HOUDINI

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 10860, 2 April 1929, Page 3

HOUDINI

HERO OF A THOUSAND ESCAPES.

.Hdudigi be'came a legend fsVGii W Jiia divii lifetime, liis exploits a liotisdhcml wOrd, and hift name was given a problematic::!] ifnjiiortality in the verb “to bduclini.se” ill ad American dictionary, signifying to “W----leasO or extricate one’s self (ivtin'i confinement, bonds and the like), its by wl'Jgi'liiig out.” Jn tho life of such a mtiStcr- ,or qltiswmess and indiarubber agility there 'Mutter for perpetual wonder. Harold Kell bob 7: "Houdini—an Unsolved . Mystery,” does not tell how be did bis tricks, but it is, nevertheless,, an entertaining book crowded with marvels and ill te n se! y mid able. CONQUERING -I'JvA R. Here and there we are glvei/ n glimpse of. the great 00.11511 rer .find Iqck-bpein&r’s methods, arid something of his mefital attitude': f ‘ ’My chief task, jias been to cOn<l titer fefir,” , lid said, , ‘AVhefi I ain stripped anil manacled, nailed shell rely within a weighted packing-case and thrown into the sea, or when ( am buried alivo under six feet of earth,, it is necessary to preserve absolute serenity of spirit. I have to work with great delicacy and lightning speed. If I get panicky 1 am lost. And if something goes wrong, if there is isomo little accident or mishap, some slight miscalculation. I am lost unless all my faculties are working on high, free from mental tension or strain. Tho public sees only the thrill of the accomplished trick; they have no conception of the tortuous preliminary self-train-ing that was necessary to conquer fear ” VERSATILE TOTS. From his youth, HoUdiut practised continually; be exercised, not only nis fingers, but bis toes. Sometimes even when visitors were present lie “would take a length of string from his pocket, tie it in various sorts of Icnots, and drop it on tho floor. Presently his visitor might observe that Htiudmi hud unobtrusively slipped off his shoes and socks, and was untying aiid retying the knots with II is toes, meanwhile newer so much as glancing at his own remarkable manipulations.

SCOTLAND YARD HANDCUFFS. His first real success was made in London. America had not recognised tile greatness of Houdini, so he tried his luck in Europe. Mr C. Dundas Slater, manager of the Alhambra, promised to give him a trial if he could escape from Scotland Yard handcuffs. “At London’s famous police headquarters, Superintendent Melville ridiculed the ideao that anyone could escape from Scotland Yard handcuffs. Stage handcuffs were one thing ,lie told Air Slater, but Scotland Yard handcuffs were tho last word in scientific manacles. Houdini, however, insisted on trying them, so suddenly Melville reduced a pair of cuffs.

“ ‘Well, here’s how we fasten the Yankee criminals who come over here and get into trouble,” lie remarked. ,

“With that he encircled HoudiniN arms around a pillar, snapped on a pair of ‘darbies,’ and stepped back with a laugh. “ ‘.L’m going to leave you here and eonio hack for you in a couple of hours.’ be said, lie started towards tiie door with Slater. “‘Wait!’ cried Houdini. ‘l’ll go with you. Here’s the way the Yankees open tho handcuffs.’ “He tossed tho cuffs to the floor and stepped away from the pillar. “Superintendent Melville was shocked and visibly nonplussed, but ir; a minute he held out his hand : ‘Scotland Yard will not forget you, young man,’ he said. I'SfDER WATER. Houdini used to advertise his performances by public demonstrations. At New York he hired a tug, and allowed newspaper reporters to put him in irons and nail him up in a box. “After the cover was hammered down, a steel band was fastened about the box for good measure. Then it was roped and allowed to slide down a chute into the waters of the bay, where it floated almost wholly submerged at tho end of one hundred feet of line. “At tho end of fifty-seven seconds there was a splash beside the box. and Houdini bobbed into view, and tho box was hauled in after him. It, was intact. The nails and the steel hands wore still ill place. The cover was then prised off, and there at the bottom lay the. handcuffs and log-irons. Their locks bad been sprung open and they were in good working order.” AN ORDEAL IN RUSSIA. Houdini’s first European tour was a triumphal procession. The. climax, says Air Kellock, came in Russia, when Houdini went to the secret police, asking to ho allowed to demonstrate his skill. Fie suggested a test of gaol-breaking, and Lebedeff, the polic’d chief, replied that ho might try to escape from tho curette —it he could—whereupon the other officers nudged one another and laughed. A curette did not sound very formidable, but it proved to bo a sort of steel safe on wheels, with two heavily-barred air vents. Stark naked, Houdini was led out into the prison yard, which was bitterly cold. Tho curette was searched, and finally Houdini was locked in. Not until the door was shut did he bedell tell him that tho key used for locking tho prison van did not unlock it. Tho nearest unlocking key was in the possession of if warder in Sibera, twenty-one days’ journey distant.

On tho inside Houdini found that the door was merely a. smooth sheet of steel, without any sign of a lock, but with a little window six inches square crossed by four bars. The look was on the outside of the door about thirty inches below tho window. It was through this window that Houdini had to do his work.

For half an hour lie struggled with the lock, while the police chuckled outside. Then, after a short rest, lie resumed, and forty-five minutes after he had been shut in the door swung open. He was exhausted and streaming with perspiration, despite the intense cold. LIFE'S LITTLE IRONY. After Houdini’s death, it was found necessary to open his private safe. Unfortunately, no one* could bo found who knew the .combination, so “through some roundabout inquiries, a, retired expert cracksman was secured. He labored for half a day over a problem which Houdini could have solved, in the ease of a strange safe, on the instant. Finally. ho had to blow the thing open. If Houdini were looking down on that sweating cracksman he surely had a full appreciation of the'situation.” •=Ss!gS====== 1 = = ~ -