This page contains affiliate links. As Amazon Associates we earn from qualifying purchases.
Writer:
Language:
Form:
Genre:
Published:
  • 1920
Collection:
Tags:
Buy it on Amazon FREE Audible 30 days

Ling Soo. Robinson was very successful in the classic trick of apparently eating large quantities of cotton and blowing smoke and sparks from the mouth. His teeth were finally quite destroyed by the continued performance of this trick, the method of which may be found in Chapter Six.

The employment of fire-eaters by magicians began a century ago; for in 1816 the magician Sieur Boaz, K. C., featured a performer who was billed as the “Man-Salamander.” The fact that Boaz gave him a place on his
programme is proof that this man was clever, but the effects there listed show nothing original.

In 1818 a Mr. Carlton, Professor of Chemistry, toured England in company with Rae,
the Bartholomew Fair magician. As will be seen by the handbill reproduced here, Carlton promised to explain the “Deceptive Part” of the performance, “when there is a sufficient company.”

In 1820 a Mr. Cassillis toured England with a juvenile company, one of the features of which was Miss Cassillis, aged nine years, whose act was a complete reproduction of the programme of Boaz, concluding her performance with the “Chinese Fire Trick.”

A Negro, Carlo Alberto, appeared in a benefit performance given by Herr Julian, who
styled himself the “Wizard of the South,” in London, on November 28th, 1843. Alberto was billed as the “Great African Wonder, the Fire King” and it was promised that he would “go through part of his wonderful performance as given by him in the principal theaters in America, in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, etc.”

A later number on the same bill reads: “The African Wonder, Carlo Alberto, will sing several new and popular Negro melodies.” Collectors of minstrel data please take notice!

In more recent times there have been a number of Negro fire-eaters, but none seems to
have risen to noticeable prominence.

Ling Look, one of the best of contemporary fire performers, was with Dean Harry Kellar when the latter made his famous trip around the world in 1877. Look combined fire-eating and sword-swallowing in a rather startling manner. His best effect was the swallowing of a red-hot sword.[1] Another thriller consisted in fastening a long sword to the stock of a musket; when he had swallowed about half the length of the blade, he discharged the gun and the recoil drove the sword suddenly down his throat to the very hilt. Although Look always appeared in a Chinese make-up, Dean Kellar told me that he thought his right name was Dave Gueter, and that he was born in Buda Pesth.

[1] I never saw Ling Look’s work, but I know that some of the sword swallowers have made use of a sheath which was swallowed before the performance, and the swords were simply pushed into it. A sheath of this kind lined with asbestos might easily have served as a protection against the red-hot blade.

Yamadeva, a brother of Ling Look, was also with the Kellar Company, doing cabinet
manifestations and rope escapes. Both brothers died in China during this engagement, and a strange incident occurred in connection with their deaths. Just before they were to sail from Shanghai on the P. & O. steamer Khiva for Hong Kong, Yamadeva and Kellar visited the bowling alley of The Hermitage, a pleasure resort on the Bubbling Well Road. They were watching a husky sea captain, who was using a huge ball and making a “double spare” at every roll, when Yamadeva suddenly remarked, “I can handle one as heavy as that big
loafer can.” Suiting the action to the word, he seized one of the largest balls and drove it down the alley with all his might; but he had misjudged his own strength, and he paid for the foolhardy act with his life, for he had no sooner delivered the ball than he grasped his side and moaned with pain. He had hardly sufficient strength to get back to the ship, where he went immediately to bed and died shortly afterward. An examination showed that he had ruptured an artery.

Kellar and Ling Look had much difficulty in persuading the captain to take the body to Hong Kong, but he finally consented. On the way down the Yang Tse Kiang River, Look
was greatly depressed; but all at once he became strangely excited, and said that his brother was not dead, for he had just heard the peculiar whistle with which they had always called each other. The whistle was several times repeated, and was heard by all on
board. Finally the captain, convinced that something was wrong, had the lid removed from the coffin, but the body of Yamadeva gave no indication of life, and all save Ling Look decided that they must have been mistaken.

Poor Ling Look, however, sobbingly said to Kellar, “I shall never leave Hong Kong alive. My brother has called me to join him.” This prediction was fulfilled, for shortly after their arrival in Hong Kong he underwent an operation for a liver trouble, and died under the
knife. The brothers were buried in Happy Valley, Hong Kong, in the year 1877.

All this was related to me at the Marlborough- Blenheim, Atlantic City, in June, 1908,
by Kellar himself, and portions of it were repeated in 1917 when Dean Kellar sat by me at the Society of American Magicians’ dinner.

In 1879 there appeared in England a
performer who claimed to be the original Ling Look. He wore his make-up both on and off the stage, and copied, so far as he could, Ling’s style of work. His fame reached this country and the New York Clipper published, in its Letter Columns, an article stating that Ling Look was not dead, but was alive and working in England. His imitator had the nerve to stick to his story even when confronted by Kellar, but when the latter assured him that he had personally attended the burial of Ling, in Hong Kong, he broke down and confessed that he was a younger brother of the original Ling Look.

Kellar later informed me that the resemblance was so strong that had he not seen the
original Ling Look consigned to the earth, he himself would have been duped into believing that this was the man who had been with him in Hong Kong.

The Salambos were among the first to use electrical effects in a fire act, combining these with the natural gas and “human volcano” stunts of their predecessors, so that they were able to present an extremely spectacular performance without having recourse to such unpleasant features as had marred the effect of earlier fire acts. Bueno Core, too, deserves honorable mention for the cleanness and snap of his act; and Del Kano should also be named among the cleverer performers.

One of the best known of the modern fire- eaters was Barnello, who was a good business man as well, and kept steadily employed at a better salary than the rank and file of his contemporaries. He did a thriving business in the sale of the various concoctions used in his art, and published and sold a most complete book of formulas and general instructions for those interested in the craft. He had, indeed, many irons in the fire, and he kept them all hot.

It will perhaps surprise the present
generation to learn that the well-known circus man Jacob Showles was once a fire-eater, and that Del Fugo, well-known in his day as a dancer in the music halls, began as a fire-resister, and did his dance on hot iron plates. But the reader has two keener surprises in store for him before I close the long history of the heat- resisters. The first concerns our great American tragedian Edwin Forrest (1806-1872) who, according to James Rees (Colley Cibber), once essayed a fire-resisting act. Forrest was always fond of athletics and at one time made an engagement with the manager of a circus to appear as a tumbler and rider. The engagement was not fulfilled, however, as his friend Sol Smith induced him to break it and return to the legitimate stage. Smith afterwards admitted to Cibber that if Forrest had remained with the circus he would have become one of the most daring riders and vaulters that ever appeared in the ring.

His adventure in fire-resistance was on the occasion of the benefit to “Charley Young,” on which eventful night, as the last of his acrobatic feats, he made a flying leap through a
barrel of red fire, singeing his hair and eyebrows terribly. This particular leap through fire was the big sensation of those days, and Forrest evidently had a hankering to show his friends that he could accomplish it–and he did.

The second concerns an equally popular actor, a comedian this time, the elder Sothern (1826-1881). On March 20, 1878, a writer in the Chicago Inter-Ocean communicated to that paper the following curiously descriptive article:

Is Mr. Sothern a medium?

This is the question that fifteen puzzled investigators are asking themselves this morning, after witnessing a number of
astounding manifestations at a private seance given by Mr. Sothern last night.

It lacked a few minutes of 12 when a
number of Mr. Sothern’s friends, who had been given to understand that something
remarkable was to be performed, assembled in the former’s room at the Sherman
House and took seats around a marble-top table, which was placed in the center of the apartment. On the table were a number of glasses, two very large bottles, and
five lemons. A sprightly young gentleman attempted to crack a joke about spirits
being confined in bottles, but the company frowned him down, and for once Mr.
Sothern had a sober audience to begin with.

There was a good deal of curiosity
regarding the object of the gathering, but no one was able to explain. Each gentleman testified to the fact Mr. Sothern’s
agent had waited upon him, and solicited his presence at a little exhibition to be given by the actor, NOT of a comical nature.

Mr. Sothern himself soon after
appeared, and, after shaking hands with the party, thus addressed them:

“Gentlemen, I have invited you here
this evening to witness a few manifestations, demonstrations, tests, or whatever
you choose to call them, which I have accidentally discovered that I am able to perform.

“I am a fire-eater, as it were. (Applause).

“I used to DREAD the fire, having been scorched once when an innocent child. (A laugh.)

Mr. Sothern (severely)–“I HOPE there will be no levity here, and I wish to say now that demonstrations of any kind are
liable to upset me, while demonstrations of a particular kind may upset the audience.”

Silence and decorum being restored,
Mr. Sothern thus continued:

“Thirteen weeks ago, while walking up Greenwich Street, in New York, I stepped into a store to buy a cigar. To show you there is no trick about it, here are cigars out of the same box from which I selected the one I that day lighted.” (Here Mr.
Sothern passed around a box of tolerable cigars.)

“Well, I stepped to the little hanging gas-jet to light it, and, having done so, stood contemplatively holding the gas-jet and the cigar in either hand, thinking
what a saving it would be to smoke a pipe, when, in my absent-mindedness, I dropped the cigar and put the gas-jet into my
mouth. Strange as it may appear, I felt no pain, and stood there holding the thing in my mouth and puffing till the man in
charge yelled out to me that I was swallowing his gas. Then I looked up, and,
sure enough, there I was pulling away at the slender flame that came from the glass tube.

“I dropped it instantly, and felt of my mouth, but noticed no inconvenience or
unpleasant sensation whatever.

“ `What do you mean by it?’ said the proprietor.

“As I didn’t know what I meant by it I couldn’t answer, so I picked up my cigar and went home. Once there I tried the
experiment again, and in doing so I found that not only my mouth, but my hands and face, indeed, all of my body, was proof
against fire. I called on a physician, and he examined me, and reported nothing
wrong with my flesh, which appeared to be in normal condition. I said nothing about it publicly, but the fact greatly surprised me, and I have invited you here to-night to witness a few experiments.”

Saying this, Mr. Sothern, who had lit a cigar while pausing in his speech, turned the fire end into his mouth and sat down, smoking unconcernedly.

“I suppose you wish to give us the fire- test,” remarked one of the company.

Mr. Sothern nodded.

There was probably never a gathering
more dumbfounded than that present in the room. A few questions were asked,
and then five gentlemen were appointed to examine Mr. Sothern’s hands, etc., before he began his experiments. Having
thoroughly washed the parts that he proposed to subject to the flames, Mr. Sothern
began by burning his arm, and passing it through the gas-jet very slowly, twice
stopping the motion and holding it still in the flames. He then picked up a poker
with a sort of hook on the end, and proceeded to fish a small coil of wire from the
grate. The wire came out fairly white with the heat. Mr. Sothern took the coil in his hands and cooly proceeded to wrap it round his left leg to the knee. Having done so, he stood on the table in the center of the circle and requested the committee to examine the wrappings and the
leg and report if both were there. The committee did so and reported in the
affirmative.

While this was going on, there was a
smile, almost seraphic in its beauty, on Mr. Sothern’s face.

After this an enormous hot iron, in the shape of a horseshoe, was placed on Mr.
Sothern’s body, where it cooled, without leaving a sign of a burn.

As a final test, a tailor’s goose was put on the coals, and, after being thoroughly heated, was placed on Mr. Sothern’s chair. The latter lighted a fresh cigar, and then coolly took a seat on the goose without the least seeming inconvenience. During the
last experiment Mr. Sothern sang in an excellent tone and voice, “I’m Sitting on the Stile, Mary.”

The question now is, were the fifteen auditors of Mr. Sothern fooled and
deceived, or was this a genuine manifestation of extraordinary power? Sothern is
such an inveterate joker that he may have put the thing upon the boys for his own
amusement; but if so, it was one of the nicest tricks ever witnessed by yours truly, ONE OF THE COMMITTEE.

P. S.–What is equally marvellous to
me is that the fire didn’t burn his clothes where it touched them, any more than his flesh. P. C.

(There is nothing new in this. Mr.
Sothern has long been known as one of the most expert jugglers in the profession. Some years ago he gained the soubriquet
of the “Fire King!” He frequently amuses his friends by eating fire, though he long ago ceased to give public
exhibitions. Probably the success of the experiments last night were largely owing to the lemons present. There is a good deal of
trickery in those same lemons.–Editor Inter-Ocean.)

which suggests that the editor of the Inter- Ocean was either pretty well acquainted with the comedian’s addiction to spoofing, or else less susceptible to superstition than certain scientists of our generation.

The great day of the Fire-eater–or, should I say, the day of the great Fire-eater–has passed. No longer does fashion flock to his doors, nor science study his wonders, and he must now seek a following in the gaping
loiterers of the circus side-show, the pumpkin- and-prize-pig country fair, or the tawdry booth at Coney Island. The credulous, wonder- loving scientist, however, still abides with us and, while his serious-minded brothers are wringing from Nature her jealously guarded secrets, the knowledge of which benefits all mankind, he gravely follows that perennial Will-of-the-wisp, spiritism, and lays the flattering unction to his soul that he is investigating “psychic phenomena,” when in reality he is merely gazing with unseeing eyes on the flimsy juggling of pseudo-mediums.

CHAPTER SIX

THE ARCANA OF THE FIRE-EATERS: THE
FORMULA OF ALBERTUS MAGNUS.–
OF HOCUS POCUS.–RICHARDSON’S
METHOD.–PHILOPYRAPHAGUS
ASHBURNIENSIS.–TO BREATHE FORTH
SPARKS, SMOKE, AND FLAMES.–TO
SPOUT NATURAL GAS.–PROFESSOR
SEMENTINI’S DISCOVERIES.–TO BITE OFF RED-HOT IRON.–TO COOK IN A BURNING
CAGE.–CHABERT’S OVEN. TO
EAT COALS OF FIRE.–TO DRINK BURNING OIL.–TO CHEW MOLTEN LEAD.–
TO CHEW BURNING BRIMSTONE.–TO
WREATHE THE FACE IN FLAMES.–TO
IGNITE PAPER WITH THE BREATH.–TO
DRINK BOILING LIQUOR AND EAT
FLAMING WAX.

The yellow thread of exposure seems to be inextricably woven into all fabrics whose strength is secrecy, and experience proves that it is much easier to become fireproof than to become exposure proof. It is still an open question, however, as to what extent exposure really injures a performer. Exposure of the secrets of the fire-eaters, for instance, dates back almost to the beginning of the art itself. The priests were exposed, Richardson was exposed, Powell was exposed and so on down the line; but the business continued to prosper, the really clever performers drew quite fashionable audiences for a long time, and it was probably the demand for a higher form of entertainment, resulting from a refinement of the
public taste, rather than the result of the many exposures, that finally relegated the Fire- eaters to the haunts of the proletariat.

How the early priests came into possession of these secrets does not appear, and if there were ever any records of this kind the Church would hardly allow them to become public. That they used practically the same system which has been adopted by all their followers is amply proved by the fact that after trial by ordeal had been abolished Albertus Magnus, in his work De Mirabilibus Mundi, at the end of his book De Secretis Mulierum, Amstelod, 1702, made public the underlying principles of heat-resistance; namely, the use of certain compounds which render the exposed parts to a more or less extent impervious to heat. Many different formulas have been discovered which accomplish the purpose, but the principle remains unchanged. The formula set
down by Albertus Magnus was probably the first ever made public: the following translation of it is from the London Mirror:

Take juice of marshmallow, and white
of egg, flea-bane seeds, and lime; powder them and mix juice of radish with the
white of egg; mix all thoroughly and with this composition annoint your body or
hand and allow it to dry and afterwards annoint it again, and after this you may boldly take up hot iron without hurt.

“Such a paste,” says the correspondent to the Mirror, “would indeed be very visible.”

Another early formula is given in the 1763 edition of Hocus Pocus. Examination of the different editions of this book in my library discloses the fact that there are no fire formulas in the second edition, 1635, which is the earliest I have (first editions are very rare and there is only one record of a sale of that edition at auction). From the fact that this formula was published during the time that Powell was appearing in England I gather that that
circumstance may account for its addition to the book. It does not appear in the German or Dutch editions.

The following is an exact copy:

HOW TO WALK ON A HOT IRON
BAR WITHOUT ANY DANGER
OF SCALDING OR BURNING.

Take half an ounce of samphire, dissolve it in two ounces of aquaevitae, add to
it one ounce of quicksilver, one ounce of liquid storax, which is the droppings of Myrrh and hinders the camphire from
firing; take also two ounces of hematitus, a red stone to be had at the druggist’s, and when you buy it let them beat it to powder in their great mortar, for it is so very hard that it cannot be done in a small one; put this to the afore-mentioned composition, and when you intend to walk on the bar
you must annoint your feet well therewith, and you may walk over without danger:
by this you may wash your hands in boiling lead.

This was the secret modus operandi made use of by Richardson, the first notably successful fire artist to appear in Europe, and it was disclosed by his servant.[2]

[2] Such disloyalty in trusted servants is one of the most disheartening things that can happen to a public performer. But it must not be thought that I say this out of personal experience: for in the many years that I have been before the public my secret methods have been steadily shielded by the strict integrity of my assistants, most of whom have been with me for years. Only one man ever betrayed my confidence, and that only in a minor matter. But then, so far as I know, I am the only performer who ever pledged his assistants to secrecy, honor and allegiance under a notarial oath.

Hone’s Table Book, London, 1827, page 315, gives Richardson’s method as follows:

It consisted only in rubbing the hands and thoroughly washing the mouth, lips,
tongue, teeth and other parts which were to touch the fire, with pure spirits of
sulphur. This burns and cauterizes the epidermis or upper skin, till it becomes as hard and thick as leather, and each time the experiment is tried it becomes still easier. But if, after it has been very often repeated the upper skin should grow so
callous and hard as to become troublesome, washing the parts affected with very
warm water, or hot wine, will bring away all the shrivelled or parched epidermis. The flesh, however, will continue tender and unfit for such business till it has been frequently rubbed over with the same
spirit.

This preparation may be rendered much stronger and more efficacious by mixing
equal quantities of spirit of sulphur, sal ammoniac, essence of rosemary and juice
of onions. The bad effects which
frequently swallowing red-hot coals, melted sealing wax, rosin, brimstone and other
calcined and inflammable matter, might have had upon his stomach were prevented by drinking plentifully of warm
water and oil, as soon as he left the company, till he had vomited it all up again.

This anecdote was communicated to the author of the Journal des Savants by Mr. Panthot, Doctor of Physics and Member of the College at Lyons. It appeared at the time Powell was showing his fire-eating stunts in London, and the correspondent naively added:

Whether Mr. Powell will take it kindly of me thus to have published his secret I cannot tell; but as he now begins to drop into years, has no children that I know of and may die suddenly, or without making
a will, I think it a great pity so genteel an occupation should become one of the artes perditae, as possibly it may, if proper care is not taken, and therefore hope, after this information, some true-hearted ENGLISHMAN will take it up again, for the honor of
his country, when he reads in the newspapers, “Yesterday, died, much lamented,
the famous Mr. Powell. He was the best, if not the only, fire-eater in the world, and it is greatly to be feared that his art is dead with him.”

After a couple of columns more in a similar strain, the correspondent signs himself
Philopyraphagus Ashburniensis.
In his History of Inventions, Vol. III, page 272, 1817 edition, Beckmann thus describes the process:

The deception of breathing out flames, which at present excites, in a particular manner, the astonishment of the ignorant, is very ancient. When the slaves in Sicily, about a century and a half before our era, made a formidable insurrection, and
avenged themselves in a cruel manner, for the severities which they had suffered,
there was amongst them a Syrian named Eunus–a man of great craft and courage; who having passed through many scenes
of life, had become acquainted with a variety of arts. He pretended to have
immediate communication with the gods; was the oracle and leader of his fellow- slaves; and, as is usual on such occasions confirmed his divine mission by miracles. When heated by enthusiasm and desirous
of inspiring his followers with courage, he breathed flames or sparks among them
from his mouth while he was addressing them. We are told by historians that for this purpose he pierced a nut shell at both ends, and, having filled it with some burning substance, put it into his mouth and
breathed through it. This deception, at present, is performed much better. The
juggler rolls together some flax or hemp, so as to form a ball about the size of a walnut; sets it on fire; and suffers it to burn until it is nearly consumed; he then rolls round it, while burning, some more flax; and by these means the fire may be
retained in it for a long time. When he wishes to exhibit he slips the ball
unperceived into his mouth, and breathes through it; which again revives the fire, so that a number of weak sparks proceed
from it; and the performer sustains no hurt, provided he inspire the air not
through the mouth, but the nostrils. By this art the Rabbi Bar-Cocheba, in the
reign of the Emperor Hadrian, made the credulous Jews believe that he was the
hoped-for Messiah; and two centuries after, the Emperor Constantius was
thrown into great terror when Valentinian informed him that he had seen one
of the body-guards breathing out fire and flames in the evening.

Since Beckmann wrote, the method of
producing smoke and sparks from the mouth has been still further improved. The fire can now be produced in various ways. One way is by the use of a piece of thick cotton string which has been soaked in a solution of nitre and then thoroughly dried. This string, when once lighted, burns very slowly and a piece one inch long is sufficient for the purpose. Some performers prefer a small piece of punk, as it requires no preparation. Still others use tinder
made by burning linen rags, as our forefathers used to do. This will not flame, but merely smoulders until the breath blows it into a glow. The tinder is made by charring linen rags, that is, burning them to a crisp, but stopping the combustion before they are reduced to ashes.

Flames from the lips may be produced by holding in the mouth a sponge saturated with the purest gasoline. When the breath is
exhaled sharply it can be lighted from a torch or a candle. Closing the lips firmly will extinguish the flame. A wad of oakum will give better results than the sponge.

Natural gas is produced as simply. A T-shaped gas pipe has three or four gas tips on
the cross-piece. The long end is placed in the mouth, which already holds concealed a
sponge, or preferably a ball of oakum, saturated with pure gasoline. Blowing through
the pipe will force the gas through the tips, where it can be ignited with a match. It will burn as long as the breath lasts.

In a London periodical, The Terrific Record, appears a reprint from the Mercure de France, giving an account of experiments in Naples which led to the discovery of the means by which jugglers have appeared to be incombustible. They first gradually habituate the skin, the mouth, throat and stomach to great degrees of heat, then they rub the skin with hard soap. The tongue is also covered with hard soap and over that a layer of powdered sugar. By this means an investigating professor was enabled to reproduce the wonders which had puzzled many scientists.

The investigating professor in all probability, was Professor Sementini, who experimented with Lionetto. I find an account of
Sementini’s discoveries in an old newspaper clipping, the name and date of which have unfortunately been lost:

Sementini’s efforts, after performing several experiments upon himself, were
finally crowned with success. He found that by friction with sulphuric acid
deluted with water, the skin might be made insensible to the action of the heat of red- hot iron; a solution of alum, evaporated till it became spongy, appeared to be more effectual in these frictions. After having rubbed the parts which were thus rendered in some degree insensible, with hard
soap, he discovered, on the application of hot iron, that their insensibility was
increased. He then determined on again rubbing the parts with soap, and after
that found that the hot iron not only occasioned no pain but that it actually did not burn the hair.

Being thus far satisfied, the Professor applied hard soap to his tongue until it became insensible to the heat of the iron; and having placed an ointment composed
of soap mixed with a solution of alum upon it, burning oil did not burn it; while the oil remained on the tongue a slight
hissing was heard, similar to that of hot iron when thrust into water; the oil soon cooled and might then be swallowed without danger.

Several scientific men have since
repeated the experiments of Professor Sementini, but we would not recommend
any except professionals to try the experiments.

Liquid storax is now used to anoint the tongue when red-hot irons are to be placed in the mouth. It is claimed that with this alone a red-hot poker can be licked until it is cold.

Another formula is given by Griffin, as follows: 1 bar ivory soap, cut fine, 1
pound of brown sugar, 2 ounces liquid storax (not the gum). Dissolve in hot
water and add a wine-glassful of carbolic acid. This is rubbed on all parts liable to come in contact with the hot articles. After anointing the mouth with this solution rinse with strong vinegar.

No performer should attempt to bite off red- hot iron unless he has a good set of teeth. A piece of hoop iron may be prepared by bending it back and forth at a point about one inch from the end, until the fragment is nearly broken off, or by cutting nearly through it with a cold chisel. When the iron has been heated red-hot, the prepared end is taken between the teeth, a couple of bends will complete the break. The piece which drops from the teeth into a dish of water will make a puff of steam and a hissing sound, which will demonstrate that it is still very hot.

The mystery of the burning cage, in which the Fire King remains while a steak is thoroughly cooked, is explained by Barnello as follows:

Have a large iron cage constructed
about 4 x 6 feet, the bottom made of heavy sheet iron. The cage should stand on iron legs or horses. Wrap each of the bars of the cage with cotton batting saturated
with oil. Now take a raw beefsteak in your hand and enter the cage, which is now set on fire. Remain in the cage until the fire has burned out, then issue from the cage with the steak burned to a crisp.

Explanation: On entering the cage the performer places the steak on a large iron hook which is fastened in one of the upper corners. The dress worn is of asbestos
cloth with a hood that completely covers the head and neck. There is a small hole over the mouth through which he breathes.

As soon as the fire starts the smoke and flames completely hide the performer
from the spectators, and he immediately lies down on the bottom of the cage, placing the mouth over one of the small air
holes in the floor of the same.

Heat always goes up and will soon cook the steak.

I deduce from the above that the performer arises and recovers the steak when the fire slackens but while there is still sufficient flame and smoke to mask his action.

It is obvious that the above explanation covers the baker’s oven mystery as well. In the case of the oven, however, the inmate is concealed from start to finish, and this gives him much greater latitude for his actions. M. Chabert made the oven the big feature of his programme and succeeded in puzzling many of the best informed scientists of his day.

Eating coals of fire has always been one of the sensational feats of the Fire Kings, as it is quite generally known that charcoal burns with an extremely intense heat. This fervent lunch, however, like many of the feasts of the Fire Kings, is produced by trick methods. Mixed with the charcoal in the brazier are a few coals of soft white pine, which when burnt look exactly like charcoal. These will not burn the mouth as charcoal will. They should be picked up with a fork which will penetrate the pine coals, but not the charcoal, the latter being brittle.

Another method of eating burning coals employs small balls of burned cotton in a dish of burning alcohol. When lifted on the fork these have the appearance of charcoal, but are harmless if the mouth be immediately closed, so that the flame is extinguished.

In all feats of fire-eating it should be noted that the head is thrown well back, so that the flame may pass out of the open mouth instead of up into the roof, as it would if the head were held naturally.

To drink burning oil set fire to a small quantity of kerosene in a ladle. Into this dip an iron spoon and bring it up to all appearance, filled with burning oil, though in reality the spoon is merely wet with the oil. It is carried blazing to the mouth, where it is tipped, as if to pour the oil into the mouth, just as a puff of breath blows out all the flame. The process is continued until all the oil in the ladle has been consumed; then the ladle is turned bottom up, in order to show that all the oil has been drunk. A method of drinking what seems to be
molten lead is given in the Chambers’ Book of Days, 1863, Vol. II, page 278:

The performer taking an iron spoon,
holds it up to the spectators, to show that it is empty; then, dipping it into a pot containing melted lead, he again shows it to the spectators full of the molten metal; then, after putting the spoon in his mouth, he once more shows it to be empty; and
after compressing his lips, with a look expressive of pain, he, in a few moments, ejects from his mouth a piece of lead
impressed with the exact form of his teeth. Ask a spectator what he saw, and he will say that the performer took a spoonful of molten lead, placed it in his mouth, and soon afterwards showed it in a solid state, bearing the exact form and impression of his teeth. If deception be insinuated, the spectator will say. “No! Having the
evidence of my senses, I cannot be
deceived; if it had been a matter of opinion I might, but seeing, you know, is believing.” Now the piece of lead, cast from a
plaster mould of the performer’s teeth, has probably officiated in a thousand
previous performances, and is placed in the mouth between the gum and the cheek,
just before the trick commences. The spoon is made with a hollow handle
containing quicksilver, which, by a simple motion, can be let run into the bowl, or back again into the handle at will.

The spoon is first shown with the quicksilver concealed in the handle, the bowl is
then dipped just within the rim of the pot containing the molten lead, but not into the lead itself, and, at the same instant the quicksilver is allowed to run into the bowl. The spoon is then shown with the quicksilver (which the audience takes to be the
melted lead) in the bowl, and when placed in the mouth, the quicksilver is again
allowed to run into the handle.

The performer, in fact, takes a spoonful of nothing, and soon after exhibits the
lead bearing the impression of the teeth.

Molten lead, for fire-eating purposes, is made as follows:

Bismuth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 oz. Lead. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 oz. Block tin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 oz.

Melt these together. When the metal has cooled, a piece the size of a silver quarter can be melted and taken into the mouth and held there until it hardens. This alloy will melt in boiling water. Robert-Houdin calls it Arcet’s metal, but I cannot find the name elsewhere.

The eating of burning brimstone is an entirely fake performance. A number of small pieces of brimstone are shown, and then
wrapped in cotton which has been saturated with a half-and-half mixture of kerosene and gasoline, the surplus oil having been squeezed out so there shall be NO DRIP. When these are lighted they may be held in the palm of any hand which has been anointed with one of the fire mixtures described in this chapter. Then throw back the head, place the burning ball in the mouth, and a freshly extinguished candle can be lighted from the flame. Close the lips firmly, which will extinguish the flame, then chew and pretend to swallow the brimstone, which can afterwards be removed under cover of a handkerchief.

Observe that the brimstone has not been burned at all, and that the cotton protects the teeth. To add to the effect, a small piece of brimstone may be dropped into the furnace, a very small piece will suffice to convince all that it is the genuine article that is being eaten.

To cause the face to appear in a mass of flame make use of the following: mix together thoroughly petroleum, lard, mutton tallow and quick lime. Distill this over a charcoal fire, and the liquid which results can be burned on the face without harm.[3]

[3] Barnello’s Red Demon.

To set paper on fire by blowing upon it, small pieces of wet phosphorus are taken into the mouth, and a sheet of tissue paper is held about a foot from the lips. While the paper is being blown upon the phosphorus is ejected on it, although this passes unnoticed by the spectators, and as soon as the continued blowing has dried the phosphorus it will ignite the paper.

Drinking boiling liquor is accomplished by using a cup with a false bottom, under which the liquor is retained.

A solution of spermaceti in sulphuric ether tinged with alkanet root, which solidifies at 50 degrees F., and melts and boils with the heat of the hand, is described in Beckmann’s History of Inventions, Vol. II., page 121.

Dennison’s No. 2 sealing wax may be melted in the flame of a candle and, while still blazing, dropped upon the tongue without causing a burn, as the moisture of the tongue instantly cools it. Care must be used, however, that none touches the hands or lips. It can be chewed, and apparently swallowed, but removed in the handkerchief while wiping the
lips.

The above is the method practiced by all the Fire-Eaters, and absolutely no preparation is necessary except that the tongue must be well moistened with saliva.

Barnello once said, “A person wishing to become a Fire-Eater must make up his or her mind to suffer a little at first from burns, as there is no one who works at the business but that gets burns either from carelessness or from accident.”

This is verified by the following, which I clip from the London Globe of August 11th, 1880:

Accident to a Fire-Eater. A correspondent telegraphs: A terrible scene was
witnessed in the market place, Leighton Buzzard, yesterday. A travelling Negro
fire eater was performing on a stand, licking red-hot iron, bending heated pokers with his naked foot, burning tow in his
mouth, and the like. At last he filled his mouth with benzolene, saying that he
would burn it as he allowed it to escape. He had no sooner applied a lighted match to his lips than the whole mouthful of spirit took fire and before it was consumed the man was burned in a frightful manner,
the blazing spirit running all over his face, neck and chest as he dashed from his stand and raced about like a madman
among the assembled crowd, tearing his clothing from him and howling in most
intense agony. A portion of the spirit was swallowed and the inside of his mouth was also terribly burnt. He was taken into a chemist’s shop and oils were administered and applied, but afterwards in agonizing frenzy he escaped in a state almost of
nudity from a lodging house and was captured by the police and taken to the work-
house infirmary, where he remains in a dreadful condition.

REMEMBER! Always have a large blanket at hand to smother flames in burning clothing– also a bucket of water and a quantity of sand. A siphon of carbonic water is an excellent fire extinguisher.

The gas of gasoline is heavier than air, so a container should never be held ABOVE a flame. Keep kerosene and gasoline containers well corked and at a distance from fire.

Never inhale breath while performing with fire. FLAME DRAWN INTO THE LUNGS IS FATAL TO LIFE.

So much for the entertaining side of the art. There are, however, some further scientific principles so interesting that I reserve them for another chapter.

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE SPHEROIDAL CONDITION OF LIQUIDS.
–WHY THE HAND MAY BE DIPPED IN
MOLTEN METALS.–PRINCIPLES OF
HEAT-RESISTANCE PUT TO PRACTICAL
USES: ALDINI, 1829.–IN EARLY FIRE- FIGHTING. TEMPERATURES THE BODY
CAN ENDURE.

The spheroidal condition of liquids was discovered by Leidenfrost, but M. Boutigny was the first to give this singular subject careful investigation. From time out of mind the test of letting a drop of water fall on the face of a hot flat-iron has been employed to discover whether it may safely be used. Everybody knows that if it is not too hot the water will spread over the surface and evaporate; but if it is too hot, the water will glance off without wetting the iron, and if this drop be allowed to fall on the hand it will be found that it is still cool. The fact is that the water never touches the hot iron at all, provided the heat is sufficiently intense, but assumes a slightly elliptical shape and is supported by a cushion of vapor. If, instead of a flat-iron, we use a concave metal disk about the size and shape of a watch crystal, some very interesting results may be obtained. If the temperature of
the disk is at, or slightly above, the boiling point, water dropped on it from a medicine dropper will boil; but if the disk is heated to 340 degrees F., the drop practically retains its roundness–becoming only slightly oblate–and does not boil. In fact the temperature never rises above 206 degrees F., since the vapor is so rapidly evaporated from the surface of the drop that it forms the cushion just mentioned. By a careful manipulation of the dropper, the disk may be filled with water which, notwithstanding the intense heat, never reaches the boiling point. On the other hand, if boiling water be dropped on the superheated disk its temperature will immediately be REDUCED to six degrees below the boiling point; thus the hot
metal really cools the water.

By taking advantage of the fact that different liquids assume a spheroidal form at
widely different temperatures, one may obtain some startling results. For example, liquid sulphurous acid is so volatile as to have a temperature of only 13 degrees F. when in that state, or 19 degrees below the freezing point of water, so that if a little water be dropped into the acid, it will immediately freeze and the pellet of ice may be dropped into the hand from the still red-hot disk. Even mercury can be frozen in this way by a combination of chemicals.

Through the action of this principle it is possible to dip the hand for a short time into melted lead, or even into melted copper, the moisture of the skin supplying a vapor which prevents direct contact with the molten metal; no more than an endurable degree of heat reaches the hand while the moisture lasts, although the temperature of the fusing copper is 1996 degrees. The natural moisture of the hand is usually sufficient for this result, but it is better to wipe the hand with a damp towel.

In David A. Wells’ Things not Generally Known, New York, 1857, I find a translation of an article by M. Boutigny in The Comptes Rendus, in which he notes that “the portion of the hands which are not immersed in the fused metal, but are exposed to the action of the heat radiated from its surface, experience a painful sensation of heat.” He adds that when the hand was dampened with ether
“there was no sensation of heat, but, on the contrary, an agreeable feeling of coolness.”

Beckmann, in his History of Inventions, Vol. II., page 122, says:

In the month of September, 1765, when I visited the copper works at Awested,
one of the workmen, for a little drink money, took some of the melted copper in his hand, and after showing it to us, threw it against the wall. He then squeezed the fingers of his horny hand close together, put it for a few minutes under his armpit, to make it sweat, as he said; and, taking it again out, drew it over a ladle filled with melted copper, some of which he skimmed
off, and moved his hand backwards and forwards, very quickly, by way of ostentation.

While I was viewing this performance, I remarked a smell like that of singed
horn or leather, though his hand was not burnt.

The workmen at the Swedish melting-
house showed the same thing to some travellers in the seventeenth century; for Regnard saw it in 1681, at the copper-
works in Lapland.

My friend Quincy Kilby, of Brookline, Mass., saw the same stunt performed by workmen at the Meridan Brittania Company’s
plant. They told him that if the hand had been wet it would have been badly scalded.

Thus far our interest in heat-resistance has uncovered secrets of no very great practical value, however entertaining the uses to which we have seen them put. But not all the
investigation of these principles has been dictated by considerations of curiosity and entertainment. As long ago as 1829, for instance,
an English newspaper printed the following:

Proof against Fire–On Tuesday week
an experiment was made in presence of a Committee of the Academy of Sciences
at Paris, by M. Aldini, for the purpose of showing that he can secure the body
against the action of flames so as to enable firemen to carry on their operations with safety. His experiment is stated to have given satisfaction. The pompiers were
clothed in asbestos, over which was a network of iron. Some of them, it was stated,
who wore double gloves of amianthus, held a red-hot bar during four minutes.

Sir David Brewster, in his Letters on Natural Magic, page 305, gives a more detailed account of Aldini, from which the natural deduction is that the Chevalier was a showman with an intellect fully up to the demands of his art. Sir David says:

In our own times the art of defending the hands and face, and indeed the whole body, from the action of heated iron and intense fire, has been applied to the nobler purpose of saving human life, and rescuing property from the flames. The revival
and the improvement of this art we owe to the benevolence and the ingenuity of
the Chevalier Aldini of Milan, who has travelled through all Europe to present
this valuable gift to his species. Sir H. Davy had long ago shown that a safety
lamp for illuminating mines, containing inflammable air, might be constructed of wire-gauze, alone, which prevented the
flame within, however large or intense, from setting fire to the inflammable air without. This valuable property, which
has been long in practical use, he ascribed to the conducting and radiating power of the wire-gauze, which carried off the heat of the flame, and deprived it of its power. The Chevalier Aldini conceived the idea of applying the same material, in combination with other badly conducting substances,
as a protection against fire. The
incombustible pieces of dress which he uses for the body, arms, and legs, are
formed out of strong cloth, which has been steeped in a solution of alum, while those for the head, hands, and feet, are made
of cloth of asbestos or amianthus. The head dress is a large cap which envelops the whole head down to the neck, having
suitable perforations for the eyes, nose, and mouth. The stockings and cap are
single, but the gloves are made of double amianthus cloth, to enable the fireman to take into his hand burning or red-hot
bodies. The piece of ancient asbestos cloth preserved in the Vatican was formed, we believe, by mixing the asbestos with
other fibrous substances; but M. Aldini has executed a piece of nearly the same
size, 9 feet 5 inches long, and 5 feet 3 inches wide, which is much stronger
than the ancient piece, and possesses superior qualities, in consequence of
having been woven without the introduction of any foreign substance. In this
manufacture the fibers are prevented from breaking by action of steam, the
cloth is made loose in its fabric, and the threads are about the fiftieth of an inch in diameter.

The metallic dress which is superadded to these means of defence consists of five principal pieces, viz., a casque or cap, with a mask large enough to leave a proper
space between it and the asbestos cap; a cuirass with its brassets; a piece of armour for the trunk and thighs; a pair of boots of double wire-gauze; and an oval shield 5 feet long by 2 1/2 feet wide, made by
stretching the wire-gauze over a slender frame of iron. All these pieces are made of iron wire-gauze, having the interval between its threads the twenty-fifth part of an inch.

In order to prove the efficacy of this apparatus, and inspire the firemen with
confidence in its protection, he showed them that a finger first enveloped in
asbestos, and then in a double case of wire- gauze, might be held a long time in the
flame of a spirit-lamp or candle before the heat became inconvenient. A fireman having his hand within a double asbestos
glove, and its palm protected by a piece of asbestos cloth, seized with impunity a
large piece of red hot iron, carried it deliberately to the distance of 150 feet, inflamed straw with it, and brought it back again to the furnace. On other occasions the fireman handled blazing wood and
burning substances, and walked during five minutes upon an iron grating placed over flaming fagots.

In order to show how the head, eyes, and lungs are protected, the fireman put on
the asbestos and wire-gauze cap, and the cuirass, and held the shield before his
breast. A fire of shavings was then lighted, and kept burning in a large raised chafing- dish; the fireman plunged his head into the middle of the flames with his face to the fuel, and in that position went several
times round the chafing-dish for a period longer than a minute. In a subsequent
trial, at Paris, a fireman placed his head in the middle of a large brazier filled with flaming hay and wood, and resisted the
action of the fire during five or six minutes and even ten minutes.

In the experiments which were made at Paris in the presence of a committee of
the Academy of Sciences, two parallel rows of straw and brushwood supported
by iron wires, were formed at the
distance of 3 feet from each other, and extended 30 feet in length. When this
combustible mass was set on fire, it was necessary to stand at a distance of 8
or 10 yards to avoid the heat. The flames from both the rows seemed to fill up the whole space between them, and rose to
the height of 9 or 10 feet. At this moment six firemen, clothed in the incombustible dresses, and marching at a slow
pace behind each other, repeatedly passed through the whole length between the two rows of flame, which were constantly fed with additional combustibles. One of the firemen carried on his back a child eight years old, in a wicker-basket covered with metallic gauze, and the child had no other dress than a cap made of amianthine cloth.

In February, 1829, a still more striking experiment was made in the yard of the
barracks of St. Gervais. Two towers were erected two stories high, and were
surrounded with heaps of inflamed materials consisting of fagots and straw. The firemen braved the danger with impunity. In
opposition to the advice of M. Aldini, one of them, with the basket and child, rushed into a narrow place, where the flames were raging 8 yards high. The violence of
the fire was so great that he could not be seen, while a thick black smoke spread
around, throwing out a heat which was unsupportable by spectators. The fireman remained so long invisible that serious
doubts were entertained of his safety. He at length, however, issued from the fiery gulf uninjured, and proud of having succeeded in braving so great a danger.

It is a remarkable result of these
experiments, that the firemen are able to breathe without difficulty in the middle of the flames. This effect is owing not only to the heat being intercepted by the wire- gauze as it passes to the lungs, in consequence of which its temperature becomes
supportable, but also to the singular power which the body possesses of resisting great heats, and of breathing air of high temperatures.

A series of curious experiments were
made on this subject by M. Tillet, in France, and by Dr. Fordyce and Sir
Charles Blagden, in England. Sir Joseph Banks, Dr. Solander, and Sir Charles
Blagden entered a room in which the air had a temperature of 198 degrees Fahr., and remained ten minutes; but as the thermometer sunk very rapidly, they resolved to
enter the room singly. Dr. Solander went in alone and found the heat 210 degrees, and Sir Joseph entered when the heat was 211 degrees. Though exposed to such an elevated
temperature, their bodies preserved their natural degree of heat. Whenever they
breathed upon a thermometer it sunk several degrees; every expiration, particularly if strongly made, gave a pleasant
impression of coolness to their nostrils, and their cold breath cooled their fingers whenever it reached them. On touching
his side, Sir Charles Blagden found it cold like a corpse, and yet the heat of his body under his tongue was 98 degrees. Hence they concluded that the human body possesses the power of destroying a certain degree of
heat when communicated with a certain degree of quickness. This power, however, varies greatly in different media.
The same person who experienced no
inconvenience from air heated to 211 degrees, could just bear rectified spirits of wine at 130 degrees, cooling oil at 129 degrees, cooling water at 123 degrees, and cooling quicksilver at 118 degrees. A familiar instance of this occurred in the heated
room. All the pieces of metal there, even their watch-chains, felt so hot that they could scarcely bear to touch them for a
moment, while the air from which the metal had derived all its heat was only
unpleasant. M. Duhamel and Tillet
observed, at Rochefoucault in France, that the girls who were accustomed to attend
ovens in a bakehouse, were capable of enduring for ten minutes a temperature of 270 degrees.

The same gentleman who performed the
experiments above described ventured to expose themselves to still higher
temperatures. Sir Charles Blagden went into a room where the heat was 1 degree or 2 degrees above 260 degrees, and remained eight minutes in this situation, frequently walking about to all the different parts of the room, but standing still most of the time in the coolest spot, where the heat was above 240 degrees. The air, though very hot, gave no pain, and Sir
Charles and all the other gentlemen were of opinion that they could support a much greater heat. During seven minutes Sir
C. Blagden’s breathing continued perfectly good, but after that time he felt an
oppression in his lungs, with a sense of anxiety, which induced him to leave the
room. His pulse was then 144, double its ordinary quickness. In order to prove
that there was no mistake respecting the degree of heat indicated by the thermometer, and that the air which they breathed
was capable of producing all the well- known effects of such a heat on inanimate matter, they placed some eggs and a beef- steak upon a tin frame near the thermometer, but more distant from the furnace
than from the wall of the room. In the space of twenty minutes the eggs were
roasted quite hard, and in forty-seven minutes the steak was not only dressed,
but almost dry. Another beef-steak, similarly placed, was rather overdone in thirty-three minutes. In the evening,
when the heat was still more elevated, a third beef-steak was laid in the same
place, and as they had noticed that the effect of the hot air was greatly increased by putting it in motion, they blew upon
the steak with a pair of bellows, and thus hastened the dressing of it to such a degree, that the greatest portion of it was
found to be pretty well done in thirteen minutes.

Our distinguished countryman, Sir F.
Chantrey, has very recently exposed himself to a temperature still higher than any
which we have mentioned. The furnace which he employs for drying his moulds
is about 14 feet long, 12 feet high, and 12 feet broad. When it is raised to its
highest temperature, with the doors closed, the thermometer stands at 350 degrees, and the iron floor is red hot. The workmen often enter it at a temperature of 340 degrees, walking over the iron floor with wooden clogs,
which are of course charred on the surface. On one occasion Sir F. Chantrey,
accompanied by five or six of his friends, entered the furnace, and, after remaining two minutes, they brought out a thermometer which stood at 320 degrees. Some of the
party experienced sharp pains in the tips of their ears, and in the septum of the
nose, while others felt a pain in their eyes.

CHAPTER EIGHT

SWORD-SWALLOWERS: CLIQUOT, DELNO
FRITZ, DEODATA, A RAZOR-SWALLOWER,
AN UMBRELLA-SWALLOWER, WILLIAM
DEMPSTER, JOHN CUMMING, EDITH
CLIFFORD, VICTORINA.

It has sometimes been noted in the foregoing pages, that fire-eaters, finding it difficult to invent new effects in their own sphere, have strayed into other fields of endeavor in order to amplify their programmes. Thus we find them resorting to the allied arts of poison- eating, sword-swallowing and the stunts of the so-called Human Ostrich.

In this connection I consider it not out of place for me to include a description of a number of those who have, either through unusual gifts of nature or through clever artifice, seemingly submitted to tests which we have been taught to believe were far and away beyond the outposts of human endurance. By the introduction of these thrills each notable newcomer has endeavored to go his predecessors one better, and the issue of challenges to all comers to match these startling effects has been by no means infrequent, but I fail to discover a single acceptance of such a challenge.

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:

The Chevalier Cliquot (these fellows
MUST have titles) in the act of swallowing the major part of a cavalry sword 22
inches long.

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!”

Eaters of glass, tacks, pebbles, and like objects, actually swallow these seemingly impossible things, and disgorge them after the performance is over. That the disgorging is not always successful is evidenced by the hospital records of many surgical operations on performers of this class, when quantities of solid
matter are found lodged in the stomach.

Delno Fritz was not only an excellent sword- swallower, but a good showman as well. The last time I saw him he was working the “halls” in England. I hope he saved his money, for he was a clean man with a clean reputation, and, I can truly say, he was a master in his manner of indulging his appetite for the cold steel.

Deodota, an Italian Magician, was also a sword-swallower of more than average ability. He succumbed to the lure of commercialism finally, and is now in the jewelry business in the “down-town district” of New York City.

Sword-swallowing may be harmlessly
imitated by the use of a fake sword with a telescopic blade, which slides into the handle. Vosin, the Paris manufacturer of magical apparatus, made swords of this type, but they were generally used in theatrical enchantment

scenes, and it is very doubtful if they were ever used by professional swallowers.

It is quite probable that the swords now most generally used by the profession, which are cut from one piece of metal-handle and all– were introduced to show that they were free from any telescoping device. Swords of this type are quite thin, less than one-eighth of an inch thick, and four or five of them can be swallowed at once. Slowly withdrawing them one at a time, and throwing them on the stage in different directions, makes an effective display.

A small, but strong, electric light bulb attached to the end of a cane, is a very effective piece of apparatus for sword swallowers, as, on a darkened stage, the passage of the light down the throat and into the stomach can be plainly seen by the audience. The medical profession now make use of this idea.

By apparently swallowing sharp razors, a dime-museum performer, whose name I do not recall, gave a variation to the sword-swallowing stunt. This was in the later days, and
the act was partly fake and partly genuine. That is to say, the swallowing was fair enough, but the sharp razors, after being tested by cutting hairs, etc., were exchanged for dull duplicates, in a manner that, in better hands, might have been effective. This chap belonged to the great army of unconscious exposers, and the “switch” was quite apparent to all save the most careless observers.

His apparatus consisted of a fancy rack on which three sharp razors were displayed, and a large bandanna handkerchief, in which there were several pockets of the size to hold a razor, the three dull razors being loaded in this. After testing the edge of the sharp razors, he pretended to wipe them, one by one, with the handkerchief, and under cover of this he made the
“switch” for the dull ones, which he proceeded to swallow in the orthodox fashion. His work was crude, and the crowd was inclined to poke fun at him.

I have seen one of these performers on the street, in London, swallow a borrowed
umbrella, after carefully wiping the ferrule, and then return it to its owner only slightly dampened from its unusual journey. A borrowed
watch was swallowed by the same performer, and while one end of the chain hung from the lips, the incredulous onlookers were invited to place their ears against his chest and listen to the ticking of the watch, which had passed as far into the aesophagus as the chain would allow.

The following anecdote from the Carlisle Journal, shows that playing with sword-swallowing is about as dangerous as playing with
fire.

DISTRESSING OCCURRENCE

On Monday evening last, a man named
William Dempster, a juggler of inferior dexterity while exhibiting his tricks in a public house in Botchergate, kept by a person named Purdy, actually accomplished
the sad reality of one of those feats, with the semblance only of which he intended to
amuse his audience. Having introduced into his throat a common table knife which he was intending to swallow, he accidentally slipped his hold, and the knife passed
into his stomach. An alarm was immediately given, and surgical aid procured,
but the knife had passed beyond the reach of instruments, and now remains in his
stomach. He has since been attended by most of the medical gentlemen of this
city; and we understand that no very alarming symptoms have yet appeared,
and that it is possible he may exist a considerable time, even in this awkward state. His sufferings at first were very severe, but he is now, when not in motion,
comparatively easy. The knife is 9 1/2 inches long, 1 inch broad in the blade, round
pointed, and a handle of bone, and may generally be distinctly felt by applying the finger to the unfortunate man’s belly; but occasionally, however, from change of its situation it is not perceptible. A brief notice of the analogous case of John
Cumming, an American sailor, may not be unacceptable to our readers. About the year 1799 he, in imitation of some jugglers
whose exhibition he had then witnessed, in an hour of intoxication, swallowed four
clasp knives such as sailors commonly use; all of which passed from him in a few days without much inconvenience. Six years
afterward, he swallowed FOURTEEN knives of different sizes; by these, however, he was much disordered, but recovered; and
again, in a paroxysm of intoxication, he actually swallowed SEVENTEEN, of the
effects of which he died in March, 1809. On dissection, fourteen knife blades were found remaining in his stomach, and the
back spring of one penetrating through the bowel, seemed the immediate cause of his death.

Several women have adopted the profession of sword-swallowing, and some have won much more than a passing fame. Notable among
these is Mlle. Edith Clifford, who is, perhaps, the most generously endowed. Possessed of more than ordinary personal charms, a refined taste for dressing both herself and her stage, and an unswerving devotion to her art, she has perfected an act that has found favor even in the Royal Courts of Europe.

Mlle. Clifford was born in London in 1884 and began swallowing the blades when only 15 years of age. During the foreign tour of the Barnum & Bailey show she joined that Organization in Vienna, 1901, and remained with it for five years, and now, after eighteen years of service, she stands well up among the stars. She has swallowed a 26-inch blade, but the physicians advise her not to indulge her appetite for such luxuries often, as it is quite dangerous. Blades of 18 or 20 inches give her no trouble whatever.

In the spring of 1919 I visited the Ringling Bros., and the Barnum & Bailey Show especially to witness Mlle. Clifford’s act. In addition to swallowing the customary swords
and sabers she introduced such novelties as a specially constructed razor, with a blade five or six times the usual length, a pair of scissors of unusual size, a saw which is 2 1/2 inches wide at the broadest point, with ugly looking teeth, although somewhat rounded at the points, and several other items quite unknown to the bill- of-fare of ordinary mortals. A set of ten thin blades slip easily down her throat and are removed one at a time.

The sensation of her act is reached when the point of a bayonet, 23 1/2 inches long, fastened to the breech of a cannon, is placed in her mouth and the piece discharged; the recoil driving the bayonet suddenly down her throat. The gun is loaded with a 10 gauge cannon shell.

Mlle. Clifford’s handsomely arranged stage occupied the place of honor in the section devoted to freaks and specialties.

Cliquot told me that Delno Fritz was his pupil, and Mlle. Clifford claims to be a pupil of Fritz.

Deserving of honorable mention also is a native of Berlin, who bills herself as Victorina. This lady is able to swallow a dozen sharp- bladed swords at once. Of Victorina, the Boston Herald of December 28th, 1902, said:

By long practice she has accustomed
herself to swallow swords, daggers, bayonets, walking sticks, rods, and other dangerous articles.

Her throat and food passages have
become so expansive that she can swallow three long swords almost up to the hilts, and can accommodate a dozen shorter
blades.

This woman is enabled to bend a blade after swallowing it. By moving her head
back and forth she may even twist instruments in her throat. To bend the body
after one has swallowed a sword is a dangerous feat, even for a professional
swallower. There is a possibility of severing some of the ligaments of the throat or else large arteries or veins. Victorina has
already had several narrow escapes.

On one occasion, while sword-swallowing before a Boston audience, a sword
pierced a vein in her throat. The blade was half-way down, but instead of immediately drawing it forth, she thrust it
farther. She was laid up in a hospital for three months after this performance.

In Chicago she had a still narrower
escape. One day while performing at a museum on Clark Street, Victorina passed a long thin dagger down her throat. In
withdrawing it, the blade snapped in two, leaving the pointed portion some distance in the passage. The woman nearly fainted when she realized what had occurred, but, by a masterful effort, controlled her
feelings. Dropping the hilt of the dagger on the floor, she leaned forward, and placing her finger and thumb down her throat,
just succeeded in catching the end of the blade. Had it gone down an eighth of an
inch farther her death would have been certain.

CHAPTER NINE

STONE-EATERS: A SILESIAN IN PRAGUE, 1006; FRANCOIS BATTALIA, ca. 1641; PLATERUS’
BEGGAR BOY; FATHER PAULIAN’S LITHOPHAGUS OF AVIGNON, 1760; “THE ONLY
ONE IN THE WORLD,” LONDON, 1788;
SPANIARDS IN LONDON, 1790; A SECRET FOR TWO AND SIX; JAPANESE TRAINING.
–FROG-SWALLOWERS: NORTON; ENGLISH
JACK; BOSCO, THE SNAKE-EATER;
BILLINGTON’S PRESCRIPTION FOR
HANGMEN; CAPTAIN VEITRO.–WATER-
SPOUTERS: BLAISE MANFREDE, ca. 1650; FLORAM MARCHAND, 1650.

That the genesis of stone-eating dates back hundreds of years farther than is generally supposed, is shown by a statement in Wanley’s Wonders of the Little World, London, 1906, Vol. II, page 58, which reads as follows:

Anno 1006, there was at Prague a
certain Silesian, who, for a small reward in money, did (in the presence of many persons) swallow down white stones to the
number of thirty-six; they weighed very near three pounds; the least of them was of the size of a pigeon’s egg, so that I could scarce hold them all in my hand at four times: this rash adventure he divers years made for gain, and was sensible of no injury to his health thereby.

The next man of this type of whom I find record lived over six hundred years later. This was an Italian named Francois Battalia. The print shown here is from the Book of Wonderful Characters, and is a reproduction from an etching made by Hollar in 1641.

Doctor Bulwer, in his Artificial Changeling, tells a preposterous story of Battalia’s being born with two pebbles in one hand and one in the other; that he refused both the breast and the pap offered him, but ate the pebbles and continued to subsist on stones for the
remainder of his life. Doctor Bulwer thus describes his manner of feeding: