Read The Right Way to Do Wrong Online
Authors: Harry Houdini
Schanberger loaned MacCabe the two keys, and naturally Brindemour escaped from the police headquarters' cells, using the genuine keys that belong to the Police Department.
AND HE DARES TO CALL HIMSELF THE POLICE MYSTIFIER!
In mind I can almost hear the spirit of poor Chas Bertram say, “Isn't that wonderful?” The strange thing about this affair is that in Baltimore, another alleged jail breaker met his quietus for the time being.
He is Cunning, who also labors under the delusion that he is the original world's greatest. I quote from the
Baltimore News
, Thursday February 8, 1906:
CUNNING'S GAME EXPOSED
Cunning, the hitherto mysterious opener of handcuffs and shackles, who is exhibiting at the Monumental Theatre this week, was found out today by Acting Turnkey John Lanahan at the Central Station and had to abandon the feat that he had promised to do of escaping from a locked cell.
Before being locked in the cell, Cunning went into the latter, pretending to examine it, and
secretly placed a key upon a ledge, but Lanahan disovered the key just as Cunning was about to be locked in, and when told of the discovery, the wizard said, “You've got me,” admitted that he could not open the cell without a key, and abandoned the exhibition.
The real truth of this jail break is that Mr. Joe Kernan went to the police captain and borrowed the keys and handed them to Cunning. The turnkey, Lanahan, not being in the “know,” discovered the palpable “planting” of the keys and ran with them to the captain. In this way the “stunt” was unexpectedly exposed.
Personally, I think it ought to be a prison offense for any official to loan his keys to these would-be and so-called mystifiers, and if managers wish to lend themselves willfully to deceive their audience, the quicker they find out that they are treading the wrong path, the better for them, too. You can take any stagehand, and in five minutes make just as good a jail breaker as the many that are now trading on my name.
Another “gross” misrepresenter is a youth named Grosse. This man, or rather youth, claims that he can open time-lock safes and all the complicated locks of the world, stating that handcuffs are mere play to him. Why, he can't even pick his teeth, and if he were put to a test with a lock picker, I doubt that he could even throw back a one tumbler lock. Yes, he would have trouble to pull back a common latch.
No doubt some of the police that are entangled with some of these jail breakers will grow hot under the collar at me for showing this thing up, but as long as these
fellows are pretending to do my work, and as long as they stoop to do it in this manner, just so long will I publish the real facts as soon as I find them out.
In conclusion, I wish to state that I defy any manager or police official to come forward and prove that I, by any underhanded means or conniving methods, have stooped or lowered my manhood to ask them willfully to deceive the public by such base misrepresentations.
Houdini reports on a trial in Cologne in 1902, in which he battled claims that he had attempted to bribe policeman Werner Graff into helping him to escape from the city's jail
.
THE POLICE OF GERMANY ARE VERY STRICT IN matters of false billing or misrepresenting exhibitions to the public, and so when the Cologne police claimed that I was travelling about misrepresenting, and that my performance was “swindle”, and when Schutzmann Werner Graff published a false story in the
Rheinische Zeitung
, which put me in a very bad light, as a man of honor I could not overlook the insult.
Claiming that I had been slandered, I asked for an apology and a retraction of the false stories which all the press of Germany had copied, but I was simply laughed at for my trouble.
I engaged the best lawyer of Cologne, Herr Rechtsanwalt Dr. Schreiber, Louisenstrasse 17, and commenced suit.
The first trial occurred in Cologne, February 19, 1902. I charged that Schutzmann Werner Graff had publicly slandered me, whereupon, as answer, Herr Graff told the judge and jury that he was willing to prove that
I was misrepresenting, and that he could chain me so that I could not release myself. I permitted myself to be chained by Herr Transport Police Lott, and to show how easy it was, in the presence of the judge and jury, released myself.
After a four-day trial, I won the lawsuit, and the Cologne police were fined and were to apologize to me publicly, “in the name of the Kaiser.” Instead of so doing, they took it to the higher court, “Strafkammer.” At this trial they had specially manufactured a lock that was made by Master Mechanic Kroch, which when once locked, could not be opened, not even with the use of the key.
The police asked that I show my ability to open this lock after it had been locked.
I accepted the challenge and walked into the room selected by the jury where I could work unhindered, and in four minutes re-entered the courtroom and handed the judges the prepared lock
unopened
.
Again I won the lawsuit, and again it was appealed, but this time to the highest court in Germany, “Oberlandesgericht”, and there the learned judges again gave me the verdict from which there was no appeal.
IN THE PAST ROPE MANIPULATIONS HAVE BEEN largely confined to the cabinet demonstrations of Spirit Mediums, but the value of such material to magicians can hardly be overestimated. Witness the case of the dean of magicians, Harry Kellar, for instance, whose anti-spiritual cabinet séance was world-famous, and yet this classic was built around a single rope tie. The following pages contain practical ties that possess an entertainment value, and the majority of them may be acquired with but little practice. None of them should be attempted before an audience, however, until the details are thoroughly mastered â¦
Rope ties have one distinct advantage over all other forms of escape, namely, no possible suspicion is attached to the ropes themselves. In many cases where locks, chains, handcuffs, trunks, pillories and the like are used, the apparatus is more or less under suspicion, but where ordinary ropes or tapes are the only means employed, the performer gets all the credit for the escape. Where tapes can be substituted it is generally best to use them, as they create even less mistrust than ropes â¦
The first thing for the performer to ascertain is, if any member of the committee has followed the sea, or for any other reason is familiar with knots. If such a one is found
he should be used for tests where difficult knots and secure binding does not interfere with the effect. By all means, when possible, get a physician on the committee, as it always creates a good impression to have him examine the hands, wrists, arms and shoulders, and have him report to the audience that there is no way of contracting the bones and muscles so as to slip out of the knots.
The program should be so arranged that each effect will appear a little more difficult than the preceding one, finishing with something showy and apparently difficult. The clothesline tie is particularly good for an effective finale.
Don't lose confidence in an effect because it has been presented many times before. An old trick in “good hands” is always new. Just see to it that yours are “Good hands.”
Don't allow yourself to “go stale” on your act. Keep up your enthusiasm! There is nothing more contagious than exuberant enthusiasm, and it is sure to “get” an audience.
A SIMPLE RELEASE
This is perhaps the oldest release known to the Conjuring profession, the effect being to release the hands when they are tied behind the back in the ordinary way.
Although simple it is by no means easy, and will require considerable practice in order to escape in the limited time allowed by impatient audiences, but it is a
very necessary part of the escape artist's education and should be thoroughly mastered.
It is accomplished by bending the body forward and working the arms down over the hips until the hands are just behind the knees. This will seem impossible at the first trial, but keep at it and you will get the knack after a while. When the hands are in position back of the knees, sit down on the floor and cross the legs, the left above the right, work the left arm down over the left knee and withdraw the left foot and then the right from the looped arms. This brings the knotted wrists in front of the body and the knots may then be untied with the teeth.
For this tie new sash cord should be used, for two reasons, first, because it is impossible to tie very tight knots with it, and second, because its smooth surface facilitates the slipping over the hips.
THE CLOTHESLINE TIE
This is a very showy tie, and is well adapted to close a rope act. About fifty or sixty feet of sash cord is used, and the statement that it is a seventy-five foot clothesline is never disputed.
The whole secret lies in the fact that it is quite impossible to tie a man while in a standing position, with such a length of rope, so that he cannot squirm out of it with comparative ease, if the tying BEGINS AT ONE END OF THE ROPE and finishes at the other.
At the beginning of this test you should hold the rope coiled in the hand, and the first move is to uncoil the rope and have it inspected by the committee.
Then explain that there seem to be a few skeptics still, and for that reason you will give the committee “plenty of rope” and let them tie you in any manner they please. During this speech you again coil the rope, at the same time explaining to the committee quietly, that in this form it will be more easily handled, passed through the knots, etc., the object of this being to force them to begin the tying at one end. Some performers have a slipknot already tied in the end of the rope, but this is not necessary, and is rather suggestive of preparation.
It is the experience of all who have used this tie, that the first few knots are carefully tied, but after a time it will be found that the rope is being used up very slowly, and they will begin winding it around the body and making very few knots. A hint to “hurry up, as the audience is getting restive,” will also induce less careful knotting, and, as they are following no regular method, and several are handling the rope, they are bound to work more or less at cross purposes.
If the committee happens to be very much in earnest, and begin to make more knots than suits you, it will be well to swell the muscles, expand the chest, slightly hunch the shoulders, and hold the arm a little away from the sides. After a little practice you will find that such artifices will enable you to baulk the most knowing ones. You should always wear a coat when submitting to this tie, as that will be found to be an added help in obtaining slack.
It is an excellent idea to practice with a couple of assistants who know the game. Let them try their best to
secure you and you will get a great deal of needed experience. The actual escape is always possible, but practice is necessary in order to acquire speed in execution.
A sharp knife with a hook-shaped blade should be concealed somewhere on the person, as it may be found useful in case some of the first, carefully tied knots, prove troublesome. A short piece cut from the end of the rope will never be missed.
When the last knot is made you should turn to the audience and say: “Are you all satisfied that I am securely tied?” and then immediately answer your own question by saying, “Of course, you have to be satisfied, for the committee has done all that is possible, in fact, they have âreached the end of their rope.'Â ”
After being placed in the cabinet you should call attention to the fact that it has taken six or eight minutes to bind you, and ask some one to hold a watch and see how long you require to escape.
THE RUSSIAN TRANSPORT TIE
This is the restraint used by Russian officials when transporting prisoners into Siberia, and it is supposed to render them helpless during the journey; but, of course, there is no reason why a prisoner should attempt a release, as he is always under the eye of an officer, and such an act would probably earn him a severe beating.
In using this tie as a stunt, however, the release may
be classed with the easy ones. The hands are tied in any manner in front, the ropes being carried up to and around the neck. For the release you have only to bring the hands up within reach and untie the wrist knots with the teeth, and with the hands free the remainder of the knots can be readily negotiated.
Do not get the idea, however, that, because easy, this escape is not effectual. Try it before an audience after you have mastered it sufficiently to acquire a measure of speed, and you will be surprised at the enthusiasm it will cause. The spectator will not stop to think that you are working at high pitch.
I can recommend this unqualifiedly to the performer who only presents one tie.
TO ACCOMPLISH THE SWORD-SWALLOWING feat, it is only necessary to overcome the nausea that results from the metal's touching the mucous membrane of the pharynx, for there is an unobstructed passage, large enough to accommodate several of the thin blades used, from the mouth to the bottom of the stomach. This passage is not straight, but the passing of the sword straightens it. Some throats are more sensitive than others, but practice will soon accustom any throat to the passage of the blade. When a sword with a sharp point is used the performer secretly slips a rubber cap over the point to guard against accident.
It is said that the medical fraternity first learned of the possibility of overcoming the sensitiveness of the pharynx by investigating the methods of the sword-swallowers.
Cliquot, who was one of the most prominent sword-swallowers of his time, finally “reformed” and is now a music hall agent in England. The
Strand Magazine
(1896) has this to say of Cliquot and his art:
Cliquot, whose name suggests the swallowing of something much more grateful and comforting than steel swords, is a French Canadian by birth, and has been the admitted chief in his profession
for more than 18 years. He ran away from his home in Quebec at an early age, and joined a travelling circus bound for South America. On seeing an arrant old humbug swallow a small
machete
, in Buenos Ayres, the boy took a fancy to the performance, and approached the old humbug aforesaid with the view of being taught the business. Not having any money, however, wherewith to pay the necessary premium, the overtures of the would-be apprentice were repulsed; whereupon he set about experimenting with his own aesophagus with a piece of silver wire.
To say the preliminary training for this sort of thing is painful, is to state the fact most moderately; and even when stern purpose has triumphed over the laws of anatomy, terrible danger still remains.
On one occasion having swallowed a sword, and then bent his body in different directions, as an adventurous sensation, Cliquot found that the weapon also had bent to a sharp angle; and quick as thought, realizing his own position as well as that of the sword, he whipped it out, tearing his throat in a dreadful manner. Plainly, had the upper part of the weapon become detached, the sword swallower's career must infallibly have come to an untimely end. Again, in New York, when swallowing 14 nine-inch bayonet swords at once, Cliquot had the misfortune to have a too sceptical audience, one of whom, a medical man who ought to have known better, rushed forward and impulsively dragged out the whole bunch,
inflicting such injuries upon this peculiar entertainer as to endanger his life, and incapacitate him for months.
In one of his acts Cliquot swallows a real bayonet sword, weighted with a cross bar, and two 18-lb. dumb bells. In order to vary this performance, the sword-swallower allows only a part of the weapon to pass into his body, the remainder being “kicked” down by the recoil of a rifle, which is fixed to a spike in the centre of the bar, and fired by the performer's sister.
The last act in this extraordinary performance is the swallowing of a gold watch. As a rule, Cliquot borrows one, but as no timepiece was forthcoming at the private exhibition where I saw him, he proceeded to lower his own big chronometer into his aesophagus by a slender gold chain. Many of the most eminent physicians and surgeons in this country immediately rushed forward with various instruments, and the privileged few took turns in listening for the ticking of the watch inside the performer's body. “Poor, outraged nature is biding her time,” remarked one physician, “but mark me, she will have a terrible revenge sooner or later!”