£1000 REWARD.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 502, 8 May 1909, Page 14

£1000 REWARD.

: THE MASKELYNE BOS TRICK. I will pay the above reward to tho first person, who can; do, both-of the twofollowing : things :t;(1) ■ Prove that . discovered the 'secrets of my box trick; . and (2) produce a boxand in/ public competition before a committee ,to be mutually selected, show that it will stand tho same tests of. examination, and securing 'to which I shall submit my own box ait the competition. The expenses of the competition shall, be guaranteed by both parties,' but: paid by'the loser. '• I also give notico.that I will withdraw all rewards hitherto-offered by. me, in connection. with my box trick. Imitators have compelled me for many years past to offer a reward in order,to establish tho Correctness of my statements, via.,that my box is a unique mcchaaical problem, to whioh I havo dovoted two yeani 'of. labour and' experiment,. and .that' its secrets have mvct been discovered.' Tlie reward of £1000 is now offered, because it has been found that the terms of .mj previous offer.'oan be.' misconstraed. Some appear to believe that "a .correct imitation" means iany.Vperformanoe .which . to inexperienced, persons may Boom to re- , somblo mfruvhowevor different it.may bo . in reality. Thus,, escaping from .a simple trap' box, such fas..' 'may be purchased at any conjuring^'apparatus depot/:->ior a ; small sum,,,tide;-!secrets of .which,.can bo readily discoVered,' and which itiay easily be tried So l that the,''performer'Canaot escape, is 'regarded as', correctly imitating my box trick..-.'.V.;,' ;. T. N. MASKELYNE. .■, v ' • Egyptian Hall. Respecting thM; trick^arid'>-a oelebrated Dourt action .for ' the reward ' of,. discovering its secret, Prpf<sssor Robert,. Kudarz,; formerly a weU-lmoiro'conjurof,i;and no]w:;resiient in Wellington,; wrote.' in'.. 1900 to the ! 'Otago Witness',' as follows;— As originally presehted ; the trick consisted in. Maskelyne ge.tfcmg'.insidej'a box which had been apparently looked, corded, and sealed, and afterwards placed in a canvas wrapper, which was also corded and' sealed,. without in my way tampering'iwith- the.- fastenings. Afterwards Maskolyna elaborated the-idea md worked, the. box' tricki in conjunction with m extremely ' clover 'magical sketch entitled "Will, the Witch, aid'uie Watohman." The box trick took all London-by storm,'aihd for years was the sensation' in th'o.Vworld' of magic.' :: At . tho samo timo as. Maskolyno and Cooke were. giving.,their entertainments in the large ; Egyptian another. 'mystery Lynn—was showing his' cunmag in isleight-of-hand, at the' smaller,.Ml:'of the same 'buildirigi'. and v . fe, too, : very', won .had a box ,tifick. Great rivalry soon took place between, Maskelyne,'.and Dr. Lynn, .and ;great publicity .was .given to the-box itrick in;consequence. Barnum, .the celebrated American shopman,'; soon i scented a "good thing"/.in ,tbc trick for his side of tho "h'ermg- : pond," amd went over to : London expressly *to purchase it at any cost. Dr. Lynn disposed'of the trick to him for, it is said, the'sum of £500, and Barnum started at onoe with at to open in New York, only, to find .on landing there that Hation, a clever American illusionist, tad played ,the box trick in Now York ci±\ for all it was worth, and reaped- the full benefit of all Baraum's publicity and cleves adverbiaing^pfitlie^ck.;. '■Dr. 'Xjm' was a thorn in side,, especially, as ,he'claimed to be -the inventor of tho trick, so in 1874; Maskelyne gave a complete expose of the "other fellow's" box trick,--Whioh was "giveri. away" every evening to ■ those' attending ■ Maskelyne and Cooke's entertainment. . .|' Soon box tricks were to be seen at almost all coniurifcg'-i entertainments, all professing to be the original one, and we soon had the box trick hi New Zealand, it being first done bore, by "Zerlinda,". and afterwards by Professor, Henicke and Burdetta Stella.,', During the presentation of Dr. Lynn's boa trick it was that Maskelyne offered £500 £oi an exact duplication of his box,'but no oni seems to have claimed the reward till Messrs. Stollery and Evans, of London, came forward in 1898. They, took the claim to a court oi law, -and obtained judgment for the fill amount. There can be no doubt but that Maskelyne, for once, was caught, napping ii the wording of his offer, for'.it'does not stand to reason that Maskelyne would offei such a sum for an "imitation," Boeing that there had been scores of them all over tb< jvorld since he produced the original box.ii 1873. But tho jury evidently thought thai a "correct imitation" meant any performance that seomed to resemble. Maskelyne's however difficult it might be in reality, nnc so found against Maskelyne. Now, the question has been asked, "How came Stollery and Evanß.to succeed in theii action when Maskelyne took it to the House of Lords?" Th? latter offers a reward tc anyone who shall discover the secret of hii "box;" or who shall produce a' box exactlj like, claiming that his box is a unique mechanical problem, to which he devoted twe years of labour-and experiment. Stollery anc Evans, say they have discovered the secret, and produce a box which, to all appearances is tho same as Maakelyne's, and produces th< same effect. Maskelyne, on the other hand produces his box, in court, ahd defies Stollery and Evans to discover the secret in conneo tion with it, and show it to the court, bul tho latter decline to do so. Unless Maske lyne exposed his own modus operandi, ant showed how his box was different ito thai of his imitators, how were the jurymen (wh< wore not experts in .conjuring) to find anj other verdict than they did P To them th< effect-was'exactly the same. But why die not Maskelyne show his irethod. Simply be cause he dare not! He put forward this boa as a trick one, and offered a reward to anyone discovering the secret. Now, in connection with the magica sketch, the Witch, alid the Watchman," in which the box trick takes such i prominent part, there is no trick about th( box:at all! There being no trickery aboui the box, he would lose his prestige were h< to give tho necessary explanation. You will see that all through tho tria; Maskelyne has been fighting for his "standing," which is more to him than the £500. and which he would never have had. to paj had the ease been brought before a jury pi exports. ■ ■ ■