TRICKS OF FAKIRS.

Waikato Times, Volume 101, Issue 16947, 9 November 1926, Page 4

TRICKS OF FAKIRS.

“NO SECRET POWERS.” STATEMENT BY HOUDINI. Wliilc even the sophisticates of a gullible public gasped in awe and wonder before the demonstrations of Oriental fakirism, the famous contortionist, says Mr Percy N. Stone in the New York Herald Tribune, Houdini (whose death lias just been, announced) sat back in his wisdom and smiled. To him there is nothing mysterious in tire manifestations of seemingly .super-human strength, endurance an 1 fortitude. He has learned ihc secrets these fakirs attribute to supernatural powers. “So long as a man makes no false pretences, I’ll never bother him,’' iloudi'ji has said many times. “it is only when he dupes the public willi misrepresentation of his source of power that f protest." That is why tile other day ho wan lowered to the bottom of a swimmingpool while scaled in a coffin. Rahman Bey, who was oil the New York boards recently, had done this thing for sixty minutes, and had announced llial no one who could not throw himself into a. hypnotic trance or cataleptic lit could accomplish it. Had the Egyptian said this remaining in the coffin was a matter of lung capacity, Houdini never would have put himself through the rigorous training and tests necessary to his public appearance when he stayed in that coffin, for one hour and a half. “It is not mysterious,” Houdini said when he had made certain ho could do it. “it is just a matter of shallow breathing-—conserving the little air in the coffin and drawing on a reserve supply that any man can hold in Hie lower part of his lungs." Tricks That “IVioan Nothing.” But the coffin trick was not the only one he objected to. He went through the whole list of fakir’s tricks and declared that any one in good health who practised them could become as mysterious as a fakir. Even the ability to pusli knives and needles lin (High one's Jlesli is a simple tiling with Houdini. He can and will do it himself. “Running needles and thin swords through various parts of the anatomy means nothing.” Houdini said. “It produces only a flesh wound and is an net that has been presented in the side-shows of this country for years. There is no trick in tills whatsoever and it docs not create much pain. Ail it requires is a little nerve in pushing it through any part of the anatomy, which gives oaiy a trilling pain like a sharp pinch.” Another trick of siiiiiig on a hoard, through which nails have been driven is 1 0 ' Houdini nothing lo he xlurlhd about. He calls allcntion lo Uio j great number of vstudnvilie mot sldcshovv people who have done ibis tiling as a feat of siroriglli without pretending that some mysterious religious aid mmlc it possible. “Sitting tin a pile of nails or sharp pointed instruments means noihing,” lie explained. “Anyone can do lliis. H is just the same as walking up a ladder of swords. So long as you don't slip in any way or make a sibling movement you .won't he cut-, u is II to steady downward pressure Hud does the Iricli—”

“Old Form of Amusement.” Vaudeville strong men have, too, allowed confederates to smash great rocks on their chests or heads and they have never attributed their strength to anything supernatural. So Houdini wondered why the public should seem astonished and impressed when a fakir did the same tiling. "It is one of the oldest forms of amusement,” ho said. "For years men have permitted huge rocks to he broken on their heads or chests .with heavy hammers.

“Strong men like Karl von Ilamberg have put anvils on their chests aiul had stones broken on the anvils. As a matter of fact, when the stone or anvil is struck the law of inertia makes it lighter than when it is not struck. The blow seems to lift it up, taking the weight almost entirely off the person. One Hilly ’Wells in this country, with whom I have worked in museums, had hundreds of cobblestones smashed on his head for ITi a week."

Ilomiini says ho lias great respect for the fakirs and magicians and jugglers, but he will not admit for a minute that their work is anything more than sleight of hand and strength. “Much one of us does something a little better than the other fellow,’’ he explained, “and that is

because lie trains In do it. Anyone who-is strong and healthy can learn to do the tilings these fakirs do. I have always had a great lung capacity. When I .was sixteen years old i could stay under water for three minutes, i can only slay two minutes now, hut 1 know the Wolaiuio Sisters, who were in vaudeville, juould stay down for five minutes. Knocli, the krenehinan, stayed under four minutes and llftysix seconds.” Houdinl’s Vast Library. “Because I had this chest I knew I could do what Hahman Hey had done, so i tested my sell out. fheie was no fake, about my being under the water in the robin for an hour and n-liaif Nor was there any hypnotic, trance about it. The thing was just shallow breathing. Nothing ciso.” Itoudini, for one reason or another, snvs ho is intent-on proierling !he public against fraudulent representations in the Held of mystery and m.-iKSC —a field he knows well. h*,lists into tds vast library, conning weird books of wliieii the genen. public knows nothing. lie will turn up startling information that shows how the tricks are done. tor instance lie lias found in old lonics the explanation of how, during the days of the liKiuisilion, certain persons could walk through tire and over hot metal without being burned.