DRILL HALL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIII, Issue 15000, 1 February 1899, Page 2

DRILL HALL

DANTE THE GREAT: ]}o.nte the marvellous, ljante the clever deceiver, oi, as onp enthusiastic pati on put it, "l)ante the P„iicly en„ — aiuer," scored a distinct* success ut the Drill Hall last night. Never before for a public entertainment has tlie great hail been wo densely packed, between eleven and twelve hundred people being crammed into the. building. And Dante, what of him? Is he up to expectations? There tail only be i i.e answer He is undoubtedly brilliant, and stands well in the fore front" of the premier coil jurors and niagbiaiis of the day. For two hours last night he completely mystified his patrons, and a? trick followed trick in rapid succession? with never so much as a single hitch, the . feeling of mystification and wonder became the more intense. Before the very eyes of his audience Daule simply accomplishes the impossible. He conjures with anything and everything ; !,e creates and he destroys ; ha brin.s miraculously into view things aleit and things inert; and in' the same inexplicable manner he sends the self-same things back into the unseen. From empty tubes he pioduces a sumptuous supper, and all the necessary table appearances for its coinlortable enjoyment. He burns a living ludy until nothing but the skull and dry lumen remain in view, yet all the while it is known that he has not so much as singed a hair of her head. He treats members of the audience to ' various drinks i'of'"wine -iii.rt- beer Irom tho one, bottle, giving sparkling cherry or Usher's b^st accordingly as "it ls asked for, and he finishes the trick by cracking the bottle, and revealing to the astonished hundreds a real live bunny, which in turn immediately disappears, to be found a moment later in ihe inner coat pocket of a startled frji.t seat patron. In short, he does |iiif.iiy tjppgs wonderful and mysterious, until a'. last, when t.Jie pianisT plays the first few bars of the National Aijthem, there isn't a man, woman, oy child in the I house but is surmised that two full hours have gone by. The eiitert:tiii|||Ci|t was (in unqualified success, and it may be take'i f- r granted that "Dante the .lre.it" wi'.i I.e greeted with another bumper bouse tonight, o>! plie pccaiior. of hi-s last appearance. ,