THE RING AND GLOVE PILLAR.
(La Colonne au Gant.)
Mr. Panky introduces to the company his Magic Sportsman, of which there is an extended description in The Secret Out, “The Marvellous Musket Shot.” The automaton salutes the audience, and makes ready to fire his gun.
Several rings are borrowed and placed in the gun, with a lady’s glove.
Fig. 36.
For a target there is brought in a stand with an ornamental pillar, on the summit of which is a golden ball. At the signal, the miniature marksman fires, the globular casket splits open, and the glove appears on the top of the pillar, as if containing a hidden hand, and with the rings on the fingers.
Explanation.—When the rings and glove are borrowed, others are instantly substituted for them, which are put into the gun. The real ones are taken out of the room and arranged, the rings on the glove inside the ball on the pillar. This pillar is hollow, and is in connection with a gutta percha tube leading down within the table into the confederate’s room. At the proper signal, the piston-rods work, and the sportsman discharges the gun, and a strong current of air forces the ball to open and inflates the glove. For the table, see The Secret Out.
