1. It will be noticed by the observant spectator that the back lid is

first dropped and that the assistant helps throughout, the reason of which will be seen later. The skeleton or frame of the structure is now disclosed and it is seen to be completely empty. It is now closed, this time the back lid being swung into place last, and all is ready for the flood. This is represented by the water poured in _ad libitum_ through a funnel inserted in an aperture in the upper corner. To the audience it seems as if the ark were being filled with water. In reality, the water simply runs through a pipe, carried through one of the legs of the trestle, and so down beneath the stage. The management of the flood is illustrated in our cut, Fig. 2. [Illustration: THE ARK OPENED FOR INSPECTION.] [Illustration: THE FLOOD.] [Illustration: TAKING OUT THE BIRDS AND ANIMALS.] After the flood the exit of the animals from the ark is next to be attended to. Opening windows in its front, a quantity of animals and birds are taken out as shown in Fig. 3. Ducks, chickens, pigeons, cats, dogs, and a pig are removed and run around on the stage or fly about, and it is wondered how so small an inclosure could contain such a collection. It is also to be observed that none of the animals are wet--the water has not reached them. More, however, is to follow, for the exhibitor now lets down the front, and a beautiful Eastern woman, Fig. 4, reclines gracefully in the center of the ark, which has only room enough to accommodate her. Where the animals came from, and how they and the woman could be found in the ark, which, when opened before the audience, seemed completely empty, and how they escaped the water, are the mysteries to be solved. [Illustration: THE LADY TENANT OF THE ARK.] Our cut, Fig. 5, completes the explanation. The ends which are swung up and down in the preliminary exhibition of the ark are the receptacles which accommodate the animals and birds. They are stowed away in these, are swung up and down with them, and are taken out through apertures in their fronts. [Illustration: THE MYSTERY EXPLAINED.] The woman, the other tenant, is fastened originally to the back lid. When the ark is opened for inspection, this lid is swung down, ostensibly to enable the audience to see through the ark--in reality to prevent them from seeing through the illusion. For, as stated, it is swung down before the front is opened, and as it goes down the woman goes with it, and remains attached to it and out of sight of the audience, who only see the rear side of the door as it is lowered. Fig. 5 shows the rear view of the ark when open, with the woman in place on the rear lid, and also shows the animals in place in the side compartments. The illusion is exceedingly effective, and is received with high appreciation by the audience. To those who understand it, the performance is of heightened interest. “THE MAGIC PALANQUIN.” The heroine in this play was presented on the stage in a palanquin carried by four slaves. At a given moment the curtains were drawn and then immediately opened, when it was seen that the actress had disappeared; and yet the palanquin was well isolated on the shoulders of the carriers, who resumed their journey and carried it off the stage. [Illustration: THE MAGIC PALANQUIN.] This trick, which preceded by many years Buatier de Kolta’s experiment, in which also a woman was made to disappear, but by an entirely different process, as will be explained later on in this chapter, was performed as follows: The four uprights arranged at the four corners of the apparatus were hollow, and each contained at the top a pulley over which a cord passed. These cords were attached by one end to the double bottom of the palanquin, and by the other end to a counterpoise concealed in the canopy. At the precise moment at which the curtains were drawn, the carriers disengaged the counterpoises, which, sliding within the uprights, rapidly raised the double bottom, with the actress, up to the interior of the canopy. The person thus made to disappear was quite slender and took such a position as to occupy as little space as possible. By making the shadows of the mouldings of the canopy and columns more pronounced through painting, and by exaggerating them, the affair was given an appearance of lightness that perplexed the most distrustful spectator. “CASSADAGA PROPAGANDA.” One of the most mysterious among Kellar’s repertory of successful illusions is the “Cassadaga Propaganda,” an explanation of which is herewith presented. [Illustration: THE CABINET OPEN FOR INSPECTION.] The effect as produced on the spectators will first be outlined. A sheet of plate glass about sixteen by sixty inches in size is placed upon the backs of two chairs, and on it is erected a small beautifully finished cabinet consisting of four pieces, of which the sides are hinged to the back, and which, with the front, are seen resting on a chair at the side of the stage. When erected, the cabinet is forty-two inches high, thirty-six inches wide, and fourteen inches deep. Tambourines and bells are placed in the cabinet and the doors closed, when the instruments instantly began playing and are then thrown out at the top of the cabinet. The cabinet is now opened and found to be empty. A slate placed in the cabinet has a message written thereon. In fact, all manifestations usually exhibited in the large cabinets are produced, and yet this cabinet is apparently not large enough to contain a person. We say apparently not large enough; for, in reality, the whole secret consists in a small person, or an intelligent child of ten or twelve years of age, being suspended by invisible wires behind the back of the cabinet, where there is a small shelf on which the concealed assistant is sitting Turkish fashion. This folded cabinet is hung on two fine wires which lead up to the “flies” and over rollers or pulleys to the counterweights. When proper wire is used on a brightly illuminated stage the wires are absolutely invisible. [Illustration: THE SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS.] After showing the chairs and placing the glass plate upon them, the performer picks up the folded part of the cabinet and places it on the glass, the counterweights overcoming the extra weight of the concealed assistant. He then opens out the sides, places the front containing the doors in position, fastening same by hooks to the sides. The inside of the cabinet and panels of doors are lined with pleated gold silk. There is a concealed opening in the silk at the back of the cabinet, for the assistant to pass his arm through, in order to handle whatever is placed within it. Everything being in readiness, the tambourine and bell are placed in the cabinet and the doors are closed. The assistant now passes his hand and arm through the opening in the back and shakes the tambourine, rings the bell, and throws both out over the top of the cabinet. When the doors are opened the cabinet is shown to be empty. Clean slates placed in the cabinet are removed with messages written on them; in fact, the manifestations that can be produced in the cabinet are limited only by the intelligence of the concealed assistant. One of the cuts shows the cabinet with open doors as seen by the audience. The second cut is an end view looking from the side of stage, showing the assistant on a shelf at the rear of the cabinet, and the wires leading up and over to the counterweights. [Illustration: CHEV. THORN’S MAGIC CABINETS.] The clever illusionist Chev. E. Thorn made great use of a variation of the “Cassadaga Propaganda.” He used two cabinets, each large enough to receive a person in an upright position. They were constructed of slats and were provided with curtains. Screens of the same color as the rear of the stage served to close the space between the slats. The magician deceived the audience by walking behind the cabinet or cage as often as possible when the screens were open so that the audience could see him through the slats. The carpet on the stage, the back of the stage, and the screen were all of the same shade of green. The performers, usually a caliph and an odalisk, appear and disappear at will, really taking up the place on the wooden stage at the back of the cabinet. Usually two cages were used, one being suspended, and by the use of confederates who were dressed alike some very clever illusions were produced. When the curtain rises the caliph stands on a little platform on the cage at the left, hidden by the cage and the screens. Attention is then called to the cage at the right whose screen is open so that the performer can be seen when he passes behind it. After the performer has demonstrated this he pulls down red silk curtains over the side walls and the doors; the rear wall, however, remains uncovered. Now a brilliantly dressed odalisk steps into the box at the left. The doors have scarcely closed behind her when they open again, the curtains fly up, and it is seen that the woman has disappeared, and in her place stands a white-bearded caliph, while she appears at the rear door of the parquette smiling behind her veil. She passes down through the audience to the stage again. In the meantime the caliph has left the stage. What follows is even more surprising. The curtains of both cages are pulled down, the caliph goes into the cage at the left and the odalisk into that at the right. The cage containing the odalisk is raised on a hoisting rope so that it hangs in midair with the doors open. The doors are closed, a shot is fired; at the same instant the doors of both cages spring open and the curtains are raised; the odalisk has disappeared from the cage, which stands again on the floor of the stage, but, at the same instant, she steps, as smiling as ever, from the cage at the left, from which the caliph has vanished. The two cages stand open and the audience can see right through them. The curtain falls and the spectators rub their eyes in bewilderment. The pulling down of the curtains serves to conceal the entrance of the caliph in the box. When the odalisk is to vanish and the caliph to appear he slips in from the board on the outside, while the odalisk takes her place on the board behind the screen. The odalisk who appears at the door of the auditorium and walks down through the audience is an exact double of the real odalisk who is standing invisible behind the screen on the board of the cage at the left. Owing to the peculiar costume of the odalisk this disguise is rendered very easy. While the real odalisk is standing behind the screen on the board of the cage at the left, the caliph installs himself in the cage. The false odalisk is then raised in the air in the second cage, through which the audience has been able to see up to this time. A shot is now fired and just at that time the odalisk moves very quickly on a board behind the screen and the cage is let down and stands firmly on the floor, at the same moment the odalisk in the other cage changing places with the caliph. The swinging cage appears to be empty and apparently the odalisk has passed through the air to the other cage. The success of the trick depends upon making the spectators believe that everything is done in cages through which they can see. “THE APPEARING LADY.” Of the many new illusions recently presented in Europe, an ingenious one is that of the appearing lady, the invention of that clever Hungarian magician Buatier de Kolta. [Illustration: TABLE READY FOR THE APPEARANCE.] On the stage is seen a plain round top four-leg table, which the magician has been using as a resting place for part of the apparatus used in his magic performance. Eventually, the performer removes all articles from the table and covers it with a cloth that does not reach the floor. Our first engraving represents the table in this condition. On command, the cloth gradually rises from the center of the table as though something were pushing it up. In a few moments it becomes very evident that some one, or something, is on the table covered by the cloth. The magician now removes the cloth and a lady is seen standing on the table, as shown in our second illustration. [Illustration: THE APPEARING LADY.] The secret of this, as in all good illusions, is very simple, as the third illustration will show. In the stage there is a trap door, over which is placed a fancy rug that has a piece removed from it exactly the same size as the trap, to which the piece is fastened. When the trap is closed the rug appears to be an ordinary one. The table is placed directly over the trap. Below the stage is a box, open at the top, with cloth sides and wood bottom. To this box are attached four very fine wires, that lead up through the stage by means of small holes where the trap and floor join, over small pulleys in the frame of the table and down through the table legs, which are hollow, through the stage to a windlass. In the table top is a trap that divides in the center and opens outward. The top of the table is inlaid in such a manner as to conceal the edges of the trap. The lady takes her place in the box in a kneeling position, the assistant stands at the windlass, and all is ready. Fig. 1 of our third engraving shows the arrangement beneath the stage, and Fig. 2 the under side of the table top. [Illustration: DETAILS OF THE APPARATUS.] The magician takes a large table cover, and, standing at the rear of table, proceeds to cover it by throwing cloth over table, so that it reaches the floor in front of the table, then slowly draws it up over the table top. The moment that the cloth touches the floor in front of the table, the trap is opened and the box containing the lady is drawn up under the table by means of the windlass, and the trap closed. This is done very quickly, during the moment’s time in which the magician is straightening out the cloth to draw it back over the table. All that now remains to be done is for the lady to open the trap in table and slowly take her place on top of the table, and close the trap. The top and bottom of the box by means of which the lady is placed under the table are connected by means of three strong elastic cords placed inside of the cloth covering. These elastics are for the purpose of keeping the bottom and top frame of box together, except when distended by the weight of the lady. Thanks to this arrangement of the box, it folds up as the lady leaves it for her position on the table top, and is concealed inside of the frame of table after her weight is removed from it. A somewhat similar trick is called “The Disappearing Lady.” In this illusion the process is worked in the reverse order. “THE DISAPPEARING LADY.” The accompanying figures illustrate a trick in which the prestidigitateur, after placing a chair upon an open newspaper and seating a lady thereon, covers her closely with a silk veil, and after the words “one, two, three,” lifts the veil and shows that the lady has disappeared. [Illustration: FIG. 1.] [Illustration: FIG. 2.] The newspaper is provided with a trap, which is concealed by the printed characters (Fig. 1). This trap is of the same size as the one that must exist in the floor upon which one operates. As for the chair, that is generally an old affair, without any cross rod in front (Fig. 2). It is provided with a movable seat that lowers in order to allow the lady to pass between the two front legs. It is provided, besides, with a frame of wire which is invisible on account of the feeble diameter of the latter, and which, attached to the back, is turned backward on the side opposite the spectator. As soon as the lady who is to be made to disappear is seated (Fig. 3), she causes the frame to tilt and cover her head and shoulders. This operation is hidden by the veil that the prestidigitateur spreads out at this moment in front of the lady. At this instant the operator actuates a spring, which opens the trap in the floor. The lady passes between the legs of the chair (Fig. 4), and then through the two traps, the one in the paper and the one in the floor. As soon as she reaches the floor beneath the stage she closes the trap in the newspaper with gummed paper, and shuts the one in the floor, and it might be thought that she was still on the stage, although she has disappeared. In fact, the veil, on account of the wire frame, seems always to outline the contours of the vanished subject. After the operator has said “one, two, three,” he lifts the veil and causes the wire frame to fall back. [Illustration: FIG. 3.] [Illustration: FIG. 4.] Since this trick was first introduced it has been more or less perfected or modified in its form, but the preceding description states the methods generally employed in performing the trick. In some cases if the newspaper is carefully examined, it will be found to be made of India rubber and to contain a large rent at about the center. In the next chapter will be described an interesting illusion called “She,” in which the lady disappears while being supposed to be cremated. This ingenious trick depends for a portion of the effect upon mirrors, so it is placed with the other illusions requiring the aid of mirrors. “THE MYSTERIOUS TRUNK.” A trick known by the name of the Indian Trunk, the Mysterious Trunk, the Packer’s Surprise, etc., formerly had much success in theaters of prestidigitation. This trick, which may be presented in several ways, is executed by different means, one of which we shall describe. The following is in what the experiment consists: The prestidigitateur has a trunk brought to him, which he allows the spectators to examine. When every one is certain that it contains no mechanism, a person comes upon the stage and enters the trunk. It is found that he fills it entirely, and the cover is shut down. A spectator locks the trunk and guards the padlock. The trunk is afterward wound in all directions with rope, the intersections of the latter are sealed, and the whole is introduced into a bag provided with leather straps, and which may in its turn be sealed at each of its buckles. When the operation is finished, the spectators who have aided in the packing remain on the spot to see that nothing makes its exit from the trunk, which has been placed upon two wooden horses. The prestidigitateur then fires a pistol over the trunk, which, when divested of its covering, ropes, and unbroken seals, is found to be entirely empty. The whole credit of the trick is due to the cabinet maker who constructed the trunk. The latter, in the first place, is exactly like an ordinary trunk, and the closest examination reveals nothing out of the way about it. Yet one of the ends, instead of being nailed, is secured by a pivot to the two long sides, so that it can swing. The swinging motion is arrested by a spring plate bolt. When the person in the interior presses upon a point corresponding to this bolt, the pivot turns freely and the end of the trunk swings. The following is the way that the operation is performed in order that the spectators may not perceive the opening of the trunk. The operator’s assistant takes his place in the trunk, which is closed and locked and the padlock sealed. Some obliging spectators then aid in tying the trunk, around which the rope is passed twice lengthwise, beginning at the side opposite the opening part. The rope is then passed over this part and runs in the axis of the pivots. Then the trunk, for the convenience of tying, is tilted upon the end where the rope passes. It is then that the assistant inclosed in the interior presses the bolt. The end of the trunk then has a tendency to open, and as the prestidigitateur has taken care to tilt the trunk at a carefully marked point of the stage floor, the movable end meets in the latter with an exactly similar trap that opens at the same time, and it is through these two traps that the invisible vanishing takes place. As soon as the assistant has passed through the trap, he pushes up the latter, and consequently the movable end of the trunk, which closes upon its spring plate bolt. [Illustration: THE MYSTERIOUS TRUNK.] The time that it takes the man to pass through the trap is insignificant, and while the ropes are being crossed the operation might be performed several times. Afterward, there is nothing to be done but to proceed with the experiment as we have said, care being taken, however, not to abuse the complaisance of the spectators, and not to allow them to try the weight of the trunk. When the vanished person descends beneath the stage, he is supported by some other individual if the theater is not well appointed, and by a trap with a counterpoise if the construction of the stage admits of it. This trap permits of expediting things in certain cases of the reappearance of the confederate, but is useless in the process described above. Such is one of the artifices employed. Whatever be the process, the presentation of it is often complicated by causing the person who has vanished to reappear in a second trunk that has previously been ascertained to be empty and that has been sealed and enveloped under the eyes of the spectators. It will be easily comprehended that the operation here is reversed, and that the confederate beneath the stage awaits the proper moment to be lifted into the interior of the second trunk, whose movable end is opened outwardly by the prestidigitateur at the desired moment. Boxes with glass sides also have been constructed. The management is the same, but, as the person inclosed is visible up to the last moment, care must be taken to so pass the ropes as not to interfere with the trap of the trunk, which then consists of one of the sides, and which operates at the moment when the trunk, bound with ropes, sealed and laid upon this side, is about to be wrapped up. This presentation has still more effect upon the spectators than the preceding, and seems to present greater difficulties. “THE INDIAN BASKET TRICK.” Among the most remarkable experiments performed by prestidigitateurs should be cited that of the Indian basket, which, as its name indicates, is of Asiatic origin. Travelers in Hindostan have often told us that the Indians practice this wonderful trick upon the public places. The Indian magician makes use of an oblong osier basket provided with a cover. He takes a child and incloses it in this basket, and around the latter buckles a belt. Grasping a sword, he thrusts it into the basket here and there, and pulls out the blade all dripping with blood. The spectacle is shocking, and the feelings of the spectators become wrought up to a high pitch. The magician then opens the basket, which, to the surprise of all, is empty. At a few yards distance cries are heard proceeding from the child who had been inclosed in the basket, and who is now running forward sound and happy. Robert-Houdin, who studied this juggler’s trick, explained it perfectly, and was able to perform it himself. The basket used by the Indian prestidigitateurs is represented herewith. Fig. 1 shows the basket open ready to receive the child. For the sake of the explanation we have cut away one end. This basket is provided with a double movable bottom, A C B, the center of motion of which is at C. In order to make the child disappear, the cover being closed, the top of the basket is lowered by turning it toward the spectators (Fig. 2). But the bottom, B, and the part A, that depends upon it, do not take part in this motion. The weight of the child lying upon the bottom forces the latter to remain in place, and by this fact the part A C shuts off the bottom of the basket (Fig. 2). [Illustration: THE INDIAN BASKET TRICK.] In order to turn the basket over, the Indian fastens it with strips of leather, and, to facilitate this operation, places his knee on it. The child can then easily hide himself under the robe worn by the magician. Replacing the basket in its first position, the Indian inserts his sword and sticks the blade into a small sponge fixed within and saturated with a red liquid. While the attention of the spectators is absorbed by this exciting operation, the little Indian escapes from beneath the robe, and runs a short distance from the spectators without being seen. Houdin says that when this trick is well performed, it has a startling effect. In all the preceding tricks the magician has made way bodily with assistants, we now come to a case of mutilation in which the luckless clown must suffer decapitation. DECAPITATION. The means employed in this illusion is the old-fashioned “defunct” method of decapitation, and although this lacks the refinement and scientific interest of execution by electricity, it has a certain precision. [Illustration: A NOVEL STAGE TRICK--DECAPITATION.] The poor clown who suffers the death penalty twelve times a week usually enters the circus ring, or appears on the stage, as the case may be, and after performing certain acrobatic feats, commits some crime against his fellows, for which he is condemned to die. He is placed upon the block; his head is covered with a cloth. Harlequin approaches as executioner, and begins to cut with a huge knife across the victim’s neck. In a moment all is over, the cloth is removed, and Harlequin lifts in the air the severed head. Delighted with his trophy, he carries it about under his arm, places it in a charger in the center of the ring, and finally takes it back to the block wrapped up in the cloth, and places it by the side of the headless trunk. He removes the cloth, and then in sport places a lighted cigarette in its mouth. In a little while you notice that the cigarette begins to glow, smoke comes from the nose, and the eyes roll. Evidently the head has come to life. Not able to bear the horrible sight, he throws the cloth again over the head, seizes it, places it in its original position on the shoulders of the victim, kneads it to the body, and suddenly the figure rises, head and all, and bows to the audience--an orthodox clown. The trick is a good one, and takes with the audience. The way in which it is done is explained in the second cut. [Illustration: EXPLANATION OF THE DECAPITATION TRICK.] As soon as the clown lies on the box and his head has been covered with the cloth, he passes his head through an invisible opening in the top of the box. An assistant inside of the box passes up the dummy head, which is an exact facsimile of the clown’s head and face. This is seized by Harlequin, who makes such sport of it as he sees fit. When he places it by the side of the trunk, in reality he passes it through an opening in the top of the box to the assistant within, who substitutes his own head (which is painted to match the other two) in place of it. The other steps in the performance readily follow. The cloth which the harlequin always carries conceals all the sleight of hand, and the whole performance is a series of surprises. Another performance of a somewhat similar character was recently performed at a theater in New York, in which a clown throws himself on a sofa and is cut in two by a harlequin. One part of the sofa with the body remains in one part of the stage while the other part with the legs and feet (which are all the time vigorously kicking) disappear through a wing at the other end of the stage. The action is very sudden and the effect startling. Of course, in this case there are two men similarly dressed. The head and body of one of them appears at the head of the sofa, while the body of the second clown is concealed in the box under the seat at the other end of the sofa, the feet and legs alone being exposed. SPIRITUALISTIC TIES. The following article is not written with the intention or desire to antagonize any believer in Spiritualism, but merely to explain how anti-spiritualists, as well as several professional “mediums,” secured their release after being fastened in their cabinet. During the years the writer (Mr. Caulk) has been before the public as a magician and cabinet performer, he has met a number of cabinet test “mediums,” and can safely say that all of these people who have come under his observation have been imposters. This may be due, however, to the bad fortune of the writer. The writer has been tied with ropes, fastened with handcuffs, brass collars, and chains, many times in many different cities, and by people who were just as alert as any investigator of spiritualistic phenomena, yet, unlike many “mediums” he has met with, was never exposed. The methods used are many, some simple, others complicated, but all mystifying. To the average auditor the most wonderful point is, how does the performer release himself after being so securely bound? For the benefit of the curious the writer will explain a few of the methods by which he has secured his release after being fastened by a committee from the audience. All anti-spiritualists, as well as several “mediums” personally known to the writer, make use of these same methods of release, or others founded on the same principle. Among the many successful rope tests, the following is about the best. A piece of soft cotton rope about six feet long, and of the size known as sash cord, is securely tied around the performer’s left wrist, dividing the rope so that the ends will be of an equal length. When the committee is satisfied that they have made the knots secure, the performer places his hands behind him, with the right wrist resting over the knots on the left wrist, and the ends of the rope are securely tied together, bringing the knots down tight on the right wrist. This appears fair enough, but it is not as fair as it appears, because, while the knots are secure enough, there is sufficient slack between the wrists to enable the performer, by giving his right wrist a half turn, to withdraw this hand from the rope encircling it. The reader may say, “That is all well enough, but how and by what means does he secure this slack?” [Illustration: A ROPE TEST.] In placing his hands behind him after the rope is tied about the left wrist, he gives the rope a twist and knot with over the other, pressing the twist down on the knot and covering the twist and knot with the right wrist, which is then tied. When ready to release himself, the performer gives his right hand and wrist a half turn, releasing the twist lying on the knot, which thus becomes a part of the loop tied around the right wrist, and enlarging it sufficiently to enable the performer to pull the right hand free from the rope, when he can perform any trick he chooses with the free hand. Our first and second engravings show the formation of the twist, thus making the above explanation clear. By replacing the hand in the loop and giving the hand a half turn the knots can be shown as secure as when first tied. [Illustration: EXPLANATION OF THE ROPE TEST.] The “Spiritualistic Post Test” is among the latest and most successful of mechanical fastenings. A piece of wood four inches square and three feet long is given to the committee, who bore a hole through it near one end, and then pass an ordinary rope through the hole, tying a knot in the rope on each side of the post, pressing the knots against the post so that the rope cannot be drawn through the post. The ends of the rope are now unraveled, and the post secured to the floor of the cabinet. [Illustration: THE SPIRITUALISTIC POST TEST.] The performer, standing behind the post, places his wrists against the knots in the rope, one on each side of the post, and the unravelled ends of the rope are bound around his wrists and tied securely, and all knots are sealed with wax. A large nail is driven in the top of the post, to which are fastened cords that are passed out through the cabinet and held by members of the committee in order that they may know if the performer moves the post in any manner during the performance of any test, such as the ringing of bells, etc. Fig. 2 of our third engraving shows the performer tied to the post and the committee holding the cords. The curtains of the cabinet are closed and the usual manifestations take place. Before the performance a hole is bored in the center of the end of the stick or post, in which is placed a chisel-shaped piece of steel sharpened at the lower end and blunt at the upper end, as shown in Fig.