Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

by Professor Hoffmann

Fig. 88.

The Brass Box for Money, known as the “Plug-box.”—This is a piece of apparatus so ingenious in construction, and capable of being used in so many different ways, that we should recommend the student of magic to make it one of his first investments. It is about three inches in height, and one and a half in diameter, and is composed of four separate parts. See [Fig. 88], in which a represents the outside or body of the box, being in reality a mere brass tube open at both ends, with a moveable bottom, b, which fits tightly in the end of a, appearing when in its place to be a fixture, and to form with a one complete whole; a has no lid, properly so called, but is closed by inserting in it what appears to be a solid brass plug or piston. This plug, however, though in appearance solid, also consists of two parts—the plug proper, c, which is really solid, and a brass sheath, d, exactly fitting it as to its diameter, but a quarter of an inch longer, thus leaving, when c is placed in d, and pushed home, a hollow space at the bottom of d capable of containing a florin or half-crown. The sheath d is of precisely the same length as a, and is so made as to fit easily upon c, but tightly within a. When the plug-box is exhibited to the audience, the bottom, b, is in its proper place, and c, which is shown apart from a, is covered with its sheath, d. There being nothing in its appearance to point to any other conclusion, the spectators naturally believe that the apparatus consists of those two parts only. If now the plug be placed within the box, and pushed home, the moveable bottom, b, will be pressed out, and fall into the hand of the performer. On again withdrawing the plug, the sheath d, which, as already mentioned, fits more tightly within a than upon c, is left within a; the bottom of d, which comes exactly flush with the lower edge of a, now appearing to be the bottom of the latter. To the eyes of the audience, the box is exactly as they saw it at first, and it may even be examined pretty freely, with little risk of its secret being discovered by any one.

The plug-box may be used in a variety of different ways—to vanish, reproduce, or exchange. For the first purpose, the coin to be got rid of is dropped into a. When the plug is inserted, and pressed home, the coin falls, with b, into the hand of the performer; and on the plug being again withdrawn, nothing is seen but the interior of d, which is of course empty. Where it is desired to use the box for the purpose of reproducing a coin, such coin is placed beforehand within d. The box is first shown empty, but has only to be closed and re-opened, and the coin is found within it. For exchanges, the substitute is placed in d, and the genuine coin in a. This latter falls out with the bottom, and the substitute is in due course discovered. A half-crown may thus be changed to a penny, or a sovereign to a shilling.

But the chief use of the plug-box is as an auxiliary in those more important tricks in which the coin, apparently remaining up to the last moment in the spectator’s own possession, is suddenly made to appear in some quarter to which (if it had really so remained) it could not possibly have been transported by natural means. The performer in this case places a similar coin beforehand in d. Dropping, or allowing the owner to drop, the marked coin into a, he closes the box, which he shakes to prove that the coin is really there. Giving the box to some one to hold, he is then enabled, without exciting the smallest suspicion, to retire, and make what disposition he pleases of the marked coin, which he has thus got into his own possession. When he has completed his arrangements, he again takes the box, and, opening it, takes out the substitute, which the audience naturally believe to be the genuine coin; and getting rid of this by sleight-of-hand or otherwise, passes the coin (at that very moment, so far as the audience can judge) to the place where it is ultimately destined to be found.

A favourite mode of using the plug-box is as follows:—A coin (say a florin) is wrapped in a small piece of paper, after which the coin is taken out and the paper again folded in such a manner as to retain the impression of the coin, and so to look, as far as possible, as if still containing it. The paper thus folded is placed beforehand in d, and the performer, borrowing a florin, requests the owner to wrap it carefully in a piece of paper, which he hands him for the purpose, and which is similar in size and general appearance to the folded piece. The florin, thus wrapped up, is placed in a, and the box closed, the performer thus gaining possession of paper and coin. The box is then handed to the owner of the money, who is asked to open it and see for himself that his money is still there. Seeing the folded paper, which he takes to be the same in which his money was wrapped, he answers in the affirmative. The box is again closed, the coin, meanwhile, being disposed of according to the pleasure of the operator—the owner finding on a closer examination that his money has departed from the box, though the paper in which it was wrapped (as he imagines) still remains.

The Handkerchief for Vanishing Money.—This is another appliance for vanishing a coin. It is an ordinary handkerchief of silk or cotton, in one corner of which, in a little pocket, is sewn a coin, say a florin or a penny, or any substitute which, felt through the substance of the handkerchief, shall appear to be such a coin. The mode of using it is very simple. Holding the handkerchief by the corner in which is the coin, and letting it hang loosely down, the performer borrows a similar coin, and, after carelessly shaking out the handkerchief, to show that all is fair, he places, to all appearance, the borrowed coin in the centre (underneath), and gives the handkerchief to some one to hold. In reality, he has only wrapped up the corner containing the substitute coin, and retains the genuine one for his own purposes. When it is desirable to make it appear that the coin has left the handkerchief, he simply takes it from the person holding it, and gives it a shake, at the same moment rapidly running the edges of the handkerchief through his hands, till the corner containing the coin comes into one or the other of them.

The Demon Handkerchief (Le Mouchoir du Diable).—This is a recent improvement on the above, and possesses a much wider range of utility, inasmuch as it really does cause the disappearance of any article placed under it, and is available to vanish not only coin, but a card, an egg, a watch, or any other article of moderate size. It consists of two handkerchiefs, of the same pattern, stitched together all round the edges, and with a slit of about four inches in length cut in the middle of one of them. The whole space between the two handkerchiefs thus forms a kind of pocket, of which the slit above mentioned is the only opening. In shaking or otherwise manipulating the handkerchief, the performer takes care always to keep the side with the slit away from the spectators, to whom the handkerchief appears to be merely the ordinary article of everyday use. When he desires by its means to cause the disappearance of anything, he carelessly throws the handkerchief over the article, at the same time secretly passing the latter through the slit in the under side, and hands it thus covered to some one to hold. Then, taking the handkerchief by one corner, he requests him to let go, when the object is retained in the space between the two handkerchiefs, appearing to have vanished into empty air.

This, like the plug-box, is an appliance which no conjuror should be without. It may be purchased ready-made at any of the depôts for magical apparatus, or may be of home-manufacture, which in this case (contrary to the general rule) is not unlikely to produce the better article.

The Davenport Cabinet.—This little cabinet must by no means be confounded with the wardrobe in which the notorious Brothers performed their mystic evolutions. The cabinet now in question is but four inches high and two and a half square, and consists of two parts, an outer case, or body, covered at the top, but otherwise open throughout, and a drawer, occupying the upper portion of its interior space. (See [Fig. 89].) When the drawer is removed, the case, which has no bottom, may be examined throughout, and will be found to be perfectly plain and unsophisticated; save that a keen examiner might observe a little brass pin, a quarter of an inch long, projecting from the back of the cabinet on the inside, just on a level with the bottom of the drawer when replaced in its proper position. The drawer may also be examined, and will be found to be perfectly plain, with the bottom (which is so thin as to preclude any suspicion of a concealed space), covered within and without with black cloth. On turning the drawer round, and examining the back, a minute hole may be discovered, corresponding in situation with the brass pin already mentioned. If a pin be thrust into this hole, the purpose of the two is immediately manifest; for the pressure of the pin releases a tiny catch, and allows the bottom of the drawer, which is in reality only supported by this catch at the back and a cloth hinge in the front, to drop into the position indicated in [Fig. 90]. This is precisely what takes place when the drawer, being restored to its proper position in the cabinet, is duly closed. The pressure of the brass pin at the back releases the catch, and the bottom of the drawer falls as just described, and allows any article which may have been placed therein to drop into the hand of the person holding the cabinet. (See [Fig. 91].) The act of pulling out the drawer again presses the bottom up to its proper place, where it is secured by the catch until once more released by the pressure of the pin. The strong point of this ingenious little apparatus is that it is absolutely self-acting, and its secret can only be detected by examining the cabinet from below at the moment when the drawer is pushed home; and this it is easy to prevent by the simple expedient of handing each portion separately for inspection.