The Right Way to Do Wrong Read Online Free PDF

troublesome. A short piece cut from the end of the rope will never be missed.
    When the last knot is made you should turn to the audience and say: “Are you all satisfied that I am securely tied?” and then immediately answer your own question by saying, “Of course, you have to be satisfied, for the committee has done all that is possible, in fact, they have ‘reached the end of their rope.’ ”
    After being placed in the cabinet you should call attention to the fact that it has taken six or eight minutes to bind you, and ask some one to hold a watch and see how long you require to escape.
    THE RUSSIAN TRANSPORT TIE
    This is the restraint used by Russian officials when transporting prisoners into Siberia, and it is supposed to render them helpless during the journey; but, of course, there is no reason why a prisoner should attempt a release, as he is always under the eye of an officer, and such an act would probably earn him a severe beating.
    In using this tie as a stunt, however, the release maybe classed with the easy ones. The hands are tied in any manner in front, the ropes being carried up to and around the neck. For the release you have only to bring the hands up within reach and untie the wrist knots with the teeth, and with the hands free the remainder of the knots can be readily negotiated.
    Do not get the idea, however, that, because easy, this escape is not effectual. Try it before an audience after you have mastered it sufficiently to acquire a measure of speed, and you will be surprised at the enthusiasm it will cause. The spectator will not stop to think that you are working at high pitch.
    I can recommend this unqualifiedly to the performer who only presents one tie.

SWORD-SWALLOWING
    TO ACCOMPLISH THE SWORD-SWALLOWING feat, it is only necessary to overcome the nausea that results from the metal’s touching the mucous membrane of the pharynx, for there is an unobstructed passage, large enough to accommodate several of the thin blades used, from the mouth to the bottom of the stomach. This passage is not straight, but the passing of the sword straightens it. Some throats are more sensitive than others, but practice will soon accustom any throat to the passage of the blade. When a sword with a sharp point is used the performer secretly slips a rubber cap over the point to guard against accident.
    It is said that the medical fraternity first learned of the possibility of overcoming the sensitiveness of the pharynx by investigating the methods of the sword-swallowers.
    Cliquot, who was one of the most prominent sword-swallowers of his time, finally “reformed” and is now a music hall agent in England. The
Strand Magazine
(1896) has this to say of Cliquot and his art:
    Cliquot, whose name suggests the swallowing of something much more grateful and comforting than steel swords, is a French Canadian by birth, and has been the admitted chief in his professionfor more than 18 years. He ran away from his home in Quebec at an early age, and joined a travelling circus bound for South America. On seeing an arrant old humbug swallow a small
machete
, in Buenos Ayres, the boy took a fancy to the performance, and approached the old humbug aforesaid with the view of being taught the business. Not having any money, however, wherewith to pay the necessary premium, the overtures of the would-be apprentice were repulsed; whereupon he set about experimenting with his own aesophagus with a piece of silver wire.
    To say the preliminary training for this sort of thing is painful, is to state the fact most moderately; and even when stern purpose has triumphed over the laws of anatomy, terrible danger still remains.
    On one occasion having swallowed a sword, and then bent his body in different directions, as an adventurous sensation, Cliquot found that the weapon also had bent to a sharp angle; and quick as thought, realizing his own position as well as that of the sword, he whipped it out,