TRICKS OF FAKIRS

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1928, 30 October 1926, Page 7

TRICKS OF FAKIRS

“NO 'SECRET POWERS.” While even the sophisticates of a gluV.libj.' public gasped in awe and wonder before the demonstr: lions of Oriental fakirism, the famous contortionist Houdini (says Mr Percy N. IRone in the New York I Herald-Tri-bune), ;in the course of a rece.nt in-tervi-.w, sa|c; back in liis wisdom and smiled. To him there is nothing mysterious in the manifestations of seemingly sEiperlraman Strength, endurance, and fortitude. .-‘He has learned the secrets ti'oeae fakirs attribute Ito supernatural powers. “So long as a man makes no false pretences I’ll never bottelr him,” Houdini has said many times. “ fit. is only when he dup'es the public with misreprelsentialtions of his source of poweir that 'I protest.” That is why the other day he was lowerfitd to ftli/ej 'bottom of a swimming pool while.sealed in a coffin. Rahman Bey, who was on the .New York 'Boards recently, had*done (this 'thing for sixty minutels, and had announced (that no one Who could not throw himS|df into an hypnotic trance olr cataI;eip|tic fit could accomplish it. Had the Egyptian said |this remaining in the coffin was a matter of lung capacity, Houdini' 1 never would have put himself through lthe rigorous training and tests necessary ito his public appearance when line stayed) in that coffin for onjel hour and a half. “ It iis not mlyslterious,” -Hojudini said when he had made certain he could do it. “It is just a matter of shallow •breathing—conserving' the little air in the coffin .and drawing on a reserve supjplly thaßvany man can hold in the low|er part of his 'lungs.” TRICKS THAT “'MEAN NOTHING.”

IBujt the coffin trick was not the only one he objected to. He 'Went through it'he whole lislt of fakirs’ tlricks and declared that any one in good health who practised! thleimi could becomjsi as mysterious as a fakir. EVeln the ability to pusih lcniives and' needles 'through one’s flesh is a simple m:alt|ter Houdini. IHe can and will do it himself.

Running needfie's and 'thin swords through various parts of the anatomy mjqans nothing,” Houdini said. “It produces only a flesh wound, and is an act that has* been presented in tlhe side-shows of this country for years. There is no trick in this whatever, and it does not create much pain. All ft reqhlirjeis is a little nerve in pushing it through any part of their anatomy, which gives only a trifling paiin like a sharp pinch.” Another trick of (sitting on a board through which nails have been ‘driven is to Houdini nothing to ibe startled about. He calls attention to the grte'at number of vaudeville sidje-show people who have done this tbiing as a feat of strength without pretending that sorulq mysterious religious aid madie it possible. ' “ (Sitting on a pile of nails or sharppointed instruments means nothing,” h/q explained. “ Anyone can do this. It is just the same as walking up a ladder of swords. So long as you don’t (slip in any way or make a sliding movement you cant hje cu;L It is steady 'downward pressure that does the trick.” “ OLD FORM OF AMUSEMENT.” 'Vaudeville strong men have, too, allowed confederates to smash great rocks on tlueiir chests or headb, and they have never, a/iltrihuted their strength to anything supernatural. 'So Houdini wondered why thje police should seem asltonislhletl and impressed when a fakir did the same thing. “It is one of the oldest form s of amusement,” he said. “ For years men have permitted huge rocks to be broken on jtlieir heads or cdiealts with heavy hiamlmers. “ISltrong men like Karl von Hamburg have put anvils on their chests and had stones broken on the anvils. A! s a matter of fact, wlijeln tlhat stone or anvil is struck the 'law of inertia makes it 'lighter than when fit is noft struck. The blow s|e,em,s to 'lift it up, taking the wteigbt .almtos't entirely off the person. One Billy Wells in this country, with whom T liavle, worked in museums, had hundreds of cobblestones smashed on his head for £5 a week.”

IHoudini sjays (he lias great .respect for the fakirs a s magicians and jugglers, but he wi l l not admit for a ntiinute thajt their work is anything more than sleighjt of hand and Strength. “ Each one of does s'omiclthing a. (little bettjejr ithan the other fellow,” he explained, “ and that is because 'he trains to do lit. Anyonje who is (strong and healthy can lea|rn to do the things Ithese fakirs do. I have always Iliad a grfeat lung capacity. Wh eni <1 was 16 years old I could stay under water for three minutes. I can stay only two minultes now, but II know th eWolandto /Sisters, who were in vaudeville, couM stray down for five minutes. Enoch, the 'Fnenchman, sltayed under four minutes and 56 seconds. (HOUDINirS VAST LdBRAItY, “ E(ecause 'I had this chesfc I knisw I could do what Rahman Bey (has done, so :L tested miys(slif out. There no fake about my being untter water in the, coffin for an hbur and a half. Nor was vtheve any hypnotic trance about

ft. Tlui? tiling was juslt shallow Ibreathing. 'Nothing else.” •Houdini, for one reason or anddiWr, says he is intent on iprotecting th!e public against fraudulent 'representations in idle fie!} of mystery and magic —a fiie’Al ho knows well. He dligs info l.i; vaist library, conning 'weird hooks of 'which 'tlijif general public knows nothing. He will turn up startling informal ion that shows him how the tricks are done. For instance, he has found in oldi tomes the explanation of how, during the days of the. ilnquisitiion, cerltain persons could walk over ho|t mh'tal and through fire ’without being burned.