The Democratic Press

HINDOO LEGERDEMAIN. What S. E. Robinson Saw in India-Marvelous Sleight-of-Hand.

When he entered the room he spread a white cloth upon the floor and sat down upon it with his back to the wall, the door of the room being on his right hand. His spectators were disposed in the following fashion: Mr. Smyth sat on a chair nearly in the middle of the room. I was sitting on a sofa near the door, the Parsee merchant stood in the doorway about arm's length from me. The servants stood about in groups, the largest group being between the door and the conjurer.

As soon as he had settled himself he turned to the Parsee and asked for the loan of a rupee. The peddler at first demurred a little, but on being guaranteed against loss he produced the coin. He was going to put it into the conjurer's hand, but the latter refused and told the Parsee to hand it to Mr. Smyth's bearer. The bearer took it and declared it to be really a rupee. The conjurer then told him to hand it to his master. Mr. Smyth took it, and then followed this dialogue:

Conjurer-Are you sure that is rupee?
Smyth-Yes.
Conjurer-Close your hand and hold it tight. Now think of some country in Europe, but do not tell me your thought.

Then the conjurer ran over the names of several countries, such as France, Germany, Russia, Turkey and America -for the native Indian is under the impression that America is Europe. After a moment's pause Mr. Smyth said he had thought of a country. "Then open your hand," said the juggler, "see what you have got, and tell me if it is a coin of the country you thought of." It was a 5-franc piece, and Mr. Smyth had thought of France. He was going to hand the coin to the conjurer, but the latter said: "No; pay it to the other sahib." Mr. Smyth accordingly put the 5-franc piece into my hand. I looked closely at it, then shut my hand and thought of Russia. When I opened it I found, not a Russian, but a Turkish silver piece, about the size of the 5-franc piece, or of our own crown piece. This I handed to Mr. Smyth and suggested that he should name America, which he did, and found a Mexican dollar in his hand. The coin, whatever it was, had never been in the conjurer's hand from the time the rupee was borrowed from the Parsee merchant. Mr. Smyth and his bearer had both closely examined the rupee, and Mr. Smyth and I turned over several times the 5-franc piece, the Turkish coin and the dollar; so the trick did not depend on the reversible coin. Indeed, it could not, for the coin underwent three changes, as has been seen. I need only add, for the information of readers who know not India, that a rupee is only about the size of a florin, and therefore about half the weight of a 5-franc piece.

He did another trick almost equally as wonderful. As before, he was seated upon a white cloth borrowed from the mess sergeant. He asked some one present to produce a rupee and to lay it down at the remote edge of the cloth. The cloth being three or four yards in length, the conjurer could not have touched the coin, and, in fact, did not touch it. He then asked for a signet ring. Several were offered him, and he chose out one which had a very large oval seal, projecting well beyond the gold hoop on both sides. This ring he tossed and tumbled several times in his hands, now throwing it into the air and catching it, then shaking it between his hands, all the time mumbling half inarticulate words in some Hindoostanee patois. Then, setting the ring down on the cloth at about half arm's length in front of him, he said slowly and distinctly in good Hindoostanee: "Ring, rise up and go to the rupee." The ring rose, with the seal uppermost, and, resting on the hoop, slowly, with a kind of dancing or jerking motion, it passed over the cloth until it came where the rupee was on the remote edge, then it lay down on the coin. The conjurer then said: "Ring, lay hold of the rupee and bring it to me." The projecting edge of the seal seemed to grapple with the extreme edge of the coin; the ring and the rupee rose into a kind of wrestling attitude, and with the same dancing or jerking motion the two returned to within reach of the juggler's hand.

I have no theory to explain either of these tricks. I should mention, however, that the juggler entirely disclaimed all supernatural power, and alleged that he performed his tricks by mere sleight of hand. It will be observed that he had no preparation of his surroundings, no machinery and no confederate.-Boston Herald.