LEGERDEMAIN EXTRAODINARY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1208, 1 March 1880, Page 2

LEGERDEMAIN EXTRAODINARY.

M. Hermann, the Viennese conjuror, uhlike the " mecliunjis" who perform tricks and call them mirac?jles, does and calls them tricks. [M. Jules Claretie is responsible for t'l&e following tale: — " Hermann wag enjgaged in the difficult task of amusing thajt monarch " who lives the life of a woi.md ed rabbit in a hole"— the Sultan. 'Thel scene was a boat moored in the! Bgaphorua. "Will you oblige me," saic'l Biermann to the Grand Vizier, "by throwing your w.itt; werboard ?" The (iJra'ad Vizier looked tltjubtful, but the 'Sultan and the watch sank glittering; through the sea. "Now," said " ; Eermann, " will some one kindly give mo; a fishing rod 1 ?" A rod was brought, a line, and a hook, which the conjurer baited bjf ore the eyes of the Padishaw, as a Pus ihtoo contemporary calls the Sultan. He /soon lia-d a nibble, struck, and after an exciting iuterval, had a fine fish in the larltdingiiel;. Hermann opened the fish, and; took out the Vizier's watch, still keeping! capital time. Repressing a strong inclin'ation to refer to the ring of Polycrates, {we go on to prove that-Her-mann can jjuggle as well for the wily' Muscovite as for the jjallant Turk. While amusing the 1 leisure a>f the. Autocrat of all the Russias,; he broke a large and magnificent mirroj •. The stiperstitious potentate winced, for | to break a mirror is unlucky, and a curtain was th rown over the glass. Hermann went on with his tricks for a while, then! suddenly exclaimed, "I forgot the glajss, look at it." The curtain was remove d, and ti here w'as the mirror whole and unharmed. —Daily News.