We propose to describe in this chapter such card tricks as require the aid of some mechanical appliance or apparatus, but are still appropriate for a drawing-room performance. There are some few tricks performed with cards (such as the Fairy Star, the Demon’s Head, and the like) which necessitate the use of a mechanical table, or other apparatus of an elaborate and costly character. These will not be here noticed, but will be given, at the close of the work, in the portion devoted to Stage Tricks.
We may here anticipate a not unlikely question on the part of the student—viz., “How can I best obtain the necessary apparatus?” In some instances, an amateur with a mechanical turn may be able to manufacture his appliances for himself; and where this is the case, we would by no means discourage his doing so, as he will thereby derive a double amusement from his study of the magic art. But where the student has not the ability or inclination to do this, we should strongly advise him not to attempt to have his apparatus made to order by persons unaccustomed to this class of work, but to go direct to one or other of the regular depôts. Magical apparatus requires so much precision in its details, and so much attention to apparent trifles, that the first attempt of any workman, however skilful, is almost sure to be a failure; and by the time the defects are rectified, the purchaser will find that he has paid more for a clumsy makeshift than he would have done for a thoroughly good article had he gone to the right quarter. Experience will quickly prove that inferior apparatus is dear at any price.
Peck & Snyder, 124 Nassau Street, New York City, are the largest manufacturers, importers, and dealers in sports, pastimes, and trick materials. They will forward illustrated catalogues on application, giving details of an infinite variety of Optical, Chemical, Mechanical, Magnetical, and Magical Experiments, and ingenious deceptions. Supplementary sheets are issued from time to time, giving descriptions of new novelties. One peculiarity of their business is that every purchaser is taught, by the very explicit instructions that accompany each article and by correspondence, to perform whatever Tricks he may buy, so that he may exhibit them with ease and without fear of detection, and no trouble is spared in order to make him perfect in what he purchases. Prices are generally low: where a seemingly high price occurs the professor or skilled amateur will readily realize that it is occasioned by the elaborateness of the mechanism of the particular apparatus desired, and the cost that such precision in manipulative manufacture involves. The purchaser—we speak from personal experience—can always depend on receiving uniform courtesy, good value, and sound practical instruction.
The novice must be warned against imagining that, when he has got into the region of apparatus, the necessity for personal address and dexterity will be diminished. On the contrary, there is hardly a trick among those we are about to describe which does not demand more or less practical knowledge of sleight-of-hand. We shall assume, in the following pages, that the reader has carefully followed and studied the directions already given, in which case he will find little difficulty in this portion of the work.
The Magic Sword. A Card being drawn and replaced, and the Pack flung in the Air, to catch the chosen Card on the point of the Sword.—We have already described a trick somewhat similar in effect, in which, the pack being flung in the air, the chosen card is caught in the hand of the performer. The trick in this form makes a very good prelude to the still more surprising one which we are about to describe.
It will be remembered, that, in the trick above mentioned, an ordinary pack is used, and the spectator is allowed to draw whatever card he pleases. The card, when returned, is brought to the top by the pass, and palmed: and, though supposed to be caught amid the falling shower, in reality never leaves the hand of the performer. The audience may possibly have a suspicion of this, and you may hear a faint murmur to the effect that “he had the card in his hand!” and so on. When this occurs, it serves as a very natural introduction to the trick with the sword. You say, “Ah! you fancy I had the card in my hand? I will repeat the trick, in order to show you that you are mistaken. Will some one be kind enough to draw another card? Thank you. Don’t return the card to me, but put it back in the pack yourself. Now be kind enough to shuffle thoroughly. You cannot say I have the card in my hand this time, at all events. Excuse me one instant, while I fetch my magic sword.” You go behind your screen, and return, holding in your hand a drawn sword. You place yourself in fencing attitude, and, addressing the person who holds the cards, say, “I am going to give you the words, one! two! three! At the word ‘three!’ will you please throw the cards in the air, so as to fall lightly on the point of my sword, when I will pick out with the point the identical card you drew. Spread the cards a little in a fan shape before you throw them, so that I may get a fair sight of them. Are you ready? One, two, THREE!” At the word three, the cards are thrown, the performer makes a lunge among them, and a card is instantly seen fluttering on the point of the sword, and, on examination, is found to be the very card which was drawn.
The secret of this surprising feat lies mainly in the sword. This is an ordinary small-sword (see Fig. 41), with a three-sided rapier blade, but altered in a particular way for the purpose of the trick. The tip of the blade (see Fig. 42) is cut off at about a third of an inch distance from the extreme point, and across the concave side of this tip, and also across the corresponding part of the shortened blade, are soldered minute cross-pieces of brass, each bent outwards in the middle, so as to form, with the concavity of the blade, a kind of eye just large enough to admit freely a piece of thin black elastic cord, the other end of which is passed through a similar small hole in the guard of the hilt. The elastic thus lies along the hollow side of the blade, passing through the two “eyes” already mentioned, and is kept in position by a knot at each end. The tension of the elastic holds the moveable tip in its natural position at the end of the blade. It may, however, be drawn away from it in any direction as far as the elastic will permit, but, when released, immediately flies back to its old position. On the same side of the hilt—viz., the side farthest away from the palm of the hand when grasping the sword (see Fig. 43)—is fixed a flat, oblong piece of tin, painted black, with its longer edges folded over about half an inch on each side, in such manner as to form a receptacle for a card.
Unless you are tolerably expert in forcing, you will also require some forcing cards of the same pattern as the ordinary pack you have in use. These, however, need not be a full pack, a dozen cards alike being amply sufficient for your purpose. You commence your preparations by taking one of the cards of the forcing pack, cut a small slit in its centre with a penknife, and thrust completely through it the moveable tip of the sword (taking care not to enlarge the hole more than absolutely necessary), and place the sword thus prepared out of sight of the audience, but so as to be easily got at when you want it. Have your forcing cards in your pocket, or somewhere where you can lay your hand on them without attracting observation, and your ordinary pack on the table. You may begin by remarking, “Let me ask you to take particular notice that I perform this trick with whatever card you choose, not influencing your choice in any way. To show you that I don’t compel you to take any particular card, I will just take a handful of cards from the top of the pack” (as you say this you place your forcing cards, which you have previously palmed, for an instant on the top of the ordinary pack, immediately taking them off again, as if they had formed part of it, and were the handful of cards you referred to, and offer them to some one to draw). “Take whichever you please—first card, last card, middle card, it is precisely the same to me. Observe that I don’t attempt to press upon you any particular card, but hold the cards perfectly motionless while you make your choice.” As soon as a card is drawn, without waiting for it to be replaced, return to your table, holding the remaining forcing cards in your left hand. Pick up the pack with your right hand. Place it on the cards in your left hand, at the same moment making the pass to bring these cards to the top. Palm these (with the right hand), and, dropping them into your profonde, or elsewhere out of sight, advance with the pack to the person who drew, and request him to replace his card, and shuffle thoroughly. While he does so, you retire to fetch your sword, as before mentioned. Before returning to the audience, you prepare it as follows:—Taking it in your right hand in the ordinary manner, you draw down with the other hand the pierced card, and slide the card endways into the receptacle on the hilt. The elastic, which is now stretched to double its ordinary length, will pull at the card pretty tightly; but you retain it in position by pressing on the face of the card with the second and third fingers of the hand that grasps the hilt. Having done this, you return to the audience, taking care so to stand that the back of the hand that holds the sword shall be towards them. When the cards are flung in the air, as already described, you make a lunge among them, and at the same moment relax the pressure of the fingers on the pierced card. The elastic, being thus released, flies rapidly back to its original position, and carries the moveable tip, and with it the card, to the end of the blade, by which the card appears to be transfixed, as in Fig. 41. The movement of the sword in the lunge, coupled with that of the falling cards, completely covers the rapid flight of the pierced card from hilt to point. To get the card off the sword, pull it down the blade, and tear it roughly off. When you have taken off the card, drop the point of the sword, and hand the card at once to the drawer for examination. This serves to divert attention, not only from the sword itself, but also from the cards scattered on the ground, among which the one actually drawn still remains.
This trick is sometimes performed with three cards instead of one. The working of the trick is the same, save that you use a forcing pack consisting of three cards repeated, and that in preparing the sword the two first cards which are threaded on the elastic are perforated with holes of such a size, as to allow them, when released, to slide partially down the blade, the first nearly to the hilt, and the second about half way.
The Rising Cards (La Houlette).—Several Cards having been drawn, returned, and Shuffled, to make them rise spontaneously from the Pack.—This is one of the best of card tricks. The performer advances, pack in hand, to the company. He invites three persons each to draw a card. The cards having been drawn, they are replaced in different parts of the pack, which is thoroughly shuffled. The performer then places the pack in a tin box or case, just large enough to hold it in an upright position. This case is generally in the form of a lyre, open in front and at the top, and supported on a shaft or pillar, twelve or fifteen inches high (see Fig. 44). He then asks each person in succession to call for his card, which is forthwith seen to rise slowly from the pack, without any visible assistance, the performer standing quite apart.
The ingenuity of different professors has added little embellishments of a humorous character. For instance, the performer may remark, addressing one of the persons who drew, “I will not even ask the name of your card, sir. You have only to say, ‘I command the card I drew to appear,’ and you will be obeyed.” He does so, but no effect is produced; the cards remain obstinately motionless. The command is repeated, but with the same result. The performer feigns embarrassment, and says, “I must really apologize for the disobedience of the cards. I cannot tell how it is; they never behaved in this way before. I am afraid I must ask you to name the card, after all, when I will try my own authority.” The card proves to have been a queen, say the queen of spades. “Oh,” the performer says, “that quite explains it. Queens are not accustomed to be ordered about in such a peremptory manner. If we try again in becoming language, I dare say we shall be more successful. Let us try the experiment. Say, ‘Will your Majesty oblige the company by appearing?’” Thus propitiated, the card rises instantly. Occasionally a knave is one of the cards drawn, and, when summoned, scandalizes the performer by appearing feet foremost. He is appropriately rebuked, and thrust down again by the professor, upon which he immediately reappears in a proper attitude. Sometimes a card, after coming up half way, begins to retire again, but at the command of the performer starts afresh, and rises completely out of the pack.
These apparently surprising effects are produced by very simple means. In the first place, the cards which rise from the pack are not those actually drawn, but duplicates of them, arranged beforehand. The performer ensures the corresponding cards being drawn by using a forcing pack, made up of repetitions of the three cards in question, which we will suppose to be the queen of spades, the ten of hearts, and the seven of diamonds, with some other single card at the bottom. The tin case, in the original form of the trick, has two compartments—the one to the front being large enough to hold a complete pack, but the hinder one adapted to contain six or eight cards only. In this hinder compartment are placed six cards, three of them being those which are intended to rise, and the other three indifferent cards. A black silk thread is fastened to the upper edge of the partition between the two compartments, and is thence brought under the foremost card (which is, say, the queen of spades), over the next (an indifferent card), under the third (the ten of hearts), over the fourth (an indifferent card), under the fifth (the seven of diamonds), over the sixth (an indifferent card), finally passing out through a minute hole at the bottom of the hinder compartment. If the thread be pulled, the three cards named will rise in succession, beginning with the hindmost—viz., the seven of diamonds. The three indifferent cards are put in as partitions, or fulcrums, for the thread to run over. If these partitions were omitted, the three chosen cards would rise all together.
The thread may be drawn in various ways. Sometimes this is done by the performer himself, standing behind or beside the table. Another plan is to have the thread attached to a small cylindrical weight within the pillar, which is made hollow, and filled with sand. The weight rests on the sand until the operator desires the cards to rise, when, by moving a trigger at the foot of the pillar, he opens a valve, which allows the sand to trickle slowly down into a cavity at the base; and the weight, being thus deprived of its support, gradually sinks down, and pulls the thread. (The pillar in this case is made about two feet high, as the weight must necessarily travel six times the length of a card.) Others, again, draw the thread by means of a clockwork arrangement in the table, or in the pillar itself, answering the same purpose as the sand and weights. The arrangement which we ourselves prefer, where practicable, is to have the thread drawn by an assistant, who may either be placed behind a screen, or may even stand in full view of the audience, so long as he is at some little distance from the table. The silk thread is quite invisible, if only you have a tolerably dark background. The only portion as to which you need feel any anxiety is that immediately connected with the cards. To conceal this it is well, if you use a special table, to have a small hole bored in the top, through which the thread may pass. The card-stand being placed immediately in front of the hole, the thread will pass perpendicularly downward for the first portion of its length, and will thus be concealed behind the pillar. In default of a hole, a ring of bent wire attached to the table will answer the same purpose. The great advantage of having the thread pulled by a living person instead of a mechanical power is, that you can take your own time in the performance of the trick; whereas, if you use a weight or clockwork, there is always a danger of a card beginning to rise before you have called for it, or possibly not rising at all—either contingency being rather embarrassing.
In the latest and best form of the trick, the second compartment of the case is dispensed with, and the apparatus may be handed round for examination both before and after it is used. In this case three cards are forced and returned as already mentioned; but the performer, as he reaches his table, adroitly exchanges the forcing pack for another already prepared, and placed on the servante if a regular conjuring-table is used, or, if not, concealed behind some object on the table. This pack is prepared as follows:—The last six cards are arranged with the thread travelling in and out between them, just as the six cards in the hinder compartment were in the older form of the trick. A knot is made in the silk thread, which is hitched into a notch an eighth of an inch deep, made in the lower edge of the sixth card. The knot prevents the thread from slipping, but does not interfere with its being instantaneously detached when, the trick being over, you hand the whole apparatus, cards and all, to be examined.
Some performers use no stand or pillar for the card-case, but fix it by a short plug projecting for that purpose on its under side, in a decanter of water on the table. Some, again, in order to exclude all apparent possibility of mechanical aid, fasten it on the top of a common broomstick, fixed in the floor of the stage, and broken over the performer’s knee at the conclusion of the trick. To our own taste, the trick is best performed without any special card-case whatever, the pack being placed in an ordinary glass goblet with upright sides, first handed round to the audience for inspection. It is here absolutely self-evident that the glass can give no mechanical assistance; and as the audience know nothing of the exchange of the packs, the immediate rising of the cards at the word of command appears little short of miraculous.
It only remains to explain the modus operandi of the little variations before alluded to. The offended dignity of the queen, declining to appear when summoned in too cavalier a manner, is accounted for by the fact that the performer or his assistant refrains from pulling the thread until the offender has adopted a more respectful tone. The phenomenon of the knave first appearing feet foremost, and then invisibly turning himself right end uppermost, is produced by the use of two knaves, the first (i.e., hindmost) being placed upside down, and the second (with an indifferent card between) in its proper position. When the performer pushes the first knave down again, with a request that it will rise in a more becoming attitude, he thrusts it down, not as he appears to do, in the same place which it originally occupied, but among the loose cards forming the front portion of the pack, thus getting it out of the way, and allowing the thread to act on the second knave. It is hardly necessary to observe that, for producing this particular effect, the cards must be of the old-fashioned single-headed pattern. The alternate ascent and descent of a given card is produced by using a card at whose lower edge, between the back and front of the card, is inserted a slip of lead-foil. The card, so weighted, sinks down of itself as soon as the pull of the thread is relaxed, and may be thus made to rise and fall alternately, as often as the operator chooses, and finally, by a quick, sharp jerk, to jump right out of the pack.
Another very telling incident is the transformation of an eight to a seven, or a seven to a six. A seven of spades, say, has been one of the drawn cards, but when it is summoned an eight of spades appears. The performer apologizes for the mistake, and, giving the card a touch of his wand, shows it instantly transformed to a seven. This is effected by sticking (with a little bees’-wax) a loose spade pip in the appropriate position on an ordinary seven of spades. The performer takes out the supposed eight with one hand, and thence transfers it to the other. In so doing he draws off, with the hand which first held the card, the loose pip, and, holding the card face downwards, touches it with the wand, and shows that it has apparently changed to the card drawn.
There is a mode of performing the trick of the rising cards entirely without apparatus, and without the necessity of forcing particular cards. The performer in this case invites a person to draw a card, and when it is returned makes the pass to bring it to the top of the pack. He then makes a false shuffle, leaving it on the top, and offers the pack to a second person to draw. When he has done so, and before he replaces the card, the performer makes the pass to bring the card first drawn to the middle, so that the second card is placed upon it, and then again makes the pass to bring both together to the top. The process may be repeated with a third card. The three cards are thus left at the top of the pack, that last drawn being the outermost. The performer now asks each person, beginning with the last who drew, to name his card, and, holding the pack upright in his right hand, the thumb on one side, and the third and fourth fingers on the other, with the face of the pack to the audience (see Fig. 45), he causes the cards to rise one by one by pushing them up from the back by an alternate movement of the first and second fingers (which should previously be slightly moistened). If the face of the cards is held fairly to the spectators, it will be impossible for them to discover that the cards do not rise from the middle of the pack.
We have been more prolix than we could have desired in the description of this trick, but minute details are the very soul of conjuring. The experience of Horace, “Brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio,” applies with peculiar force to the magic art; and if we occasionally irritate the reader of quick apprehension by too great minuteness, he must remember that we have, as far as we can, to anticipate every possible question, and that a single point left unexplained may render useless an otherwise careful description.
The Jumping Cards.—Two or three Cards having been drawn, returned, and shuffled to make them jump out of the Pack.—This trick is somewhat similar in working to that of the rising cards as performed in the hand, which we have just described. The course of the two tricks is precisely the same up to the point when, the two or three cards having been drawn and returned, you have got them all to the top of the pack. Here, however, the resemblance ceases. In the present case you drop the whole pack into an open-mouthed box, made for that purpose, and announce that, although the chosen cards have been replaced in different parts of the pack, and the whole have since been thoroughly shuffled, you have only to blow upon them in order to separate them visibly from the rest of the pack. You blow upon the box accordingly, when the chosen cards instantly fly out of the pack, rising to a height of three or four feet, and fall on the table.
The secret of the trick, apart from the sleight-of-hand necessary to bring the chosen cards together at the top of the pack, lies in the box. It is in general appearance something like a miniature pedestal for a statue, but hollow, and open at the top, the cavity being rather more than large enough to hold a pack of cards. (See Fig. 46.) It is divided longitudinally into two compartments, the foremost being large enough to hold a whole pack, the hindmost to hold only three or four cards, the partition between the two coming about half way up the box. The bottom of the larger compartment is level with the top of the plinth, but the smaller is open to the whole depth, save that across it is a steel spring about half an inch in width. Fig. 47 represents a section of the apparatus, A being the upper part, of which a is the larger or front compartment, and b the smaller compartment at the back. B is the plinth. A is so constructed as to slide forwards on, or rather in, B, to the extent of about an eighth of an inch, but is prevented doing so, in the normal condition of the apparatus, by the spring c, which is screwed to the bottom of A, its free end pressing against the side of the plinth. If, however, the spring be pressed down from above, so as to be below the level of the shoulder d (for which purpose a thin slip of wood is supplied with the apparatus), and A be at the same time pushed towards d, it will slide forward to the position indicated in Fig. 48, and the spring c will be held down beneath the shoulder d. This is the condition in which the apparatus is first exhibited to the audience. After turning it over, to show that there are no cards already concealed in it, the performer places in it the pack, first, however, slipping his little finger between the chosen cards (which are on the top) and the rest of the pack, so as to enable him to drop the chosen cards into the smaller compartment at the back, where they rest upon the bent spring. (See Fig. 48.) Standing behind the box, and placing his hands around the plinth, as if to hold it steady, the fingers of each hand being in front, and the thumb behind, he blows smartly upon the box, at the same moment pushing A forward with the thumbs to the position which it occupies in Fig. 47. The spring c, being drawn back with it beyond the shoulder d, is released, and instantly flies up to its old position, shooting out of the box the cards resting upon it.
This trick is sometimes, like that of the rising cards, worked with a forcing pack, duplicates of the forced cards being placed beforehand in the hinder compartment. This method, however, is very inferior to that above described, and would hardly be adopted by any performer who had acquired a competent mastery of sleight-of-hand.
To make a Card stand upright by itself on the Table.—This is a little trick of hardly sufficient importance to be performed by itself; but as an incident introduced in the course of some more pretentious illusion, produces a very good effect. A great deal of the sparkle of a conjuring entertainment depends upon the performer’s readiness in what may be called “by-play,” consisting of a number of minor tricks not supposed to form part of the settled programme, but merely introduced incidentally, and used, as it were, as a garnish to the more important feats. Thus, when a coin, an egg, or other small article, is required for the purpose of a trick, the performer may fetch it openly from behind the scenes, or have it handed to him by his servant; but this is a commonplace proceeding. The higher class of performers prefer in such cases to produce the article from the hair, whiskers, or pocket of one of the audience; and in like manner, when the article has served its purpose, to make it vanish by some magical process, rather than by the prosaic methods of every-day life. These little incidents serve to keep the audience on the qui vive, and they further assist materially in keeping up the continuity of an entertainment. In a thoroughly good performance the audience should have no time to think, but should be led direct from one surprise to the contemplation of another.
The trick we are about to describe is of the class above alluded to. In the course of one or other of your card tricks, you have or make occasion to ask some person to go and place a given card on the table, or to examine a card already placed there. He does so, and is about to return to his place; but you check him. “No, sir, that won’t do. I want everybody to see what card it is. Will you be good enough to stand it up on end, with its face to the company, so that everybody can see it.” He looks foolish, and finally says that he can’t do it. “Not do it?” you reply. “My dear sir, it’s the simplest thing in the world. Allow me!” and taking the card from him, you place it upright on the table, and leave it standing without any visible support. Taking it up again, you hand it round, to show that there is no preparation about it, and on receiving it back, again stand it upright, but with the other end upwards; or, if challenged, allow the audience themselves to choose a card, which you cause to stand alone with equal facility.
The secret lies in the use of a very small and simple piece of apparatus, being, in fact, merely a strip of tin or sheet brass, an inch and a half in length, and five-eighths of an inch in width, bent at a shade less than a right angle—say 85°; its shorter arm being one-third of its length. On the outer surface of the long arm is spread a thin layer of bees’-wax (made more adhesive by the addition of a small portion of Venice turpentine), and to the inner surface of the shorter arm is soldered a small piece of lead, about an eighth of an inch thick. When you desire to perform the trick, you have this little appliance concealed in your right hand, the longer arm between the first and second fingers, and the shorter arm pointing towards the little finger. Picking up the card with the left hand, you transfer it to the right, taking hold of it in such manner that the fingers shall be behind and the thumb in front of the card. As you place the card on the table (which, by the way, must be covered with a cloth), you press against it (see Fig. 49) the waxed side of the slip of tin, which will slightly adhere to it, and thus form a prop or foot, the little lump of lead acting as a counterpoise to the weight of the card. You pick it up with the same hand, and as you transfer it to the other, you will find no difficulty in removing and secreting between the fingers the little prop.
If the wax is properly amalgamated, it should leave no mark on the card.
Changing Card-boxes, and Tricks performed with them.—The changing card-box in its simplest form is a small flat box in walnut or mahogany. (See Fig. 50.) Its outside measurement is four inches by three, and not quite an inch deep. Inside it is just large enough to admit an ordinary-sized playing card. The upper and lower portions of the box, which are connected by hinges, are exactly alike in depth, and each is polished externally, so that the box, which, when open, lies flat like a book, may be closed either way up; and either portion will, according as it is placed, become box or lid in turn. Thus, by using a card which, unknown to the audience, has two faces—e.g., is an ace of hearts on the one side, and an ace of spades on the other—and placing such card in one side of the open box, you have only to close the box with that side uppermost, or to turn over the box as you place it on the table, to transform the card just shown into a different one. There is nothing in the appearance of the box itself to indicate that it has been turned, so to speak, wrong side up, and a very little practice will enable you to turn it over, as you place it on the table, without attracting observation.
There is a further appliance in connection with the box in question, which, however, may be used with or without it, as may best suit the trick in hand. This is a loose slab, a, of the same wood of which the interior of the box is made, of the thickness of cardboard, and of such a size as to fit closely, though not tightly, in either half of the box. When so placed, it has the appearance of the inside top or bottom of the box. When the box is closed in such manner that the part in which this slab is placed is uppermost, the slab falls into the lower portion, thus forming a false bottom on whichever side happens to be undermost. If a card (say the ace of hearts) be secretly placed in either side of the box, and this slab placed on it, the box will appear empty. If now another card (say the knave of spades) be openly placed in either side, and the box closed in such manner that the portion containing the false bottom is undermost, no change will take place; but if, either in closing the box or subsequently, it is so placed that the side containing the false bottom becomes uppermost, the false bottom will at once drop into the opposite division, and on re-opening the box the ace of hearts will be revealed, and the knave of spades will in its turn be concealed. The effect to the spectators is as if the knave of spades had changed into the ace of hearts.
These card-boxes are frequently worked in pairs, as follows:—The boxes are prepared by placing a different card secretly in each, say an ace of hearts in the one, and a knave of spades in the other. The performer brings them forward to the company, each hanging wide open, and held by one corner only, with the first and second finger inside, and the thumb outside the box, taking care, however, to hold each by the side containing the false bottom, which is thus kept in position by the pressure of the fingers. So held, the boxes appear absolutely empty. Having drawn attention to the entire absence of any preparation, the performer lays them open upon the table, and, taking up a pack of cards, requests two of the company each to draw one. They, of course, imagine that they are making a free choice, but in reality he forces (either by sleight-of-hand, or by means of a forcing pack) the ace of hearts and the knave of spades. Again bringing forward the two boxes, he requests each person to place his card in one of them, taking care so to arrange that the person who has drawn the ace of hearts shall place it in the box already containing the concealed knave of spades, and vice versâ. Closing each box with the portion containing the false bottom uppermost, he now announces that at his command the cards will change places, which, on re-opening the boxes, they appear to have done. By again turning over the boxes, they may be made to return to their original quarters.
Numerous other good tricks may be performed with the aid of these boxes, which should form part of the collection of every conjuror. By placing a given card beforehand beneath the false bottom and forcing a like card, you may allow the card drawn to be torn into twenty pieces, and yet, by placing the fragments in the box, or firing them at it from a pistol, restore the card instantly, as at first. In like manner, you may cause a given card to be found in the apparently empty box, or may cause a card openly placed therein to vanish altogether. The changing-box is also sometimes employed by those who are not proficient in sleight-of-hand, as a substitute for forcing, in the following manner:—The performer requests some person to draw a card, and, without looking at it, to place it face downwards in the box for supposed safe keeping. The box is presently opened by the same or some other person, who is requested to note what the card is. He does so, believing the card to be that which was drawn, and which he had just before seen placed in the box; whereas the card he now examines is, in reality, one concealed beforehand in the box by the performer to suit his purpose, the card actually drawn being now hidden by the false bottom.
The Mechanical Card-box.—This also is a piece of apparatus for changing a chosen card to another. It is somewhat the same in principle as the card-boxes last described, but differs from them a good deal in detail. It is an oblong wooden box, in external measurement about four and a half inches by three and a half, and four inches high. Internally, the measurement is so arranged that, putting the lid out of the question, the front of the box is of exactly equal area with the bottom. Against this front (see Fig. 51) lies a slab of tin or zinc, working on a cloth hinge along its lower edge, thus rendering it capable of either lying flat on the bottom of the box (which it exactly covers), or of being folded up against the front, the upper edge of which projects slightly inwards, so as to aid in concealing it. This flap, like the whole inside of the box, is painted black. On one point of its upper surface is a little stud, which, when the flap is raised, fits into a hole prepared for it in the lock, across which passes the hinder end or tail of the bolt. The box is prepared for use as follows:—The key is turned, as if locking the box (which, however, is held open), thus pushing forward the bolt of the lock, and the flap is lifted up against the front, the stud passing into the little hole before-mentioned. The key is then again turned as if unlocking the box, when the tail of the bolt catches the stud, and secures the flap. The box will in this condition bear any amount of examination, but as soon as it is closed, and the key turned to lock it, the tail of the bolt, being again shot forward, no longer retains the stud, and the flap falls. When in actual use, a card (say the ace of spades) is placed upon the flap, and folded up with it against the front of the box. The card to be changed (suppose the nine of diamonds) is in due course openly placed in the box, which is then handed to some one with a request that he will himself lock it, that there may be no possibility of deception. The trick proceeds, and when the box is again opened, the card placed therein is found transformed to the ace of spades.
Some card-boxes are so made, that the flap, instead of falling actually upon the bottom of the box, falls parallel to it, but at a distance of an inch or so above it, leaving a hollow space beneath capable of containing a lady’s handkerchief, a canary, or any other small article, which, being covered by the falling flap, is thus apparently changed into a card. The box in this case is somewhat taller in proportion than that above described.
The “Card and Bird” Box.—This is, in form and general appearance, similar to that form of the card-box last above described (that which has an enclosed space beneath the flap), but its working is precisely the converse—i.e., the normal condition of the flap in this case is to lie folded against the back of the box, against which it is pressed by the action of a spring. It may, however, be folded down so as to lie parallel with the bottom, a little catch projecting from the inner surface of the front, holding it in that position. (See Fig. 52.) The lock is in this case a mere sham, having neither key nor keyhole, but a little stud projecting from the lower edge of the lid, and representing the “staple” of the lock, presses, when the box is closed, upon an upright pin passing through the thickness of the wood up the front of the box, and thereby withdraws the catch, when the flap flies up, concealing the card which has just been placed upon it, and revealing the bird or other object which had previously been concealed beneath it.
The same principle is sometimes applied to the “card-box,” the flap when “set” lying flat on the bottom of the box, leaving no hollow space below.
The Card Tripod.—This is a miniature table, standing five or six inches high. It has a round top of about the same diameter, supported on a tripod foot. It is provided with an ornamental cover of tin or pasteboard, shaped somewhat like the top of a coffee-pot, just large enough to fit neatly over the top of the table, and about an inch deep. The table has a false top, made of tin, but japanned to match the real top, and of such a size as to fit tightly within the cover. If the false top be laid upon the true one, and the cover placed over both, the cover will, on being again removed, carry with it the false top, and leave exposed the real one, which, however, the audience take to be that which they have already seen.
The reader will already have perceived that the card-tripod is, in effect, very similar to the changing card-box. Like the card-box, it may be used either singly or in pairs, and the tricks performed by its aid will be nearly the same. Thus two forced cards drawn by the audience may be made to change places from one tripod to another, a card drawn and destroyed may be reproduced from its own ashes, or a card drawn and placed on the tripod may be made to vanish altogether, the drawn card being in each case laid upon the false top, that to which it is to be apparently transformed having been previously placed under the false and upon the true top. A card once changed, however, cannot be restored to its original condition, and the card-tripod is, therefore, in this respect inferior to the card-box.
The “Torn Card.”—This is a very effective trick. The performer requests some one of the company to draw a card, and, having done so, to tear it up into any number of fragments. He does so, and hands them to the operator, who returns one corner to him, with a request that he will take particular care of it. The performer announces that out of the torn fragments he will restore the card anew, for which purpose he first burns the fragments on a plate or otherwise, carefully preserving the ashes. He then brings forward one of the changing card-boxes already described, and, after, showing that it is empty, closes it, and places it on the table in view of all present. He next takes the ashes of the torn card, and, loading a pistol with them, fires at the box. (If he has not a pistol at hand, placing the ashes on the box, rubbing them on the lid, or any other act which gets rid of them will answer the same purpose.) When the box is opened, the card is found whole as at first, with the exception of one corner, being (ostensibly) that which was retained by the drawer. Taking this piece in his right hand, and holding the card by one corner between the thumb and first finger of his left hand (see Fig. 53), the performer makes a motion as if throwing the small piece towards it. The small piece instantly vanishes from his hand, and at the same moment the card is seen to be completely restored, the torn corner being in its proper place. Some performers, instead of giving the drawer the torn corner to take charge of in the first instance, burn ostensibly the whole of the pieces, and pretend surprise on finding that there is a corner missing when the card is restored. Directly afterwards, however, they pick up the missing fragment from the floor, where they have just previously dropped it, and the trick proceeds as already described.