The Detaining Hand-clasp. Grasp a person firmly by the wrists as if you were about to handcuff him, and say that you can clasp his hands in such a way that he cannot leave the room without unclasping them. Probably he will look sharply at you for a while, trying to divine your purpose, and if you maintain your firm hold on his wrists, he will be led to believe that you intend to use your strength for the purpose.
Then lead him to a table and seating him on a chair by it, clasp his hands about one of the legs. Of course, he cannot now leave the room without unclasping them unless he overturns the table or drags it with him.
The Pictorial Nail. By having in your possession an extraordinarily strong magnet, you can perform the following very effective trick. Prepare a large frame with a paper centre, now take a crayon and draw a nail or a hook, then borrow a key or key-ring and make the announcement that you will hang one of the articles on the picture. This is easy if you have an assistant in the rear, with the magnet attached to a stick, which he holds directly in the rear of the drawn picture, the magnet holding the article on the front.
Cane Trick. Measure the length of your forearm along a cane by placing your elbow even with its head and marking the point to which the tip of your middle finger reaches.
Take hold of your cane with your middle finger, covering the mark, and your little finger nearest to the head. The cane must be at right angles to the hand and be grasped firmly so that the tips of all the fingers are pressed tightly against the palm of the hand. It is not “fair” to hold the cane obliquely.
Now try to put the head of the cane to your lips. If you succeed you are an exception to the general rule, and even you will probably fail if you hold the cane, in the same manner, at a point a little further from the head.
But any one can do the trick easily by holding the cane at a less distance from its head than the length of his forearm.