ible as it may seem, frog-swallowers were far
from uncommon on the bills of the Continental
theaters. The most prominent, Norton, a
Frenchman, was billed as a leading feature in
the high-class houses of Europe. I saw him
work at the Apollo Theater, Nuremberg, where
I was to follow him in; and during my engage-
ment at the Circus Busch, Berlin, we were on
the same programme, which gave me an oppor-
tunity to watch him closely.

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHOD! lSI

One of his features was to drink thirty or

forty large glasses of beer in slow succeMion.
The filled glasses were displayed on shelves at
the back of the stage, and had handles so that
he could bring forward two or three in each
hand. When he had finished these he would
return for others and, whlle gathering another
handful, would bring up the beer and eject it
into a receptacle arranged between the shelves,
just below the line of vision of the audience.
Norton could swallow a number of half-
grown frogs and bring them up alive. I re-
member his anxiety on one occasion when re-
turning to his dressing-room; it seems he had
lost a frog-at least he could not account for
the entire flock-and he looked very much
scared, probably at the uncertainty as to
whether or not he had to digest a live frog.
The Muenchen October Fest, is the annual
fair at that city, and a most wonderful show it
is. I have been there twice; once as the big
feature with Circus Carre, in 1901, and again
in 1913, with the Circus Corty Althoff. The
Continental Circuses are not, like those of this
country, under canvas, but show in wooden

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JM KDACLE-KONGEti AND THEra METHODS

buildings. At these October Pests I saw anum-

ber of frog-swallowers, and to me they were
very :repulsive indeed. In fact, N o:rton was
the only one I ever saw who presented his act
in a dignified manner.
Willie Hammerstein onee had Norton
booked to appear at the Victoria Theater, New
York, but the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals would not allow him to
open; so he returned to Europe without ex-
hibiting his art ( " in America.
In my earlier dars in the smaller theaters of
America, before the advent of the B. F. Keith
and E. F. Albee theaters, I occasionally ran
across a sailor calling himself English Jack,
who could swallow live frogs and bring them
up again with apparent ease.
I also witnessed the disgusting pit act of
that degenerate, Bosco, who ate living snakes,
and whose act ·gave rise to the well-known
barkers' cry He eats 'em alive! If the reader
wishes further description of this creature's
work, he must find it in my book, The Unmask-
ing of Robert H oudin, for I cannot bring my-
self to repeat the nauseating details here.

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 165

During an engagement in Bolton, Eng., I

met Billington, the official hangman, who was
convinced that I could not escape from the
restraint he used to secure those he was about
to execute.
Much to his astonishment, I succeeded in
releasing myself, but be said the time con-
sumed was more than sufficient to spring the
trap and launch the doomed soul into eternity.
Billington told me that he had hardened him-
self to the demands of his office by killing rats
with his teeth.
During my engagement at the Winter Garten,
Berlin, Captain V eitro, a performer that I had
known for years in America, where be worked
in side shows and museums, came to Berlin
and made quite a stir by eating poisons. He
appeared only a few times, however, as his act
did not appeal to the public, presumably for
the reason that he had his stomach pumped out
at each performance, to prove that it really
contained the poison. This may have been in-
structive, but it possessed little appeal as en-
tertainment, and I rarely heard of the venture-
some captain after that.

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lM MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

Years ago I saw a colored poison-eater at

Worth's Museum, New York City, who told
me that he escaped the noxious effects of the
drugs by eating quantities of oatmeal mush.
Another eolored performer took an ordinary
bottle, and, after breaking it, would bite off
chunks, crunch them with his teeth, and finally
swallow them. I have every reason to believe
that his performance wu genuine.
The beer-drinking of Norton was a more re-
fined version of the so-called water-spouting of
previous generations, in which the returning
was done openly, a performance that could not
fail to disguat a modern audience. To be sure,
in the days of the Dime Museum, a Negro who
returned the water worked those houses; but
his performance met with little approval, and
it is years since I have heard of such an exhibi-
tion.
The first water-spouter of whom I find a
record was Blaise Manfrede or de Manfre,
who toured Europe about the middle of the
seventeenth century. An interesting account
of this man may be found in my book The Un-
masking of Robert. H oudin.

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 167.

.A pupil of Manfrede 's, by the name of

Floram Marchand, who seems to have been
fully the equal of his master, appeared in Eng-
land in 1650. The following description of
Marchand 'a performance is from The Book of
W onderfuZ Okaracters, edition of 1869, page
126:
In the Bummer of 1650, a Frenchman
named Floram Marchand was brought
over from Tours to London, who pro-
feBBed to be able to "turn water into
wine,'' and at his vomit render not only
the tincture, but the strength and smell of
several wines, and several waters. He
learnt the rudiments of this art from
Bloise, an Italian, who not long before
was questioned by Cardinal Mazarin, who
threatened him with all the miseries that
a tedious imprisonment could bring upon
him, unless he would discover to him by
what art he did it. Bloise, startled at the
sentence, and fearing the event, made a
full confession on these terms, that the
Cardinal would communicate it to no one
else.
From this Bloise, Marchand received
all his instruction; and finding his teacher

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JG8 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

the more sought after in France, he came

by the advice of two English friends to
England, where the trick was new. Here
-the cause of it being utterly unknown-
he seems for a time to have gulled and as-
tonished the public to no small extent, and
to his great profit.
Before long, however, the whole mys-
tery was cleared up by his two friends,
who had probably not received the share
of the profits to which they thought them-
selves entitled. Their somewhat circum-
stantial account rup.s as follows.
To prepare his body for so hardy a task,
before he makes his appearance on the
stage, he takes a pill about the quantity of
a hazel nut, confected with the gall of an
heifer, and wheat flour baked. After
which he drinks privately in his chamber
four or five pints of luke-warm water, to
take all the foulness and slime from his
stomach, and to avoid that loathsome spec-
tacle which otherwise would make thick
the water, and offend the eye of the ob-
server.
In the first place, he presents you with a
pail of luke-warm water, and sixteen
glasses in a basket, but you are to under-

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 169

stand that every morning he boils two

ounces of Brazil thin-sliced in three pints
of running water, so long till the whole
strength and color of the Brazil is ex-
hausted: of this he drinks half a pint in
his private chamber before he comes on
the stage: you are also to understand that
he neither eats nor drinks in the morning
on those days when he comes on the stage,
the cleansing pill and water only ex-
cepted; but in the evening will make a
very good supper, and eat as much as two
or three other men who have not their
&tomachs so thoroughly purged.
Before he presents himself to the spec-
tators, he washes all his glasses in the best
white-wine vinegar he can procure. Com-
ing on the stage, he always washes his first
glass~ and rinses it two or three times, to
take away the strength of the vinegar, that
it may in no wise discolour the complexion
of what is represented to be wine.
At his first entrance, he drinks four and
twenty glasses of luke-warm water, the
first vomit he makes the water seems to be
a full deep claret: you are to observe that
his gall-pill in the morning, and so many
glasses of luke-warm water afterwards,

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170 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

will force him into a sudden capacity to

vomit, which vomit upon so much warm
water, is for the most part so violent on
him, that he cannot forbear if he would.
You are again to understand that all
that comes from him is red of itself, or has
a tincture of it from the first Brazil water;
but by degrees, the more water he drinks,
as on every new trial he drinks as many
glasses of water as his stomach will con-
tain, the water that comes from him will
grow paler and paler. Having then made
his essay on claret, and proved it to be of
the same complexion, he again drinks
four or five glasses of luke-warm water,
and brings forth claret and beer at once
into two several glasses: now you are to
observe that the glass which appears to be
claret is rinsed as before, but the beer
glass not rinsed at all, but is still moist
with the white-wine vinegar, and the first
strength of the Brazil water being lost,
it makes the water which he vomits up to
be of a more pale colour, and much like
our English beer.
He then brings his rouse again, and
drinks up fifteen or sixteen glasses of
luke-warm water, which the pail will

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS ITt

plentifully afford him: he will not bring

you up the pale Burgundian wine, which,
though more faint of complexion than the
clarot, he will tell you is the purest wine
in Christendom. The strength of the Bra-
zil water, which he took immediately be-
fore his appearance on the stage, growa
fainter and fainter. This glass, like the
first glass in which he brings forth his
claret, is washed, the better to represent
the colour of the wine therein.
The next he drinks comes forth sack
from him, or according to that com-
plexion. Here he does not wash his glass
at all; for the strength of the vinegar
must alter what is left of the complexion
of the Brazil water, which he took in the
morning before he appeared on the stage.
You are always to remember, that in the
interim, he will commonly drink up four
or five glasses of the luke-warm water,
the better to provoke hia atomach to a dis-
gorgement, if the first rouse will not
serve turn. He will now (for on every
disgorge he will bring you forth a new
colour), he will now present you with white
wine. Here also he will not wash his
glass, which (according to the vinegar in

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171 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

which it was washed) will give it a colour

like it. You are to understand, that when
he gives you the colour of so many wines,
he never washes the glass, but at his first
evacuation, the strength of the vinegar be-
ing no wise compatible with the colour of
the Brazil water.
Having performed this task, he will
then give you a show of rose-water; and
this indeed, he does so cunningly, that it
is not the show of rose-water, but rose-
water itself. If you observe him, you will
find that either behind the pail where his
luke-warm water is, or behind the basket
in which his glasses are, he will have on
purpose a glass of rose-water prepared
for him. After he has taken it, he will
make the spectators believe that he drank
nothing but the luke-warm water out of
the pail; but he saves the rose-water in the
glass, and holding his hand in an indirect
way, the people believe, observing the
water dropping from his fingers, that it is
nothing but the water out of the pail.
After this he will drink four or five glasses
more out of the pail, and then comes up
the rose-water, to the admiration of the
~Jeholders. You are to understand, that

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 171

the heat of his body working with his

rose-water gives a full and fragrant smell
to all the water that comes from him as if
it were the same.
The spectators, confused at the novelty
of the sight, and looking and smelling on
the water, immediately he takes the op-
portunity to convey into his hand another
glass; and this is a glass of Angelica
water, whch stood prepared for him be-
hind the pail or basket, which having
drunk off, and it being furthered with
four or five glasses of luke-warm water,
out comes the evacuation, and brings with
it a perfect smell of the Angelica, as it was
in the rose-water above specified.
To conclude all, and to show you what
a man of might he is, he has an instrument
made of tin, which he puts between his
lips and teeth; this instrument has three
several pipes, out of which, his arms
a-kimbo, a putting forth himself, he will
throw forth water from him in three
pipes, the distance of four or five yards.
This is all clear water, which he does with
so much port and such a flowing grace,
as if it were his master-piece.
He has been invited by divers gentle-

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U4r MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS
men and personages of honour to make the
like evacuation in milk, as he made a sem-
blance in wine. You are to understand
that when he goes into another room, and
drinks two or three pints of milk. On his
return, which is always speedy, he goes
first to his pail, and afterwards to his
vomit. The milk which comes from him
looks curdled, and shows like curdled milk
and drink. If there be no milk ready to
be had, he will excuse himself to his spec-
tators, and make a large promise of what
he will perform the next day, at which
time being sure to have milk enough to
serve his turn, he will perform his prom-
ise.
His milk be always drinks in a with-
drawing room, that it may not be dis-
covered, for that would be too apparent,
nor has he any other shift to evade the
discerning eye of the observers.
It is also to be considered that he never
comes on the stage (as he does sometimes
three or four time! in a day) but be first
drinks the Brazil water, without which he
can do nothing at all, for all that comes
from him has a tincture of the red, and

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KIJlACLE-MONGEBS AND THEIR METHODS 111

it only varies and alters according to the

ab~dance of water which he takes, and
the strength of the white-wine vinegar, in
which all the gluses are washed.

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 CHAPTER TEN

DEFIERS OF POISONOUS REPTILES: THARDO;

MRS. LEARN, DEALER IN RATTLESNAKES.
-SIR ARTHUR THURLOW CUNYNGHAME
ON ANTIDOTES FOR SNAKE-BITE.-JACK
THE VIPER.-WILLIAM OLIVER, 1735·-
THE ADVICE OF CORNELIUS HEINRICH
AGRIPPA, (1486-1535).-AN AUSTRALIAN
SNAKE STORY.-ANTIDOTES FOR VARI-
OUS PO'ISONS.

l BOUT twenty-two years ago, during one of

.tl. my many engagements at Kohl and Mid-
dleton's, Chicago, there appeared at the same
house a marvelous "rattle-snake poison de--
fier" named Thardo. I watched her act with
deep interest for a number of weeks, never
missing a single performance. For the simple
reason that I worked within twelve feet from
her, my statement that there was absolutely
no fake attached to her startling performance
can be taken in all seriousness, as the details
are still fresh in my mind.
176

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 17'1

Thardo was a woman of exceptional beauty,

both of form and feature, a fluent speaker and
a fearless enthusiast in her devotion to her
art. She would allow herself to be repeatedly
bitten by rattle-snakes and received no harm
excepting the ordinary pain of the wound.
After years of investigation I have come to the
belief that this immunity was the result of an
absolutely empty stomach, into which a larg~
quantity of milk was taken shortly after the
wound was inflicted, the theory being that the
virus acts directly on the contents of the stom-
ach, changing it to a deadly poison.
It was Thardo 's custom to give weekly
demonstrations of this power, to which the
medical profession were invited, and on these
occasions she was invariably greeted with a
packed house. When the moment of the su-
preme test came, an awed silence obtained;
for the thrill of seeing the serpent flash up and
strike possessed a positive fascination for her
audiences. Her bare arms and shoulders pre-
sented a tempting target for the death-dealing
reptile whose anger she had aroused. As soon
as he had buried his fangs in her expectant

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l'i8 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

flesh, she would coolly tear him from the wound

and allow one of the physicians present to ex-
tract a portion of the venom and immediately
inject it into a rabbit, with the result that the
poor creature would almost instantly go into
convulsions and would soon die in great agony.
Another rattle-snake defier is a resident of ·
San Antonio, Texas. Her name is Learn, and
she once told me that she was the preceptor of
Thardo. This lady deals in live rattle-snakes
and their by-products-rattle-snake skin,
which is used for fancy bags and purses;
rattle-snake oil, which is highly esteemed in
some quarters as a specific for rheumatism;
and the venom, which has a pharmaceutical
value.
She employs a number of men as snake
trappers. Their usual technique is to pin the
rattler to the ground by means of a forked
stick thrust dexterously over his neck, after
which he is conveyed into a bag made for the
purpose. Probably the cleverest of her trap-
pers is a Mexican who has a faculty of catching
these dangerous creatures with his bare hands.
The story goes that this chap has been bitten
MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS lfD

so many times that the virus no longer has any;

effect on him. Even that most poisonous of all
reptiles, the Gila monster, has no terrors for
him. He swims along the shore where venom-
ous reptiles most abound, and fearlessly at-
tacks any and all that promise any income to
his employer.
In a very rare book by General Sir Arthur
Thurlow Cunynghame, entitled, My Oommand
in South Africa, 1880, I find the following:

The subject of snake bites is one of no

small interest in this country.
Liquid ammonia is, par excellence, the
best antidote. It must be administered
immediately after the bite, both inter-
nally, diluted with water, and externally,
in its concentrated form.
The "Eau de luce" and other nostrums
sold for this purpose have ammonia for
their main ingredient. But it generally
happens in the case of a snake bite that the
remedy is not at hand, and hours may
elapse before it can be obtained. In this
case the following treatment will work
well. Tie a ligature tightly above the ~ite,
scarify the wound deeply with a knife, and

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lU MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

press either pleasure or pain at his will

Some were purchased by individuals, and
Jack pocketed his gains, observing, "A
frog, or a mouse, occasionally, is enough
for a snake's satisfaction.''
The Naturalist's Cabinet says, that "l!l
presence of the Grand Duke of Tuscany,
while the philosophers were making elab-
orate dissertations on the danger of the
poison of vipers, taken inwardly, a viper
catcher, who happened to be present, re-
quested that a quantity of it might be put
into a vessel; and then, with the utmost
confidence, and to the astonishment of the
whole company, he drank it off. Everyone
expected the man instantly to drop down
dead; but they soon perceived their mis-
take, and found that, taken inwardly, the
poison was as harmless as water."
William Oliver, a viper catcher at Bath,
was the first who discovered that, by the
application of olive oil, the bite of the
viper is effectually cured. On the first of
June, 1735, he suffered himself to be bitten
by an old black viper; and after enduring
the agonizing symptoms of approaching
death, by using olive oil he perfectly re-
eovered.

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 188

Vipers' flesh was formerly esteemed for

its medicinal virtues, and its salt was
thought to exceed every other animal
product in giving vigor to a languid con-
stitution.

According to Cornelius Heinrich [Link]

(called Agrippa of Nettesheim), a German
philosopher, and student of alchemy and magic,
who was born in 1486, and died in 1535, "if you
would handle adders and snakes without harm,
wash your hands in the juice of radishes, and
you may do so without harm.''
Even though it may seem a digression, I
yield to the t&nptation to include here an extra-
ordinary "snake story" taken from An Actor
Abroad, which Edmund Leathes published in
1880:
I will here relate the story of a sad
death-! might feel inclined to call it sui-
cide -which occurred in Melbourne
shortly before my arrival in the colonies.
About a year previous to the time of which
I am now writing, a gentleman of birth
and education, a Cambridge B. A., a bar-
rister by profession and a literary man by

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JM MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

choice, with his wife and three children

emigrated to Victoria. He arrived in
Melbourne with one hundred and fifty
pounds in his pocket, and hope unlimited
in his heart.
Poor man! He, like many another man,
quickly discovered that muscles in Aus-
tralia are more marketable than brains.
His little store of money began to melt
under the necessities of his wife and fam-
ily. To make matters worse he was visited
by a severe illness. He was confined to his
bed for some weeks, and during his con-
valescence his wife presented him with an-
other of those "blessings to the poor
man," a son.
It was Christmas time, his health was
thoroughly restored, he naturally pos-
sessed a vigorous constitution; but his
heart was begining to fail him, and his
funds were sinking lower and lower.
At last one day, returning from a long
and solitary walk, he sat down with pen
and paper and made a calculation by
which he found he had sufficient money
left to pay the insurance upon his life for
one year, which, in the case of his death
occurring within that time, would bring to

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 185

his widow the sum of three thousand

pounds. He went to the insurance office,
and made his application-was examined
by the doctor-the policy was made out,
his life was insured. From that day he
grew moody and morose, despair had con-
quered hope.
At this time a snake-charmer came to
Melbourne, who advertised a wonderful
cure for snake-bites. This charmer took one
of the halls in the town, and there displayed
his live stock, which consisted of a great
number of the most deadly and venomous
snakes which were to be found in India
and Australia.
This man had certainly some most won-
derful antidote to the poison of a snake's
fangs. In his exhibitions he would allow
a cobra to bite a dog or a rabbit, and, in a
short time after he had applied his nos-
trum the animal would thoroughly revive;
he advertised his desire to perform upon
humanity, but, of course, he could find no
one would be fool enough to risk his life
so unnecessarily.
The advertisement caught the eye of the
unfortunate emigrant, who at once pro-
ceeded to the hall where the snake-

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186 l\{IRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

charmer was holding his exhibition. He

offered himself to be experimented upon;
the fanatic snake-charmer was delighted,
and an appointment was made for the
same evening as soon as the "show"
should be over.
The evening came; the unfortunate man
:Kept his appointment, and, in the presence
of several witnesses, who tried to dissuade
him from the trial, bared his arm and
placed it in the cage of an enraged cobra
and was quickly bitten. The nostrum was
applied ~pparently in the same manner as
it had been to the lower animals which had
that evening been experimented upon,
but whether it was that the poor fellow
wilfully did something to prevent its tak-
ing effect-or whatever the reason-he
soon became insensible, and in a couple of
hours he was taken home to his wife and
family-a corpse. The next morning the
snake-charmer had flown, and left his
snakes behind him.
The insurance company at first refused
payment of the policy, asserting that the
death was suicide; the case was tried and
the company lost it, and the widow re-
ceived the three thousand pounds. The
snake-cliarmer was sought in vain; he had

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 18'7

the good fortune and good sense to be seen

no more in the Australian colonies.
As several methods of combating the effects
of poisons have been mentioned in the fore-
going pages, I feel in duty bound to carry
the subject a little farther and present a list
of antidotes. I shall not attempt to educate
my readers in the art of medicine, but simply
to give a list of such ordinary materials as are
to be found in practically every household,
materials cited as antidotes for the more com-
mon poisons. I have taken them from the
best authorities obtainable and they are of-
fered in the way of first aid, to keep the patient
alive till the doctor arrives; and if they should
do no good, they can hardly do harm.
The first great rule to be adopted is send for
the doctor at once and give him all possible in-
formation about the case without delay. Use
every possible means to keep the patient at a
normal temperature. When artificial respira-
tion is necessary, always get hold of the tongue
and pull it well forward in order to keep the
throat clear, then turn the patient over on his
face and ~ress the abdomen to for~e out the

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 181 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

air, then turn him over on the back so that the

lungs may fill again, repeating this again and
again till the doctor arrives. The best stimu-
lants are strong tea or coffee; but when these
are not sufficient, a tablespoon of brandy,
whisky, or wine may be added.
Vegetable and mineral poisons, with few ex-
ceptions, act as efficiently in the blood as in the
· stomach. Animal poisons act only through
the blood, and are inert when introduced into
the stomach. Therefore there is absolutely no
danger in sucking the virus from a snake bite,
except that the virus should not be allowed to
touch any spot where the skin is broken.
The following list of antidotes is taken largely
from Appleton's Medical Dictionary, and Soli-
mann's A Manual of Pharmacology, Phila-
delphia, 1917, pages 56 and 57, and has been
verified by comparison with various other
authorities at the library of the Medical So-
ciety of the County of New York:
Induce vomiting with a deSsert-spoonful
of ground mustard in tepid water. Also
put the finger in the throat to induce
retching. When the stomach has been
emptied, give the patient all the milk
.... can take.

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 189

Aeonite Induce vomiting as above. Also give ac-

tive purgative. Stimulate with strong
tea or coffee. Keep the patient roused.
Alcohol Same as for aconite.
Belladonna Same as for aconite.
Bitter-sweet Same as for aconite.
· Blue vitriol Induce vomiting as in arsenic. Then give
milk, or white of egg, or mucilage.
Cantharides Induce vomiting. Give soothing driuks.
No oil. Rub abdomen with camphor,
or camphorated oil.
Chloral Same as for aconite.
Camphor Same as for aconite.
Conium (Hemlock) Same as for aconite.
Carbolic Acid White of egg in water, or olive oil, fol-
lowed by a large quantity of milk.
Calomel Give white of egg, followed by milk, or
flour gruel.
Corrosive Sublimate Same as for calomel.
Croton Oil Induce vomiting. Also give strong purga-
tive as soon as posBJ"ble. Stimulate with
strong tea or coi!ee.
Colocynth Same a8 for croton oil.
Ergot Same as for aconite.
Food cooked in a
copper vessel Same as for blue vitrioL
Fish poison Same a8 for croton oil.
Gases Plenty of fresh air. Inhale ammonia
(not too strong). Artificial respiration
if necessary. Stimulate with strong tea
or coffee.
Green coloring
matter Same as for arsenic.
Hellebore Same as for aconite.
Hyoscyamus Same as for aconite.
Iodine Give starch.

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 IPO .MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR MEAHODS

Lobelia Same as for aconite.

Lead Same as for calomel
Matches Induce vomiting. Give magnesia and
mucilage. No oil.
Mercury Same as for calomel
Morphine Spasms may be quieted by inhaling ether.
Nitric Acid Induce vomiting. Give Carbonate of
Magnesia, or lime-water.
Nitrate of Silver Give common salt in water, or carbonate
of Soda in solution, followed by milk,
or white of egg.
Nux Vomica Same as for aconite.
Oxalic Acid Same as for nitric acid.
Opium Same as for morphine.
Prussic Acid Not much can be done, as fatal dose kills
in from three to five minutes. Dilute
ammonia given instantly might save
life.
Paris Green Same as for arsenic.
Phosphorus Same as for matches.
Rough on Rats Same as for arsenic.
Strychnin Same as for morphine.
Sulphuric Acid Strong soap-suds.
Toadstool Same es for morphine.
Turpentine Same as for morphine.
Tin Same as for nitrate of Silver.
Verdigris Same as for arsenic.
Vermilion Same as for calomel.
White vitriol Same as for nitrate of Silver.
Zinc Same as for nitrate of silver.
For Snake-bite The best general treatment for snake-bite
is to tie a ligature tightly abooe the
wound, then suck out as much of the
virus as possible. Give the patient
large quantities of whisky or brandy,
to induce intoxication. Incise the

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 191

,:wound with a red-hot nail, or knitting

needle. Keep the patient intoxicated
till the doctor arrives.
For Burns All burns are more painful when expoSed
to the air. For lesser burns a cloth
saturated with a strong solution of
bicarbonate of soda (common cooking
soda) laid on the burn is probably best.
This is soothing and keeps out the air.
For burning clothes Do not allow the victim to run about, for
that increaSes the [Link]. Throw her-
these accidents usually occur to women
-on the floor and smother the [Link]
with a blanket, rug, or large garment.
Then, if the burns are severe, place•
her in a bath at a temperature of 100°
or over, keeping her there till the doctor
arrives. Give stimulants. Do not touch
the burns more than is absolutely un-
avoidable.
For Burna of Acids Dash cold water on the burns, then cover
with lime-water and 8wet>t oil, or lin-
seed oil.
For Burns of
Caustic Alkalies Apply vinegar.
Glass, coarse or Give the patient large quantities of bread
powdered crumbs, and then induce vomiting.
IvY poison Wash at once with soap and water; asing
scrubbing brush. Then lay on cloths
saturated with strong solution bicar-
bonate of aoda. Give cooling drinks.
Keep the patient quiet and on a low
diet.

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 CHAPTER ELEVEN

STRONG MEN OF THE EIGHTEENTH CEN-

TURY: THOMAS TOPHAM (died, 1749);
JOYCE, 1703; VAN ECKENBERG, 1718; BAR-
SABAS AND HIS SISTER; THE ITALIAN
FEMALE SAMPSON, 1724; THE "LITTLE
WOMAN FROM GENEVA," 1751; BELZONI,
1778-1823.

B ODILYmight
strength ha.s won the admiration
-I almost say, the worship-of
mankind from the days of Hercules and his
ten mythical labors, to the days of Sandow
with his scores of actual achievements. Each
generation has produced its quota of strong-
men, but [Link]~10st all of them have resorted to
some sort of artifice or subterfuge in order to
appear superhumanly strong. That is to say,
they added brain to their brawn, and it is a
difficult question whether their efforts deserve
to be called trickery or good showmanship.
Many of the tricks of the profession were
192

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 198

laid bare by Dr. Desaguliers over a hundred

and fifty years ago and have been generally
discarded by athletes, only to be taken up and
vastly improved by women of the type of The
Georgia Magnet, who gave the world of science
a decided start about a generation ago. I shall
· have more to say of her a little further on.
The jiu jitsu of the Japanese is, in part, a
development of the same principles, but here
again much new material has been added, so
that it deserves to be considered a new art.
The following, from Dr. Desaguliers' Ex-
perimental PMlosophy, London, 1763, Vol. 1,
page 289, contrasts feats of actual strength
with the tricks of the old-time performers:

Thomas Topham, born in London, and

now about thirty-one years of age, five feet
ten inches high, with muscles very hard
and prominent, was brought up a carpen-
ter, which trade he practiced till within
these six or seven years that he has shewed
feats of strength; but he is entirely ig-
norant of any art to make his strength
appear more surprising; Nay, sometimes
he does things which become more difficult

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1941 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

by his disadvantageous sitaation; at-

tempting and often doing, what he hears
other strong men have done, without ma.~­
ing use of the same advantages.
About six years ago he pulled against
a horse, sitting on the ground with his feet
against two stumps driven into the
ground, but without the advantage repre-
sented by the first figure, Plate 19; for
the horse pulling against him drew up-
wards at a considerable angle, such as is
represented in the second figure in that
plate, when hN is the line of traction,
which makes the angle of traction to be
NhL: and in this case his strength was
no farther employed than to keep his legs
and thighs straight, so as to make them
act like the long arm of a bended lever,
represented by Lh, on whose end h the
trunk of his body rested as a weight,
against which the horse drew, applying
his power at right angles to the end 1 of
the short arm of said lever, the center of
the motion being a L at the bottom of the
stumpsl,o (fortodrawobliquelyby a rope
fastened at h is the same as to draw by an
arm of a lever at l L, because l L is a line
drawn perpendicularly from the center of

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lOS

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 10'1

motion to the line of direction hN) and

the horse not being strong enough to raise
the man's weight with such disadvantage,
he thought he was in the right posture for
drawing against a horse ; but when in the
same posture he attempted to draw against
two horses, he was pulled out of his place
by being lifted up, and had one of his
knees struck against the stumps, which
shattered it so, that even to this day, the
patella or knee-pan is so loose, that the
ligaments of it seem either to be broken
or qui·te relaxed, which has taken away
most of the strength of that leg.
But if he had sat upon such a frame as is
represented in the first figure, (Plate 19)
he might (considering his strength) have
kept his situation against the pulling of
four strong horses without the least incon-
venience.
The feats which I saw him perform a
few days ago, were the following:
1. By the strength of his fingers (only
rubbed in coal-ashes to keep them from
slipping) he rolled up a very strong and
large pewter-dish.
2. He broke seven or eight short and
strong pieces of tobacco-pipe with the

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198 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

force of his middle finger, having laid them

on the first and third finger.
3. Having thrust under his garter the
bowl of a strong tobacco-pipe, his legs be-
ing bent, he broke it to pieces by the ten-
dons of his hams, without altering the
bending of his leg.
4:. He broke such another bowl between
his first and second finger, by pressing his
fingers together side-ways.
5. He lifted a table six feet long, which
had half a hundred weight hanging to the
end of it, with his teeth, and held it in a
horizontal position for a considerable
time. It is true the feet of the table rested
against his knees; but as the length of the
table was much greater· than its height,
that performance required a great
strength to be exerted by the muscles of
his loins, those of his neck, the masseter
and temporal (muscles of the jaws) be-
sides a good set of teeth.
6. He took an iron kitchen-poker, about
a yard long, and three inches in circum-
ference, and holding it in his right hand,
he .struck upon his bare left arm, between
the elbow and the wrist till he bent the
poker nearly to a right angle.

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J4IRACLE-MONGEBS AND 'l'HEIB METHODS 199

7. He took such another poker, and

holding the ends in his hands, and the
middle against the back of his neck, he
brought both ends of it together before
him; and, what was yet more difficult, he
pulled it almost straight again: because
the muscles which separate the arms hori-
zontally from each other, are not so 'Strong
as those that bring them together.
8. He broke a rope of about two inches in
circumference which was in part wound
about a cylinder of four inches diameter,
having fastened the other end of it to
straps that went over his shoulders; but
he exerted more force to do this than any
other of his feats, from his awkwardness
in going about it: as the rope yielded and
stretched as he stood upon the cylinder,
so that when the extensors of his legs and
thighs had done their office in bringing the
legs and thighs straight, he was forced to
raise his heels from their bearings, and
use other muscles that are weaker. But
if the rope had been so fixed, that the part
to be broken had been short, it would have
been broken with four times less difficulty.
9. I have seen him lift a rolling stone
of about 800 lib. with his hand only,

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100 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

standing in a frame above it, and taking

hold of a chain that was fastened to it.
By this I reckon that he may be almost
as strong again as those who are generally
reckoned as the strongest men, they gener-
ally lifting no more than 400 lib. in that
manner. The weakest men who are in
health and not too fat, lift about 125 lib.
having about half the strength of the
strongest. (N.B. This sort of compari-
son is chiefly in relation to the muscles of
the loins; because in doing this one must
stoop forward a little. We must also add
the weight of the body to the weight lifted.
So that if the weakest man's body weighs
150 lib. that added to 125 lib. makes the
whole weight lifted by him 275 lib. Then
if the stronger man's body weighs also 150
lib. the whole weight lifted by liim will be
550 lib. that is, 400 lib. and the 150 lib.
which his body weighs. Topham weighs
about 200 lib. which added to the 800 lib.
that he lifts, makes 1000 lib. But he ought
to lift 900 lib. besides the weight of his
body, to be as strong again as a man of
150 lib.-weight who can lift 400 lib.
Now as all men are not proportionably
strong in every part, but some are stronger

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS iOl

in the arms, some in the legs, and others

in the back, acoording to the work and
exercise which they use, we can't judge
of a man's strength by lifting only; but
a method may be found to compare to- ·
gether the strength of different men in
the same parts, and that too without
straining the persons who try the experi-
ment.

Here follows a long description of a machine

for the above purpose.
Topham was not endowed with a strength
of mind equal to the strength of his body. He
was married to a wanton who rendered exist-
ence so insupportable that he committed
suicide before he was forty years of age, on
August loth, 1749.1
About the y('ar 1703 there appeared in Lon-
don a native of Kent, by the name of Joyce,

1 Interesting accounts of Topham's career may be found

in Wonders of Bodily B'rength, New York, 1873, a translation
from the French of Depping, by Charles Russell; Sir David
Brewster's, Letters on Natural Magic; London, 1838; W anley'1
Wonders of the IMtle World, London, 1806; Wilson's Won-
derful Characters, London, 1821, (but not in the reprint
of 1869).

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lOt MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

who won the name of a second Samson by a

series of feats of strength that to the people
of that day seemed little short of superhuman.
Dr. Desaguliers, in his E:eperimental Phtlos-
ophg, gives the following account of Joyce and
his methods.

About thirty years ago one Joyce,1 a

Kentish man, famous for his great
strength (tho' not quite so strong as the
King of Poland, by the accounts we have
of that Prince) shewed several feats in
London and the country, which so much
surprised the spectators, that he was by
most people called the second Sampson!
But tho' the postures which he had learned
to put his body into, and found out by
practice without any mechanical theory,
were such as would make a man of com-
mon strength do such feats as would ap-
pear surprising to everybody that did not
know the advantages of those positions of
the body; yet nobody then attempted to
draw against horses, or raise great

1 Or William Joy.
1 This is the spelling used by Joyce, Eckeberg and others,
for the Samson of the Bible.

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DB. J1IIAN THEOPIIILB [Link]
208

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 105 .

weights, or to do anything in imitation

of him; because, as he was very strong in
the arms, and grasped those that try'd his
strength that way so hard, that they were
obliged immediately to desire him to de-
sist, his other feats (wherein his manner
of acting was chiefly owing to the me-
chanical advantages gained by the posi-
tion of his body) were entirely attributed
to his extraordinary strength.
But when he had gone out of Engand,
or had ceased to shew his performances,
for eight or ten years; men of ordinary
strength found out the way of making
such advantage of the same postures as
Joyce had put himself into, as to pass for
men of more than common strength, by
drawing against horses, breaking ropes,
lifting vast weights, &c. (tho' they cou'd
in none of the postures really perform so
much as Joyce; yet they did enough to
amaze and amuse, and get a great deal of
money) so that every two or three years
we have a new second Sampson.
Some fifteen year! subsequent to Joyce's
advent, another so-called Samson, this time a
German named John Charles Van Eckenherg,

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106 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

toured Europe with a remarkable performance

along the same lines as Joyce's. Dr. Desagu-
liers saw this man and has this to say of him:

After having seen him once, I guessed

at his manner of imposing on the multi-
tude; and being resolved to be fully satis-
fied in the matter, I took four very curious
persons with me to see him again, viz. the
Lord Marquis of Tullibardine, Dr. Alex-
antler Stuart, Dr. Pringle, and a me-
chanical workman, who used to assist me
in my courses of experiments. We placed
ourselves in such a manner round the
operator, as to be able to observe nicely
all that he did, and found it so practicable
that we performed several of his feats that
evening by ourselves, and afterwards I did
most of the rest as soon as I bad a frame
made to :fit in to draw, and another to
stand in and lift great weights, together
with a proper girdle and hooks.

Dr. Desaguliers illustrates Van Eckenberg's

methods in a very eXhaustive set of notes and
plates, which are too technical and voluminous
to repeat here, but I will quote sufficiently

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JoHAl'f·N (~\Ill~
[Link]'it&[Link]

~· ,}J -,?j,. "~'

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 209

from them to make the modus operandi clear.

The figures will be found on plate 19.
Figs. 1 and 2 have already been explained.

In breaking the rope one thing is to be

observ'd, which will much facilitate the
performance; and that is to place the iron
eye L, (Fig. 3) thro' which the rope goes,
in such a situation, that a plane going
thro' its ring shall be parallel to the two
parts of the rope; because then the rope
will in a manner be jamm'd in it, and not
slipping thro' it, the whole force of the
man's action will be exerted on that part
of the rope which is in the eye, which will
make it break more easily than if more
parts of the rope were acted upon. So
the eye, tho' made round and smooth, may
be said in some measure to cut the rope.
And it is after this manner that one may
break a whip cord, nay, a small jack-line
:with one's hand without hurting it; only
by bringing one part of the rope to cut
the other; that is, placing it so round one's
left hand, that by a sudden jerk, the whole
force exerted shall act on one point of the
rope.

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110 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

B is a feather bed upon which the performer

falls.

The posture of Fig. 4 Plate 19 (where

the strong man having an anvil on his
breast or belly, suffers another man to
strike with a sledge hammer and forge
a piece of iron, or cut a bar cold with
chizzels) tho' it seems surprising to some
people, ~as nothing in it to be really
wondered at; for sustaining the anvil is
the whole matter, and the heavier the anvil
is, the leBB the blows are felt: And if the
anvil was but two or three times heavier
than the hammer, the strong man would
be killed by a few blows; for the more
matter the anvil has, the more inertia and
the less liable it is to be struck out of its
place; because when it has by the blow
receiv'd the whole momentum of the ham-
mer, its velocity will be so much less than
that of the hammer as it has more matter
than the hammer. Neither are we to at-
tribute to the anvil a velocity less than the
hammer in a reciprocal proportion of
their masses or quantities of matter; for
that would happen only if the anvil was
to hang freely in the air (for example)

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FlllATS OF STRENGTH (Plate 19)
211
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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS I l l

by a rope, and it was struck horizontally

by the hammer. Thus is the velocity given
by the hammer distributed to all parts of
a great stone, when it is laid on a man's
breast to be broken; but when the blow is
given, the man feels less of the weight of
the stone than he did before, because in
the reaction of the stone, all the parts of
it round about the hammer ris~ towards
the blow; and if the tenacity of the parts
of the stone, is not stronger than the force
with which it moves towards the hammer,
the stone must break; which it does when
the blow is strong, and struck upon the
centre of gravity of the stone.
In the 5th Fig. of Plate 19, the man
IHL (the chairs IL, being made fast)
makes so strong an arch with his back-
bone and the bones of his legs and thighs,
as to be able not only to sustain one man,
but three or four, if they had room to
stand; or, in their stead, a great stone
to be broken with one blow.
In the 6th and 7th Fig. of the same
plate, a man or two are raised in the direc-
tion CM, by the knees of the strong man
IHL lying upon his back A trial will
suffice to show that this is not a difficult
feat for a man of ordinary strength.
llt MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

W anley• enumerates thirty men of might,

each of whom was famous in his time. Notable
among them was Barsabas, who first made a
reputation in Flanders, where he lifted the
coach of Louis XIV, which had sunk to the
nave in the mud, all the oxen and horses yoked
to it having exerted their strength in vain.
For this service the king granted him a pen-
sion, and being soon promoted, he at length
rose to be town-major of Valenciennes.

Barsabas entering one day a farrier's

shop in a country village, asked for horse
shoes, the farrier showed him some, which
Barsabas snapped in pieces as if they had
been rotten wood, telling the farrier at
the same time that they were too brittle,
and good for nothing. The farrier wanted
to forge some more, but Barsabas took up
the anvil and hid it under his cloak. The
farrier, when the iron was hot, could not
conceive what had become of his anvil, but
his astonishment was still increased when
he saw Barsabas deposit it in its place

1 WOtSders of the Liftltl World, by Nathaniel Wanley, Lon-

don, 1806. VoL I., page 76.

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 115

with the utmost ease. Imagining that he

had got the devil in his shop, he ran out
as fast as he could, and did not venture
to return till his unwelcome visitor had
disappeared.
Barsabas had a sister as strong as him-
self, but as be quitted his home very
young, and before his sister was born, he
had never seen her. He met with her in
a small town of Flanders, where she car-
ried on a rope manufactury. The modern
Sampson bought some of her largest ropes
which he broke like pack-thread, telling
her they were very bad.-" I will give
some better," replied she, "but will you
pay a good price for them '"-''Whatever
you choose,'' returned Barsabas, showing
lier some crown pieces. His sister took
them, and breaking two or three of them
said, "Your crowns are as little worth as
my ropes, give me better money." Bar-
sabas, astonished at the strength exhibited
by this female, then questioned her re-
specting her country and family, and soon
learned that she belonged to the same
stock.
The dauphin being desirous to see Bar-
sabas exhibit some of his feats, the latter

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118 :MillACLE-:MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

said, "My horse has carried me so long

that I will carry him in my turn.'' He
then placed himself below the anima] and
raising him up, carried hini more than
fifty paces, and then placed him on the
ground without being the least hurt.

Barsabas' sister was not unique in her cen-

tury. I quote from a magazine called The
Parlor Portfolio or Post-Chaise Companion.,
published in London in 1724:
To be seen, at Mr. John Syme's, Peruke
maker, opposite the Mews, Charing CroM,
the surprising and famous Italian Female
Sampson, who has been seen in several
courts of Europe with great applause.
She will absolutely walk, barefoot, on a
red-hot bar of iron: a large block of
marble of between two and three thousand
weight she will permit to lie on her for
some time, after which she will throw it
otf at about six feet distance, without us-
ing her hands, and exhibit several other
curious performances, equally astonish-
ing, which were never 14£ore seen in Eng-
land. She performs exactly at twelve
o'clock, and four, and six in the afternoon.

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 117

Price half-a-crown, servants and children

a shi11ing.

From the spelling, I judge that the person

who selected this lady's title must have been
more famUiar with the City Directory than
with the Scriptures.
In Edward J. Wood's Giants and Dwarfs,
London, 1868, I find the following:
·A newspaper of December 19th, 1751,
announces as follows:
At the new theatre in the Haymarket,
this day, will be performed a concert of
musick, in two acts. Boxes· 3s., pit 2s.,
gallery 1s. Between the acts of the con-
cert will be given, gratis, several exercises
of rope-dancing and tumbling. There is
also arrived the little woman from Geneva,
who, by her extraordinary strength, per-
forms several curious things, viz. 1st. She
beats a red-hot iron that is made crooked
straight with her naked feet. 2ndly. She
puts her head on one chair, and her feet
on another, in an equilibrium, and suffers
five or six men to stand on her body, which
after some time she flings off. 3rdly. An
anvil is put on her body, on which two men

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 lltrike with large ham11oera. 4t!dy. A
stoDe of a lnmdred pouods weight is put
on her body, and beat to pieees with a
hannner. 5thly. She lies down on the
ground, and su1fers a stone of 1500 pounds
weight to be laid on her breasts, in whieh
position she speaks to the audience, and
drinks a glasa of wine, then throws the
stone off her body by mere strength, with-
out any [Link]. Lastly, she lifts an an-
vil of 200 pound weight from the ground
with her own hair. To begin exactly at six
o'clock.
At present the stunt with the two ehairs and
the six men is being exhibited as a hypnotic
test.
G"wvanni Battista Belzoni, the famous
Egyptian archeologist, who was a man of
gigantic stature, began his public career as a
strongman at the Bartholomew Fair, under the
management of Gyngell, the conjuror, who
dubbed him The Young Hercules. Shortly
afterward he appeared at Sadler's Wells
Theater, where he created a profound sensa-
tion, under the name of The Patagonia» Sam-
son. The feature of his act was carrying a
MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 110

pyramid of from seven to ten men in a manner

never before attempted. He wore a sort of
harness with footholds for the men, and when
all were in position he moved about the stage
with perfect ease, soliciting "kind applause"
by waving a flag. He afterwards became a
magician, and after various other ventures he
finally landed in Egypt, where his discoveries
were of such a nature as to secure for him
an enviable position in "Who's Who in
Archeology."

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 [Link] TWELVE

CONTEMPORARY STRONG PEOPLE: CHARLES

JEFFERSON; LOUIS CYR; JOHN GRUN
MARX; WILLIAM LE ROY.-THE NAIL
KING, THE HUMAN CLAW-HAMMER; ALEX-
ANDER WEYER; MEXICAN BILLY WELLS;
A FOOLHARDY ITALIAN; WILSON; HER-
MAN; SAMPSON; SANDOW; YUCCA; LA
BLANCHE; LULU HURST.-THE GEORGIA
MAGNET, THE ELECTRIC GIRL, ETC.;
ANNIE ABBOTT; MATTIE LEE PRICE.-
THE TWILIGHT OF THE FREAKS.-THE
DIME MUSEUMS.

F EATS of strength have always interested

me greatly, so that in my travels around
tlie world I have made it a point to come in
contact with the most powerful human beings
of my generation. The one among these who
deserves first mention is Charles J e:fferson,
with whose achievements I became quite fa-
miliar while we were working in the same
museum many years ago. I am convinced that
he must have been the strongest man of his
220

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS lit

time at lifting with the bare hands alone. He

had two feats that he challenged any mortal
to duplicate. One was picking up a heavy
blacksmith's anvil by the hom and placing it
on a kitchen table; for the other he had a block
of steel, which, as near as I can remember,
must have been about 14 inches long, 12 inches
wide, and 7 inches thick. This block lay on
the floor, and his challenge was for anyone to
pick it up with bare hands. I noticed that it
required unusually long fingers to grasp it,
since one could get only tlie thumb on one side.
Though thousands tried, I never saw, or heard,
of anyone else who could juggle his anvil or
pick up the weight. True, I saw him surrep-
titiously rub his fingers with resin, to assist in
the gripping, but that could have been only
of slight assistance to the marvelous grip the
man possessed.
It is generally conceded that Louis Cyr was,
in his best days, the strongest man in the
known world at all-round straight lifting. Cyr
did not give the impression of being an athlete,
nor of a man in training, for he appeared to
be over-fat and not particularly muscular; but

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Ill IIIJlACLB-IIONGEBS AND THEIR METHODS

he made records in lifting which, to the best

of my knowledge, no other man has been able
to duplicate.
J ohltGrun 1larx, a Luxemberger, must have
been among the strongest men in the world at
the time I knew him. We worked on the same
bill several times; but it was at the Olympia,
in Paris, tnat he shone supreme as a strong-
man-and at the same time as a weak one.
For, in spite of his sovereign strength, Marx
was no match for a pair of bright eyes; all
a pretty woman had to do was to smile and
John would wilt. And-Paris was Paris.
Marx's strength was prodigious, and he
juggled hundreds, and toyed with thousands,
of pounds as a child plays with a rattle. He
must have weighed in the neighborhood of
three hundred pounds, and he walked like a
veritable colossus. In fact, he reminded me
of a two-footed baby elephant.
Always good-natured, he made a host of
friends both in the profession and out of it.
After years of professional work he settled
down as landlord of a public house in England,
where, finally, he was prostrated by a mortal

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS ttl

illness. Wishing to die in his native city, he

returned to Luxemberg. He did not realize
that he was bereft of his enormous strength,
and those about him humored him: the doctor
and the ~urses would pretend that he hurt
them when he grasped their hands. He died
almost forgotten except by his brother artists,
but they (myself among them) built a monu-
ment to this good-natured Hercules, whose
only care was to entertain.
Among the strongmen that I met during my
days with the museums, one whom I found
most interesting was WilHam Le Roy, known
as The Nail King and The Human Claw-Ham-
mer, whose act appealed to me for its original-
ity. So far as I could learn, it had never been
duplicated.
Le Roy was born in Cincinnati, Ohio,
October 3rd, 1873. He was about 5 feet tO
inches in height, and well set up. The inor-
dinate strength of his jaws, teeth, and neck,
enabled him to push a nail, held between his ·
teeth, through a one-inch board; or to nail
together, with his teeth, two %,-inch boards.
He could draw with his teeth a large nail that

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1M [Link]-IIOMGEU AlfD '!'IDU& IIBTBODS

had been driven em:npJetely through a two-ioch

plank. Then he would eerew an ordinary~
iDeh aerew into a hardwood pJank with his
teeth, pull it out with his teeth, and then screw
it into the plank again and offer $100 to any
man who eould pull it out with a large pair
of pineers whieh he pro1fered for the pur-
pose. When he had performed these stunts in
various positions, he would bend his body back-
ward till his bead pointed toward the ftoor, and
in that position push a nail through.a one-inch
board held perpendicularly in a metal frame.
I saw no chance for trickery in Le Boy's act.
Another nail act was that of Alexander
Weyer, who, either by superior strength or by
a peculiar knack, could bold a nail between
the middle fingers of his right hand with the
bead against the palm, and drive it through
a one-inch board. But since this act did not
get him very far-either on the road to fame,
or toward the big money-he turned to magic
and finally became one of the leading Con-
tinental magicians, boasting that he was one
of the few really expert sleight-of-hand magi-
cians of the world.

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 225

I met Weyer at Liege, Belgium, where we

had an all-night match with playing cards. He
admitted that there were some tricks he did
not know, but he claimed that after once seeing
any magician work he could duplicate the
tricks. On this occasion, however, he was un-
able to make the boast good.
.Another clever performer of those days was
Mexican Billy Wells, who worked on the Curio
platform. His act was the old stone-breaking
stunt, already explained, except that he had
the stones broken on his head instead of on
his body. He protected his head with a small
blanket, which he passed for examination, and
this protection seemed excusable, considering
that he had to do at least seven shows a day.
A strong man from the audience did the real
work of the act by swinging the heavy sledge-
hammer on the stone, as shown in the accom-
panying illustration. Usually the stone would
be riven by a single blow; but if it was not,
Wells would yell, "Harder! harder! hit
harder!" until the stone was broken.
The last I saw of Billy was during one of
my engagements at the Palace Theater, New

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be MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

York. He was then soliciting orders for some

photograph firm, the halcyon days of his big
money having faded to a memory. But he had
been a good showman and his was one of the
best liked working acts in the Ourio, as the
dime-museum profession was called.
Of all the acts of this nature that I have
ever seen I think the most foolhardy was that
of an under-sized Italian who lay on his back
on the floor and let fall from his hands, ex-
tended upward at arm's length heavy weights
upon his chest-the silly fool! I said as
much to him-and some other things too.
His act had little entertainment to show
as compared with the pain and danger in-
volved. I do not know what became of him,
but I can guess.
Among the museum attractions of those
years was a man named Wilson who had the
incredible chest expansion of twenty-one
inches. This man would allow a strong leather
strap, about the size of a trunk-strap, to be
buckled round his chest; and then, inflating
his lungs, would break it with very little ap-
parent exertion. .An imitator, named Herman,

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS Ill

worked the side shows for a long time with a

similar act, and was fairly successful, although
his expansion was only about sixteen inches.
The last time I heard of Wilson, he was work-
ing in the shipyards at Newport News, Vir-
ginia.
Another ''Samson," a German, among other
sensational feats, such as breaking coins with
his :fingers, used to flex his muscles and break
a dog-chain that had been fastened round the
biceps of his right arm. While he was per·
forming at the Aquarium, in London, he issued
a challenge. Sandow, then a youth without
reputation, accepted the challenge, went upon
the stage, defeated him, and, since Samson's
act had been the talk of the town, thus brought
himself into instant notice, the beginning of a
career in which he rose to the top of his pro-
fession. After several successful years on the
stage, Sandow settled down in London, where
I last heard of him as conducting a school of
instruction in health and strength methods.
In the tradition of the "Female Sampsons"
noted in Chapter Eleven, I recall two strong-
women who were notably good; Yucca, who

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US MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

lifted a horse by means of a harness over the

shoulders; and La Blanche, who toyed with
heavy articles in a most entertaining way. I
remember these ladies particularly because
both were remarkably good talkers-and I am
referring to conversational quality, not to
I

volume.
Lulu Hurst-known variously as The
Georgia Magnet, The Electric Girl, The
Georgia Wonder, etc.-created a veritable Ben-
sation a generation ago by a series of feats
which seemed to set the law of gravitation at
defiance. Her methods consisted in utilizing
the principles of the lever and fulcrum in a
manner so cleverly disguised that it appeared
to the audience that some supernatural power
must be at work. Although she was exposed
many times, her success was so marked that
several other mU!Cular ladies entered her
province with acts that were, in several in-
stances, superior to the original.
One of the cleverest of these was Annie Ab-
bott, who, if I remember rightly, also called
herself The Georgia Magnet. She took the act
to England and her opening performance at

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MIJ;lACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 229

the .Alhambra is recorded as one of the three

big sensations of the London vaudeville stage
of those days. The second sensation was
credited to the Bullet-Proof Man. This chap
wore a jacket that rifle bullets, fired point-
blank, failed to penetrate. The composition
of this jacket was a secret, but after the
owner's death the garment was ripped open
and found to contain-ground glass! The
third sensation I must, with ali due modesty,
(business of bowing) claim for myself.
The Magnet failed to attract after about
forty-eight hours, for a keen-witted reporter
discovered her methods and promptly pub-
lished them. The bullet detainer also lasted
only a short time only. When my opening
added a third sensational surprise, one of the
London dailies asked, ''Is this going to be
another Georgia Magnet fiasco!''
That they were gunning for me is proved
by the fact that the same newspaper inves-
tigator who exposed the Magnet, eam.e upon
the stage of the ·Alhambra at my press per-
formance-the same stage· where the unhappy
Dixie lode-stone had collapsed-and though he

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110 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

brought along an antique slave iron, which

he seemed to think would put an end to my
public career on the spot, I manged to escape
in less than three minutes. When I passed
back his irons, he grinned at me and said, ''I
don't know how you did it, but you did!'' and
he shook me cordially by the hand.
Some twenty-six years ago I was on the bill
with Mattie Lee Price, who, though less well
known, was in many ways superior to either
.Miss Hurst or Miss Abbott. For a time she
was a sensation of the highest order, for which
thanks were largely due to the management of
her husband, a wonderful lecturer and a thor-
ough showman. I think his name was White.
He "sold" the act as no other man has sold
an act before or since.
We worked together at Kohl and Middle-
ton's, Chicago, and the following week at Bur-
ton's Museum, Milwaukee; but when we made
the next jump I found that White was not
along. They had had a family squabble, the
other apex of the triangle being a circus
grafter who "shibbolethed" at some of the
"brace games," which at that time had police

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS tal

protection, so far as that could be given. He

bad interfered between the couple, and was,
I am sorry to say, quite successful as an inter-
ferer; but he was a diabolical failure when
he attempted to duplicate White's work as lec-
turer, and the act, after playing a date or two,
sank out of sight and I have heard nothing
more of her professionally. Lately I have
learned that she died in London in 1900 and
is buried in Clements Cemetery, Fulham.
This was one of the most positive demon-
strations I have ever seen of the fact that
showmanship is the largest factor in putting
an act over. Miss Price was a marvelous per-
former, but without her husband-lecturer she
was no longer a drawing card, and dropped
to the level of an ordinary entertainer-even
lower, for her act was no longer even enter-
taining.
In Chapter Eleven we read Dr. Desaguliers'
analysis of the mechanics of what may be
called strongmanship. Similar investigations
have attended the appearance of more recent
performers.
For instance, reviewing one of Lulu Hurst's

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lit MIRACLE-MONGEitS AND THEIR METHODS

performances, the New York Timu, of July

13th, 1~ said:
The "Phenomenon of the Nineteenth
Century," which may be seen nightly at
Wallack's, is not so much the famous
Georgia girl, with her mysterious muscle,
as is the audience which gathers to wonder
at her performance. It is a phenomenon
of stupidity, and it only goes to show how
willingly people will be fooled, and with
what cheerful asininity they will help on
their deceivers.
Then follows a description of her perform-
ance, which was far from successful, thanks
to the efforts of one of the committee, a man
described as ''Mr. Thomas Johnson, a power-
fully-built engraver connected with the Cen-
tury magazine.'' Mr. Johnson had evidently
caught her secret, and he got the better of
her in all the tests in which he was allowed to
take part.
A disclosure of the methods employed in a
few of her "tests" will serve to convince the
reader of the fact that she possessed no super-
normal power, the same general principles

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 181

Shovr.n here being used throughout her per-

formance.
These explanations are taken from the
French periodical La Nature, in which Mr.
Nelson W. Perry thus sums up the attitude
of the public in regard to this class of per-
formance: "Electricity is a mysterious agent;
therefore everything mysterious is electric."
Of the performance of the Electric Girl this
magazine says:

It is a question of a simple application

of the elementary principles of the laws
of mechanics, chapter of equilibrium.
We propose to point out here a certain
number of such artifices and to describe
a few of the experiments, utilizing for this
purpose the data furnished by Mr. Perry,
as well as those resulting from our own
observations.
One of the experiments consists in hav-
ing a man or several men hold a cane or
a billiard cue horizontally above the head,
as shown in Fig. 1. On pushing with one
hand, the girl forces back two or three
men, who, in unstable equilibrium and
under the oblique action of the thrust

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lit MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

exerted, are obliged to fall back. This

first experiment is so elementary and in-
fantile that it is not necessary to dwell upon
it. In order to show the relative sizes of
the persons, the artist has supposed the
little girl to be standing on a platform in
the first experiment, but in the experi-
ment that we witnessed this platform was
rendered useless by the fact that the girl
who performed them was of sufficient
height to reach the cue by extending her
arms and standing on tiptoes.
Next we have a second and more com-
plex experiment, less easily explained at
:first sight.
Two men (Fig. 2) take a stick about
three feet in length, and are asked to hold
it firmly in a vertical position. The girl
places her hand against the lower end of
the stick, in the position shown, and the
two men are invited to make the latter
slide vertically in the girl's hand, which
they are unable to do, in spite of their
conscientious and oft-repeated attempts.
Mr. Perry explains this exercise as fol-
lows: The men are requested to place
themselves parallel to each other, and the
girl, who stands opposite them, places the

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 28~

palm of her hand against the stick and

turned toward her. She takes care to
place her hand as far as possible from the
hands of the two men, so as to give her-
self a certain leverage. She then begins
to slide her hand along the stick, gently
at first, and then with an increasing pres-
sure, as if she wished to better the con-
tact between the stick and her hand. She
thus moves it from the perpendicular and
asks the two men to hold it in a vertical
position.
This they do under very disadvantage-
ous conditions, seeing the difference in the
length of the arms of the lever. The stress
exerted by the girl is very feeble, because,
on the one hand, she has the lever arm
to herself, and, on the other, the action
upon her lever arm is a simple trac-
tion. When she feels that the pressure
exerted is great enough, she directs the
two men to exert a vertical stress strong
enough to cause the stick to descend. They
then imagine that they are exerting a
vertical stress, while in reality their
stresses are horizontal and tend to keep
the stick in a vertical position in order to
react against the pressure exerted at the
lower end of the stick.

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t•e MillACLE-MONGERS AND THJUR ME'l'HO.U~
There is evidently a certain vertical
component that tends to cause the stick to
descend, but the lateral pressure produces
a sufficient friction between the hand and
the stick to support this vertical force
without difficulty. Mr. Perry performed
the experiment by placing himself upon
a spring balance and assuming the role
of the girl, with two very strong men as
adversaries. All the efforts made to cause
the stick to slide in the open hand failed,
and the excess of weight due to the vertical
force always remained less than twenty-
five pounds, despite the very determined
and sincere stresses of the two men, who,
unbeknown to themselves, were exerting
their strength in a horizontal direction.
In the experiment represented in Fig.
3, which recalls to mind the first one (Fig.
1), the two men are requested to hold the
stick firmly and immovable, but the slight-
est pressure upon the extremity suffices to
move the arms and body of the subject.
Such pressure in the first place is exerted
but slightly, and the stresses are gradually
increased. Then, all at once, when the
force exerted horizontally is as great as
possible, and the men are exerting their

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 11'1

strength in the opposite direction in order

to resist .it, the girl abruptly ceases the
pressure without warning and exerts it in
the opposite direction. Unprepared for
this change, the victims lose their equili-
brium and find themselves at the mercy
of the girl, and so much the more so in
proportion as they are stronger and their
efforts are greater. The experiment suc-
ceeds still better with three than with two
men, or with one man.
The experiment represented in Fig. 4,
where it concerns the easy liftmg of a
very heavy person, the trick is no less
simple. Out of a hundred persons sub-
mitted to the experiment, ninety-nine,
knowing that the experimenter wishes to
lift them and cause them to fall forward,
grasp the seat or arms of the chair, and,
in endeavoring to resist, make the whole
weight of their body bear upon their feet.
If they do not do so at the first instant,
they do so when they are conscious of the
attempts of the girl to raise the seat, and
they help therein unconsciously. The ex-
perimenter, therefore, needs only to exert
a horizontal thrust, witliout doing any
lifting, and such horizontal thrust is faoil~

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.88 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

itated by taking the knees as points of

support for her elbows. As soon as a
slight movement is effected, the hardest
part of the work is over, for it is only
necessary for the girl to cease to exert
her stresses in order to have the chair fall
back or move laterally in one direction or
the other. At all events, the equilibrium
is destroyed, and, before it is established
again, it requires · but little dexterity to
move the subject about in all directions
without a great expenditure of energy.
The difficulty is not increased on seating
two men, or three men, upon each other's
knees (as shown in Fig. 4), since, in the
latter case, the third acts as a true counter-
poise to the first, and the whole pretty well
resembles an apparatus of unstable equili-
brium, whose centre of gravity is very
high and, consequently, so much more
easily displaced.
All these experiments require some lit-
tle skill and practice, but are attended
with no difficulty, and, upon the whole, do
not merit the enthusiastic articles that
have given the "electric" or "magnetic"
girl her European reputation.

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MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS 289

Strong people, whether tricksters or genuine

athletes, or both, we shall probably have al-
ways with us. But with the gradual refine-
ment of the public taste, the demand for such
exhibitions as fire-eating, sword-swallowing,
glass-chewing, and the whole repertoire of the
so-called Human Ostrich, steadily declined,
and I recall only one engagement of a per-
former of this type at a first-class theater in
this country during the present generation,
and that date was not played.
There was still a considerable demand for
these people in the dime museums, until the
enormous increase in the number of such
houses created a demand for freaks that was
far in excess of the supply, and many houses
were obliged to close because no freaks were
obtainable, even at the enormous increase in
salaries then in vogue. The small price of
admission, and the fact that feature curios
like Laloo or the Tocci Twins drew down seven
or eight hundred dollars a week, show that
these houses catered to a multitude of people;
and not a few of the leading managers

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1.0 MIRACLE-MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

of to-day's vaudeville, owe their start in life

to the dime museum.
Among the museums that were veritable
gold mines, I might mention Epstein's of
Chicago; Brandenberg's of Philadelphia;
Moore's of Detroit and Rochester; The Sackett
and Wiggins Tour; Kohl and Middleton's;
Austin and Stone's of Boston; Robinson
of Bu1falo; Ana Huber's, Globe, Harlem,
Worth's, and the Gayety of New York.
The dime museum is but a memory now, and
in three generations it will, in all probability,
be utterly forgotten. A few of the acts had
sufficient intrinsic worth to follow the man-
agers into vaudeville, but these have no part
in this chronicle, which has been written rather
to commemorate some forms of entertainment
over which oblivion threatens to stretch her
darkening wings.

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