I quote the above instances simply to prove that the stones were actually swallowed and then disgorged, and not hidden, as Robert-Houdin claims, in the folds of the Mokadem’s burnous.
In this one chapter alone Robert-Houdin quotes six authorities in explaining the tricks he witnessed, which fact only strengthens my belief that he borrowed his tricks, as well as his explanations, from able and graphic writers on the art of magic.
The next work descriptive of the conjurer’s art offered by Robert-Houdin was “Les Secrets de la Prestidigitation et de la Magie.” Under the title of “The Secrets of Conjuring and Magic; or, How to Become a Wizard,” it was translated and edited by Professor Hoffmann and published in 1878 by George Routledge & Co., London and New York.
Absolutely no originality is displayed in this book, and the majority of the tricks explained can be found in French books of a similar character which appeared before Robert-Houdin turned author. The proof of this statement can be found by reading any of the following works upon which Robert-Houdin patently drew for his material:
“Nouvelle Magie Blanche Dévoilée et Cours Complet de Prestidigitation,” in two volumes, by J. N. Ponsin, published in Paris in 1853; “Grande Initiation au vraie Pratique des Célèbres Physiciens-Prestidigitateurs,” Paris, 1855; “Nouveau Manuel Complet Sorciers, les scènes de Ventriloquie exécutées et communiquées par M. Conte, Physicien du Roi,” Paris, 1837; “Anciens et Nouvaux Tours d’Escamotage,” of which there are innumerable editions; “Le Manuel des Sorciers. Recréations Physiques, Mathématiques, Tours de Cartes et de Gibecière; suivre, des Jeux de Société,” Paris, 1802.
His third work, “Magie et Physique Amusante,” translated by Professor Hoffmann under the title of “The Secrets of Stage Conjuring,” and published in English in 1881, is marred by an almost continuous strain of mis-statements, incorrect explanations, and downright falsification.
On page 17 of the American edition Robert-Houdin starts his dramatic tale of inventing a detector lock by which he protected a rich neighbor, M. de l’Escalopier, from robbery, and incidentally in return secured funds with which to open his theatre in the Palais Royal. In his “Mémoirs” Robert-Houdin states that the opening of the theatre was made possible by the invention of the writing and drawing automaton whose history has been traced in chapter III. The reader can choose between the two stories. One is as plausible as the other.
But to return to the detector lock. Count or M. De l’Escalopier having complained grievously to his humble neighbor, the watchmaker Robert-Houdin, that he and his family were being robbed, begged that the latter suggest some means of catching the thief. Robert-Houdin then recalled a childish device by which he had caught his school-fellows in the act of pilfering his desk, etc., and he proposed to the Count that the same device, elaborated to meet the strength of a full-grown man, be attached to his wealthy patron’s desk. As first planned, the detector lock was to shoot off a pistol on being tampered with, and then brand the hand of the thief with nitrate of silver. Count de l’Escalopier objected to branding a man for life, so Robert-Houdin substituted for the nitrate of silver a sort of cat’s claw which would clamp down on the robber’s hand and draw blood. The Count deposited ten thousand francs in his desk and caught the robber, his confidential servant, red-handed. The ten thousand francs he presented to Robert-Houdin as a reward for stopping the thefts.