BAFFLED MAGICIANS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 199, 17 May 1919, Page 3

BAFFLED MAGICIANS

MYSTERIES OF THE INDIAN ROPE TRICK Assembled in solemn conclave recently, the magicians of England, professional arid amateur, debated that most vexed of all questions, tlie Indian rope trick, and. as was only to be expected, failed to corno to any agreement on trie subject. Some there were who believed that euch u trick liad never been performed; others declared that hypnotism was at the root of it; others urged the impossibility of hypnotising. a whole audience. For once, in fact, the mystifiers admitted themselves mystified.

The history of the rope trick was traced in most entertaining manner by Mr.' S. W. Clarke, the editor of the "Magic Curcular." who said it was the most illusive trick in the world, with the peculiarity that nobody who waited to see it had ever seen it—though this peculiarity Was subsequently discounted by the fact that at least two of the speakers had seen a version of tho rope trick performed. Mr. Clarke had traced a reference to it as far back as 1355, when lbu Batuta. an Arab from Tangier, wrote that ho had seen, the trick performed at Batuta wrote;—

"I was entertained by the Emir in his own house in a most splendid manner. At the banquet were present the Khan's jugglers, the chief of whom took a woodon sphere, in which there wcro holes, and in these lone straps, and threw it up into the air till it went out of sight, while the etrap remained in his hand. He ithea commanded one of his disciples to take hold of and to ascend bv this strap, which he did until he also went out of sight. His master then called him three times, but no answer came; he then took a knife 'in his hand, apparently in anger, laid hold of the strap, and also went quite out of siglxt. He then threw the hand of the boy upon the ground, then his foot, then ] his other hand, then his other foot, then his body, then his head. He then came down, panting for breath, and his clothes etainod with blcod. ... Tho juggler then took tho limbs of the boy and applied them one to'another; he then stamped upon them, and it stood up oompleto and erect. 1 was astonished, and was seized in consequence by a palpitation at the. heart; but they gave me.some drink and I. recovered. The Judge of the. Mohammedans was sitting by my side, Who swore that there was neither.ascent, descent, no r cutting away of limbs, but'the whole was mere juggling." Obviously, Mr. Clarke added, the writer had mixed up the rope trick and tho decapitation trick which was being performed when the Groat Pyramids wore being built. Another account of the trick from a German source in 1550 said that "at Magdeburg a certain magical juggler declared that he could get but little money among men, and would therefore go up to Heaven'. Whereupon lie would thro\V a cord up in the air, and his little horse would go up it, himself, taking hold ol the horse's tail, would follow him; lus wife taking hold of him would loinm also, and a maid servant would foliovr her, and so mount up in tho air, as it were linked together, the spectators standing in great admiration." Unfortunately 'an unbeliever declared that he had just seen the juggler go into an inh in the street, "Therefore finding themselves deluded, the spectators went away." ■ Tho third record quoted bv Mr. Clarlto was from the memoirs of the Emperoi Jahangier: "They, produced a chaia £0 cubits in length, and in my presence threw one end of it towards the sky, where it remained as if fastened to something in the air. A dog was then brought forward,' and, being placed at the, lower end of the chain, immediately ran up, and, reaching the other end, disappeared in the air. In the 6ame manner a hog, a panther, a lion, and a tiger were successively sent up the chain, and all disappeared at the upper end. At last they took down the chain and put it into a bag, no ono ever discerning in .what way -the animals •were made to vanish into the air in. the mysterious manner, described." .One of.the most interesting contributions to the debate came, from Lieutenant W. Holmes, V.C,,' who said that he hud seen a version of tho trick on two or three occasions. On the last occasion, in 1917, he was able to take a snapshot* of the trick, which he produced. This showed the .Fakir, 1 with a taut rope or pole and tho boy balanced at tho ton of it, Lieutenant Holmes declared emphatically that the boy never disappeared from sight, and his .own theory was that tho Fnkir substituted lor the coil of rope a telescopic bamboo pole. Mr. A. Yurif Ali, C.8.E., declared that as a boy of seven he aaw the rope trick performed, . but never since, and he also saw the conjurer cuthis own tongue out, chop it up, and replace it. In the rope trick he is convinced that the' boy disappeared entirely. Major Branson, with 20 years' service in the Indian Army, said that he hp,d offered a reward of 205 rupees to any native 6oldier ,wlio could give him the name of anybody who could do .the trick, but the reward had never been claimed. 11l all his travels in Persia, India, China, and Arabia he -had;never seen a trick done by a natijVO which he could not repeat himself. Mr. Chris van Bern narrated some extraordinary feats which had heen performed by a Yogi in Liverpool, including his ability to throw a rope into the air, where it remained, nW'itely rigid only as long as the Yogi "heKTlns 'breath, while Captain Leon Berrelov gavo an explanation of the trick which lie believed to be absolutely feasible. ■ Lieutenant F. W. Holmes's photograph has been examined under a powerlul ! glass, and seems to bear out Mr. Holmes's explanation. It shows the Fakir holding . the ropq taut in the air with the boy on the. top of it, but under the glass the joints of a collapsible rod can oo plainly seen.