Two of our foremost American conjurers, Downs and Houdini, can testify to this fact. T. Nelson Downs, the “King of Coins,” a native of Marshaltown, Iowa, invented a number of original sleights with coins, which he embodied in an act known as the Miser’s Dream. A brilliant success was the result, whereupon a legion of imitators, billing themselves as Coin Kings, sprang up everywhere. Downs, however, remains the unapproachable manipulator of coins; his imitators have gone {304} to the wall, one after the other. Downs’ act is really unique, He is also a fine performer with cards. Edward VII of England, who has a penchant for entertainments of magic and mystery, had Downs give private séances for him, and was charmed with the American’s skill. IX. A word or two here concerning that brilliant entertainer, Harry Houdini, whose handcuff act is the sensation of two continents. Mr. Houdini, whose real name is Weiss, was born April 6, 1873, in Appleton, Wisconsin. He began his career as an entertainer when but nine years of age, doing a contortion and trapeze act in Jack Hoffler’s “five cent” circus in Appleton. His mother took him away from the sawdust arena and apprenticed him to a locksmith. Here he was initiated into the mysteries of locks and keys, and laid the foundation of his great handcuff act. Locksmithing, despite the fact that King Louis XVI of France worked at it as an amateur, possessed no charms for the youthful Houdini. To use his own expression, “One day I made a bolt for the door, and never came back to my employer.” Again he went with a circus, where he acted as a conjurer, a clown and a ventriloquist. He made a specialty of the rope-tying business and performed occasionally with handcuffs, but without sensational results. Finally the circus landed in Rhode Island and opened up in a town where Sunday performances were forbidden by law, but were greatly desired by a large section of the population. As the fine was light, the proprietor ran the risk, and gave a show on the Sabbath. A summons followed, and each member of the troupe was fined. As Houdini epigrammatically put it: “The manager couldn’t find the fine, so we all found ourselves in confinement.” Houdini was locked up in a cell with a number of side-show freaks, the fat lady, the living skeleton, and the German giant. The fat lady was too wide for the compartment, the giant too long. With tears in their eyes they emplored Houdini to pick the lock and let them out. Finally the young conjurer consented, and dexterously picked the lock, whereupon he and his companions {305} marched out of the jail in triumph, and paraded down the main street of the town in Indian file, to the great amusement of the populace. Houdini was rearrested on the charge of jail-breaking, but the judge let him off with a reprimand. This event decided his career. He became a “Handcuff King.” [Illustration: HARRY HOUDINI (The Handcuff King)]