Cassell's Book of In-door Amusements, Card Games, and Fireside Fun

by Various

TO PICK A MARKED SHILLING OUT OF A HAT COVERED WITH A HANDKERCHIEF.

Place three shillings taken from some cool place (not the pocket), or let some one of the audience place three such shillings in a hat, and cover them with a handkerchief. After this has been done, continue the "patter" for a minute or two, to allow of the warmth communicated to the coins by the hand passing away. Then hand the hat and coins to any one of the audience, and request him to remove any one, but only one, of the coins. By asking him whether he will be able to recognise that particular coin again, induce him to retain it for as long a time as possible in his hand, and, in order that there may really be no mistake, instruct him how to distinctly mark it by scratching it with a knife, or in some other equally effectual manner. It is important that the person taking and marking the coin should not wear gloves. When all this has been done, let the coin be again placed in the hat, and covered with the handkerchief. The warmth of the hand of the person who marked the coin will have made it perceptibly warmer than the other two, and if the performer is tolerably quick in thrusting his hand into the hat, there will be no difficulty in detecting this warmth, and selecting the marked coin. It is not necessary, however, that it be at once brought out; the performer should make-believe to search for it for some time before finally withdrawing and exhibiting it.

BURNING THE HANDKERCHIEF.

This is a good sleight-of-hand trick for amateurs. It requires no special apparatus, and, as here described, gives a good illustration of the many uses to which the magic wand may be put. Place a lighted candle on some small table near to, but well removed from contact with, the spectators; show both hands perfectly empty; borrow a pocket-handkerchief from some lady present. (N.B.—The handkerchief should, for the convenience of the performer, be of a small size, and therefore a lady's handkerchief is preferable.) Take the handkerchief by the centre, pull it carefully between the left finger and thumb, and advance to the candle. Before burning it, however, stop and say, as if in answer to some remark overheard, "Oh, no; the handkerchief has not been changed. See!" and, at the same time, allow another inspection of it. Suggest now to its owner that, if burned, she will desire her handkerchief to be restored again to its proper condition, and such being the case, announce the necessity of the magic wand for that purpose. Return to the table on which the wand will have been placed, which should be some table other than that on which the candle is standing, and at the same time place, unperceived, between the left thumb and forefinger, a small piece of material similar to that out of which a handkerchief is made. The centre of this piece of cambric should be pointed outwards so that it may be readily pulled out at the desired moment, the remainder being neatly rolled up and palmed under the thumb. Place the wand in one of the coat pockets, and again take the handkerchief, putting it this time into the left hand, and pull up the small piece of material, completely hiding the centre of the real handkerchief between the second and third finger and the palm of the hand. The portion of the smaller material sticking out from the thumb and forefinger may now be safely burnt, and the audience may be challenged to see there is no doubt but that it is the actual handkerchief. (Of course in this, as in all tricks, no person from the audience must be allowed to approach the performer, except upon invitation; and, indeed, it is almost always better that articles to be inspected should be taken by the performer to the audience; if the audience approaches near to the tricks when being performed the illusion is generally weakened, if not altogether spoiled.) The handkerchief being apparently burned at its centre, may, what remains of it, be now rolled up into a ball, and while this is being done, the actually burnt piece of material should be separated from the real handkerchief; then take the magic wand from the pocket, and in doing so, drop the small semi-burnt piece of cambric, unperceived, into that pocket, touch the handkerchief with the wand, and return it to its owner to be examined, when it will be found to be perfectly whole.

THE AUGMENTED COINS.

On a small tray or salver place a number of counters, gilt in imitation of sovereigns (these counters may be purchased at a very small cost), and ask of the audience if some one of their number will kindly give permission to have the coins passed into his hands or pockets. Several of those present will doubtless volunteer the necessary permission, but the performer may then protest that one will be sufficient to show his power, and however much of a wizard he may be, he yet cannot endow all present with unlimited wealth. The conjurer may further remark that he will be open and above board, that he will pass coins from himself to some one of the audience unseen, and without the knowledge of that one himself. The performer will do well to select for the trick some person whose countenance indicates an easy disposition, and such an one should be invited to take from the tray a handful of the coins. This having been done, the remainder of the counters should be emptied from the tray on to the table. The person who has taken the handful of coins should next be asked to count them, and the performer at the same time must approach him, with the empty salver, carefully held between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand, in order that the coins, as they are counted, may be placed therein. It may here be observed that in the right hand and underneath the salver the performer should have concealed a small number of similar coins or counters; for convenience of illustration we will say seven. These counters may very easily be concealed from sight, inasmuch as the three last fingers which are to hold them will be naturally covered by the tray. As the assisting spectator—who, by the way, should be no confederate—counts the coins one by one, repeat after him the numbers as they are named, to prevent any mistake or misunderstanding, until he has finished, having reached, we will suppose, twenty-two. He should now be requested to be good enough to take in one of his hands these twenty-two pieces, and the performer, suiting the action to the word, will here pour the twenty-two coins or counters into his own right hand, where they may be made to imperceptibly mingle with the seven already concealed there, as before mentioned, and at once the whole twenty-nine should be handed to and placed boldly into the offered hand of the spectator. As a matter of experience, it will be found that seven coins so added to twenty-two will not be detected; but as a further precaution, and to prevent the possibility of the counters being again numbered, ask the assisting spectator to keep the hand holding the coins as tightly closed as possible, and in the other hand to hold the salver, in order still further to give his assistance and to prove that the salver has nothing to do with the deception.

The operator should now return to his platform, or behind his conjuring table, and request that the coins may be held out in the clenched palm on a level with the heads, or rather a little above the heads, of the audience generally, in order that no one may be struck by the coins that are to be made to pass from the performer to take their place with those held out. The performer himself takes up from the table a number of counters, say eight, deliberately counting them one by one as they are taken, and allowing the entire audience to see that here again there is no deception. (N.B.—Unimportant movements like this should always be deliberately done.) The spectator whose assistance hitherto may be described as so valuable should now be asked if he has any objection to urge why these further eight coins or counters should not be passed from the performer on the stage or platform to him at his seat among the audience in the body of the room. It may confidently be reckoned upon that no objection will be urged. Here, again, as a preliminary to the final movement by a repetition both from the performer and the spectator, announce the number of counters (twenty-two) that are believed to be in the hand of the latter, and point out that with the eight about to be passed to him there should then be thirty. At this juncture the eight coins must be dropped into the hollow of the left hand of the performer; he should bend forward towards that part of the audience where the assistant for the time being is situated, and ask him to make a similar movement towards the platform, the performer indicating by means of his right hand the exact direction in which the assistant should move. This motion of the right hand will momentarily divert the attention of the audience generally from the left hand, which is to be taken advantage of by secreting the coins in some part of the attire of the performer. Everything is now ready to make the necessary "pass," and it may now be done at the first convenient point of the performer's address. Give the order "pass," and ask whether the shock of the advent of the additional counters was not felt. At any rate, ask the audience to verify, by counting, that the additional coins have duly reached the assistant's hand; and while all eyes are so occupied get possession secretly of another counter, and hold it, unperceived, in the right hand. It will be readily understood that the assistant will have but twenty-nine counters in his hand, inasmuch as the actual number added was only seven. Possibly, however, he will be so overwhelmed at the operation that has been apparently performed that one counter more or less will not be noticed; or, indeed, he may mis-count one, and, if so, the trick may be allowed to end; but if not, some allusion to the thirtieth coin having been dropped in its transit may be made, and the one palmed in the conjurer's right hand may be apparently brought out of a handkerchief, fan, lap, or pocket of some one of the other intervening spectators. At any rate, a careful reading of previously and subsequently described sleight-of-hand tricks will suggest to an ingenious lad many methods by which, with the aid of the additional coin, the latter part of the trick may be extended and varied.

TO GUESS THE TWO ENDS OF A LINE OF DOMINOES.

For this trick a whole set of dominoes is required, and from the set the performer should secretly secure one which is not a double. Let the remaining dominoes be well shuffled, and placed according to the ordinary rules of domino games, and the performer may safely and surely undertake to tell, without seeing them, the two numbers forming the extremes of the line which may have been placed during his absence from the room. The numbers on the extreme ends of the domino line will correspond with the numbers on the domino secreted by the performer. If the trick has for any good reason to be repeated, see that the secreted domino is exchanged for another.