pages: unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf, 257
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unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf | 257 | THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN escaping from a bladder or tube. When the screen or blanket was again withdrawn, the conjurer was standing on the ground. The mystery was supposed to have been solved when Sheshal, commonly known as "the Brahmin of the Air," exhibited the trick in 1832 in Madras. It was observed that his stool was ornamented with two inlaid stars, and it was suggested that one of these might conceal a socket for a steel rod, passing through the bamboo, and that another rod, screwed to the perpendicular one and con- cealed by the piece of hide, might be connected with a mechanism of the same metal, passing up the sleeve and down the back, and forming a circular seat. This con- jecture probably was not far from the truth, for while Frost is by no means the greatest of authorities on magic and magicians, in this particular instance I believe that his explanation of the trick is correct. The next authentic early information I have gathered regarding suspension concerns that wonderful performer who called himself Ching Lau Lauro. Presumably he was a Chinaman, and from the programmes in my collection he evidently appeared first in England, in 1828, when he was engaged to perform between scenes of various plays, including "Tom and Jerry," at the Coburg. I repro- duce on page 23I one of Ching Lau Lauro'sprogrammes. About 1833, or possibly a year earlier, he cut out some of his singing, and introduced the suspension with which he closed his performance. At this time he gave the entire programme. According to his programmes, in some places he excluded the public from the gallery, so I judge that his suspension was accomplished by the use [ 230] |