Sleight of Hand: A Practical Manual of Legerdemain for Amateurs & Others

by Edwin Thomas Sachs

Vanishing a Pack.—When the time is limited, none should be wasted in preliminaries; but, when possible, the performer should always vanish the pack, by palming it, and find it either at the elbow or sole of the boot, or else in possession of one of the audience; or he can pretend to give it into the hands of a spectator, and then discover it some distance off, with someone else. To execute this properly, the cards should be palmed in the right hand, which affects to put them into the left hand. The right hand should take the wand or lappel of the coat, and the left be disposed, palm downwards, as though it held the pack. Such a little exhibition of skill makes a good impression at once, and puts the spectators on the alert from the very commencement.

The Egyptian Pocket.—One of the very best sleight-of-hand card tricks is that introduced by Herrmann, who, a few years ago, was such a favourite throughout Great Britain. He called it the Egyptian Pocket, though, for all the name implied, it might as well have been called the Nubian, Chinese, Japanese, or Brazilian Pocket. One of the audience took a pack round, and allowed four cards to be drawn from it. These cards were afterwards gathered in by the same person, who, after mounting the stage, placed them in the pack, which was then well shuffled. The pack he placed in his breast pocket, and then drew out, one by one, three cards of those selected in the audience as they were called for. The fourth card, however, he failed to find, and was told to search the pack for it. The search proving fruitless, he was told to manufacture the card, and, on expressing his ignorance of the proper method to pursue, was directed to blow into his pocket, where the missing card was then discovered. He was found, however, to have blown too hard, for his vest contained a perfect avalanche of cards; whilst his nose, on being squeezed, gave forth a stream of them, amidst roars of laughter. The method for performing this trick is as follows: Place upon your centre table two bulky packs of cards, and step forward with a third pack in your hands. Ask someone to assist you, and give him the pack in the shape of a fan, directing him to ask certain ladies, four in number, whom you will indicate with your wand, to select one card each. On this being done, take the pack from his hand, and direct him to receive the four cards, faces downwards, on the flat of one hand. Whilst this is being done, step on the stage, but never take your eye off the operations that are going on, for you must notice whose card is placed undermost, whose next, and so on. Request your volunteer assistant to kindly step on the stage, and, opening the pack in the middle, ask him to place the four cards inside. Close the pack, keeping the finger inserted where the cards were placed, ready for the pass, and inquire if the person on the stage with you possesses an inside breast pocket to his coat. If it is outside, it does not much matter, but the inside one is better for the trick. On receiving an answer in the affirmative, ask to have the pocket emptied. Whilst this is being done, sometimes amidst much amusement, by reason of the miscellaneous character of the contents of the pocket, make the pass, bringing the four cards to the top, and, opening the pack slightly, carelessly run the eye over them. It is always as well to know them, in case of an accident occurring. Palm them, and give the rest of the pack to your assistant to shuffle. Taking the pack back, replace the palmed cards upon it, re-palming the top card only, and bid your assistant place the pack in his pocket. Feel the outside of his pocket, under the pretence of seeing that everything is all right, but in reality to give the cards a bend, crosswise. This bend will cause the back of the uppermost card to be the first met with by a hand entering the pocket. Now inquire of the chooser of this said top card—which, as you have palmed the original top one, will be the third one gathered in—what the name of her card is. You will affect to do this haphazard, and not as though you selected that particular person to inquire of. On receiving a reply, desire your assistant to put his hand quickly—"very quickly indeed, sir"—into his pocket, and draw out a card. If you have arranged everything properly, this will be the desired card. Now ask the chooser of the second card what the name of hers is, and repeat the operation. Do the same with the first card, and then with the fourth. By thus apparently dodging from one lady on one side of the room to one on the other side, it will still more appear that you are indifferent whose is asked for. This last card will not, of course, be forthcoming, and after a few fruitless attempts to produce it, plunge the hand, in which the card is palmed, into the pocket, and draw out the pack, leaving behind the palmed card. The assistant looks through the pack, but does not find the card, and you say, "Well, sir, you must make one, I suppose." On hearing that he does not know how, say, "Oh! it is as simple as possible. Take this wand in your right hand, and open your coat with the left. Good. Now blow into your pocket." The card will be found there, and your assistant, thinking it is all over, will be about to retire, when you, having just palmed one of the packs from the table, detain him with the remark that, "Although you did the trick very well, sir, for the first time, yet, owing to your inexperience, you unfortunately blew a little too hard. See here, sir, what you have inside your vest!" You then plunge the hand containing the cards rapidly inside his vest and draw out one card only, then another, another, and so on, and finally say that, as you do not know how many more there are, he had better take them out himself. Whilst he is doing this, palm the other pack, and say, "Have you any more cards, sir? No! Excuse me, but will you allow me to finish my experiment?" You then place your hand to his nose, and, compressing the hand, cause the cards to shoot forth in a stream on to the floor. Immediately it is over, shake hands with your assistant, and say you are extremely obliged. This will ease his mind of the idea that you meant to make a fool of him.

Sometimes, in drawing the cards from the pocket, the assistant will accidentally take them from the bottom, instead of from the top. In this case, they will be wrong cards, and you must say, "Ah! you don't do it quickly enough; this is the way," and, plunging your hand in the pocket, draw out the desired card, giving the pack, at the same time, a good bend, when you can allow the assistant to try again. About thirty cards will make the best pack for this trick, and great care must be taken that it does not contain two cards of a kind, for if one of these duplicates is chosen, and it is the fourth card, i.e., the one which is missing at the last, it (its duplicate) will be found in the pack when it is gone over, and all your blowing in the pocket performance, which is the great feature in the trick, will be knocked on the head. I have actually seen this occur. All the performer could do was to palm the card and pretend to pass it into the pocket, where, of course, the duplicate was found; but it was a very weak finish.

The Missing Link.—This is another very telling card trick, and one that has made the fame of more than one amateur conjuror. A card is chosen from the pack and torn into shreds. The pieces, with the exception of a single one, which is given into the custody of a spectator, are then put into a little box, piece of paper, &c., and made to disappear. The card is then found restored in some part of the audience, but it is noticed that a small portion of it is missing. The single piece, which was given to a spectator to hold, will be found to be of the very size and shape required, thus proving that the performer restored the actual card that was destroyed.

For this trick, some slight prearrangement will be necessary. In the first place, a card (say, the six of hearts) must have a small piece torn out from one of its sides. This mutilated card must then be secreted in some out-of-the-way place in the auditorium, or, what is still better, in the pocket of one of the audience, of course some time before the performance begins. I once had it sewn up in the lining of a coat, and on another occasion inserted in the sole of a boot: but, in such instances as these, care must be taken that the article containing the card is to be worn on the evening of the performance, or a fiasco will result. It is, however, always worth while to run a little risk for the sake of increased effect. The small piece torn from the card is carefully kept, and, whilst the trick is being performed, should be on the table, concealed by any trifling object that may be upon it at the same time.

"Force" (see instructions for "[forcing]") a card, exactly similar in every way to the one you have previously mutilated and concealed, and then ask the chooser to tear it up. Whilst this is being done, go to your table for your box or piece of paper, according to which you may elect to use, and bring with it, concealed in the fingers, the little piece of card. Then have the pieces, which should be reduced as nearly as possible to the size of your secreted piece, placed in the box or paper and, putting your fingers among them, affect to take out one piece, but, in reality, show the one you already had in your hand, and give it to a spectator to hold very tightly, or if he likes, to put it into his purse. If you have plenty of time on your hands, and wish to make extra fuss, you can have it put into an envelope and sealed by the audience, which certainly improves the effect. A very pardonable joke here comes in well. On giving the portion of the card to be held, say to the gentleman, "Will you kindly keep the piece, sir?" and then, affecting to notice reluctance in his looks, "No! then I must apply to a magistrate, who will, I have no doubt, bind you over to keep the peace for six months or so, whilst I shall only trouble you for a bare six minutes." If you have had the pieces put in paper, you can roll it up into a ball and vanish by palming in the right hand, whilst affecting to place it in the left, after the manner previously described for vanishing objects. A box can be treated in the same manner, or you can give the trick extra finish by having two boxes exactly similar, one being filled with chocolate creams or other comfits, and exchanged for the one containing the torn-up card. The box should be a small round one, and can then be treated exactly as if it were a coin, and palmed.

The pieces are then commanded to pass to wherever you have originally concealed the torn card, which will be found in due course. You exhibit it triumphantly, not affecting to notice the absence of a portion of it at first and, when you do make the discovery, you must appear overcome with bewilderment. Then suddenly remember the piece you have given to be held, and have it fitted to the card, which it will naturally make quite complete. Then, if you have used boxes, have the box supposed to contain the pieces opened by the lady who chose and tore up the card, and present her with it and its contents. Most conjurors leave the trick here, but, if the performer pleases, he can go still further, and render the card quite complete again. This is easily managed with the use of a card box (see [p. 127]), which can have a perfect card concealed in it. The incomplete card and piece are put in, and the box turned over. This latter phase is not absolutely necessary for the success of the trick. When, as is sometimes the case, it is found to be impossible to conceal the mutilated card satisfactorily in the audience, the card box will have to be used in the first instance.

This trick is best introduced in the middle of a performance, when the production of the card from the person of one of the audience will look more genuine than it would if it took place at the commencement.

The Ascending Cards.—For this trick some little preparation is also necessary, and a certain amount of apparatus will be required. Three, four, or more cards are chosen, and then shuffled up in the pack, which is put into a metal or cardboard receptacle of the size of a pack of cards. At a word of command, the cards ascend, one by one, from the pack, without any apparent agency.

The apparatus required for this trick consists of the case, which can either be made to conceal the cards entirely, or may have the front cut out so as to show the face of the foremost card, a small border being left for the purpose of preventing the cards from falling out. This case is divided into two divisions, the rearmost one being much smaller than the other, and just large enough to hold about ten cards. To the top of the dividing partition affix a piece of fine black silk, which allow to hang over the smaller division. Into this smaller division now introduce a card, which, as it is put in, must have the silk under it. Now introduce a second card, but pass the silk over this one instead of under it. Put in a third card with the silk under it, and a fourth with the silk over, continuing the operation according to the number of cards you intend performing with. When the silk is pulled, it will cause those cards which have it passed beneath them to ascend. The same effect would be caused without the intervention of intermediate cards, but then they would all rise at once, whereas the trick is to make them do so singly. The performer must have all this arranged before commencing, and also have the silk passed out either at the back (which is to be preferred, where possible) or the side of the stage, where an assistant is stationed, holding the end of it. If at the side, then a small staple or pulley must be fixed in the back of the table and the silk passed through it, otherwise a direct pull will not be obtained. The case holding the cards can either be made to fit in the neck of a decanter by means of a cork on the under side, or can be permanently fixed to a tall stand. I prefer the decanter myself, as an opaque stand always causes suspicions of mechanical assistance to arise in the minds of the audience. The decanter should be given for examination.