After playing together for a season or two, aunt and nephew separated, today they are performing with great success in vaudeville. Madame Herrmann calls her act “A Night in Japan.” It is an exhibition of silent magic—_en pantomime_. She was ever a graceful woman, and her exhibitions of legerdemain are most pleasing. Beautiful scenery adds to the effect. Leon Herrmann, who resembles his great uncle in personal appearance, is fast becoming a favorite with the American public. VI. [Illustration: MAGICAL CABINET CONSTRUCTED BY CARL HERRMANN. The magician places a card in one of the little drawers of the cabinet, and it reappears in any other drawer the onlooker may suggest. (Now in the possession of Mr. Martinka, New York City.)] Let us now pass in review some of Alexander Herrmann’s tricks. His gun illusion was perhaps his most sensational feat. {232} I am indebted to the late Frederick Bancroft for the correct explanation of the startling trick. A squad of soldiers, under the command of a sergeant, comprised the firing party. The guns were apparently loaded with genuine cartridges, the bullets of which had been previously marked for identification by various spectators. The soldiers stood upon a platform erected in the centre of the theatre, and Herrmann stationed himself upon the stage. The guns were fired at him, and he caught the balls upon a plate. Upon examination the balls were found to be still warm from the effects of the explosion, and the marks were identified upon them. The substitution of the sham cartridges, which were loaded into the gun, for the genuine ones was very subtly executed by means of a trick salver having a small well let into its centre to hold the cartridges. Into this well the marked cartridges were deposited by the spectators. In the interior of the salver was a second compartment loaded with the blank cartridges. The sergeant who collected the bullets shifted the compartments by means of a peg underneath the salver, as he walked from the audience to the stage. The sham cartridges {233} were now brought to view and the real were hidden in the body of the salver. While the soldiers were engaged in loading their rifles with the blank cartridges, the sergeant went behind a side scene to get his gun and deposit the salver. A couple of assistants extracted the genuine bullets and heated them. Herrmann went to the wing to get the plate, and secretly secured the marked bullets. The rest of the trick consisted in working up the dramatic effects. [Illustration: “AFTER THE BALL”—1. SCREENING THE LADY.] [Illustration: “AFTER THE BALL”—2. THE ESCAPE.]