Fig. 20.—Handkerchief
Clamp
Handkerchief from Tissue Paper.—Take a small bit of soft copper wire, covered with cotton (e.g., a piece of insulated telegraph wire), and construct a clamp about the size shown in the diagram, (Fig. 20). A small red silk handkerchief about ten inches square is folded as compactly as possible and placed between the clamps. By pressing the wire the handkerchief is kept securely
Fig. 21.—Handkerchief
Trick fastened. Place the fake on your table, the handkerchief pointing toward yourself, (Fig. 21). Now take a piece of white tissue paper, four and one-half by seven inches, and lay it over the handkerchief. This arrangement of course is effected before the performance begins. With your left hand pick up the tissue paper, and with the latter the fake containing the handkerchief. Now take the paper in your right hand, which under cover of paper secures the clasp (part a of fake) between the first and second fingers. The handkerchief is now on the inside of the right hand, while the hand is perfectly free in its movements. Exhibit both sides of the paper and smooth it out. All you have to do now is to crumble the sheet of paper, work out the handkerchief from the fake and insert the ball of paper into wire clamp. Then show the handkerchief to the audience, and drop the fake into your pochette.
The New Cylinders and Handkerchief Trick.—For this capital trick you must provide yourself with two glass cylinders closed at one end. They may be procured from conjuring depots, or constructed out of lamp chimneys, by cementing glass disks at the ends of the chimneys. However, the student will find it more satisfactory to purchase these cylinders from some reliable dealer in magical apparatus. Preferably they should have rounded bottoms, as depicted in the illustration. The effect of the trick is as follows:—On your table are two cylinders. In
Fig. 22.—Handkerchief
Trick front of each lies a handkerchief, one yellow, the other red. Now pick up the left-hand handkerchief (yellow) and place it in the right-hand cylinder, and the right-hand handkerchief (red) in the left-hand cylinder, (Fig. 22). Lay the cylinders once more on the table, and make a little speech about the rapidity with which articles sometimes change
Fig. 23.—Handkerchief Trick places, under the influence of atmospheric electricity. Pick up the cylinders, one in each hand, and move the hands quickly apart. In the same moment the handkerchiefs change places like a flash of lightning. The secret of this very clever illusion will become apparent on consulting the diagram, (Fig. 23). The cylinders have little holes in the bottoms. A strong silk thread is run through them and looped about the handkerchiefs. A few trials will have to decide the proper length of this thread. The explanation of this feat is simplicity itself, but the effect is very bewildering upon an audience. It is one of Plate's cleverest tricks and is performed by him with artistic finish.