Miracle Mongers and Their Methods - Chapters IV-VI



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CHAPTER IV.
THE MASTER--CHABERT, 1792-1859 

   IVAN IVANITZ CHABERT, the only Really Incombustible Phenomenon, as he 
was billed abroad, or J. Xavier Chabert, A.M., M.D., etc., as he was 
afterwards known in this country, was probably the most notable, and 
certainly the most interesting, character in the history of fire-eating, 
fire-resistance, and poison eating. He was the last prominent figure in 
the long line of this type of artists to appeal to the better classes and 
to attract the attention of scientists, who for a considerable period 
treated his achievements more or less seriously. Henry Evanion gave me a 
valuable collection of Chabert clippings, hand-bills, etc., and related 
many interesting incidents in connection with this man of wonders. 

   It seems quite impossible for me to write 

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of any historical character in Magic or its allied arts without recalling 
my dear old friend Evanion, who introduced me to a throng of fascinating 
characters, with each of whom he seemed almost as familiar as if they had 
been daily companions. 

   Subsequently I discovered an old engraving of Chabert, published in 
London in 1829, and later still another which bore the change of name, as 
well as the titles enumerated above. The latter was published in New York, 
September, 1836, and bore the inscripton: "One of the most celebrated 
Chemists, Philosophers, and Physicians of the present day." These 
discoveries, together with a clue from Evanion, led to further 
investigations, which resulted in the interesting discovery that this one-
time Batholomew [sic: Bartholomew] Fair entertainer spent the last years 
of his life in New York City. He resided here for twenty-seven years and 
lies buried in the beautiful Cypress Hills Cemetery, quite forgotten by 
the man on the street. 

   Nearby is the grave of good old Signor Blitz, and not far away is the 
plot that holds all that is mortal of my beloved parents. When I 

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finally break away from earthly chains and restraints, I hope to be placed 
beside them. 

   During my search for data regarding Chabert I looked in the telephone 
book for a possible descendant. By accident I picked up the Suburban 
instead of the Metropolitan edition, and there I found a Victor E. Chabert 
living at Allenhurst, N. J. I immediately got into communication with him 
and found that he was a grandson of the Fire King, but he could give me no 
more information than I already possessed, which I now spread before my 
readers. 

   M. Chabert was a son of Joseph and Thérèse Julienne Chabert. He was 
born on May 10th, 1792, at Avignon, France. 

   Chabert was a soldier in the Napoleonic wars, was exiled to Siberia and 
escaped to England. His grandson has a bronze Napoleon medal which was 
presented to Chabert, presumably for valor on the field of battle. 
Napoleon was exiled in 1815 and again three years later. Chabert first 
attracted public notice in Paris, at which time his demonstrations of heat-
resistance were sufficiently astonishing to 

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merit the attention of no less a body than the National Institute. 

   To the more familiar feats of his predecessors he added startling 
novelties in the art of heat-resistance, the most spectacular being that 
of entering a large iron cabinet, which resembled a common baker's oven, 
heated to the usual temperature of such ovens. He carried in his hand a 
leg of mutton and remained until the meat was thoroughly cooked. Another 
thriller involved standing in a flaming tar-barrel until it was entirely 
consumed around him. 

   In 1828, Chabert gave a series of performances at the Argyle Rooms in 
London, and created a veritable sensation. A correspondent in the London 
Mirror has this to say of Chabert's work at that time: "Of M. Chabert's 
wonderful power of withstanding the operation of the fiery element, it is 
in the recollection of the writer of witnessing, some few years back, this 
same individual (in connection with the no-less fire-proof Signora 
Girardelli) exhibiting 'extraordinary proofs of his supernatural power of 
resisting the most intense 

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heat of every kind.' Since which an improve- ment of a more formidable 
nature has to our astonished fancy been just demonstrated. In the 
newspapers of the past week it is reported that he, in the first instance, 
refreshed himself with a hearty meal of phosphorus, which was, at his own 
request, supplied to him very liberally by several of his visitors, who 
were previously unacquainted with him. He washed down (they say) this 
infernal fare with solutions of arsenic and oxalic acid; thus throwing 
into the background the long-established fame of Mithridates. He next 
swallowed with great goût, several spoonfuls of boiling oil; and, as a 
dessert to this delicate repast, helped himself with his naked hands to a 
considerable quantity of molten lead. The experiment, however, of entering 
into a hot oven, together with a quantity of meat, sufficient, when 
cooked, to regale those of his friends who were specially invited to 
witness his performance, was the chef-d'oeuvre of the day. Having ordered 
three fagots of wood, which is the quantity generally used by bakers, to 
be thrown into the oven, and they being set on fire, twelve 

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[image caption: Monsieur Chabert The Fire King]

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more fagots of the same size were subsequently added to them, which being 
all consumed by three o 'clock, M. Chabert entered the oven with a dish of 
raw meat, and when it was sufficiently done he handed it out, took in 
another, and remained therein until the second quantity was also well 
cooked; he then came out of the oven, and sat down, continues the report, 
to partake, with a respectable assembly of friends, of those viands he had 
so closely attended during the culinary process. Publicly, on a subsequent 
day, and in an oven 6 feet by 7, and at a heat of about 220, he remained 
till a steak was properly done, and again returned to his fiery den and 
continued for a period of thirty minutes, in complete triumph over the 
power of an element so much dreaded by humankind, and so destructive to 
animal nature. It has been properly observed, that there are preparations 
which so indurate the cuticle, as to render it insensible to the heat of 
either boiling oil or melted lead; and the fatal qualities of certain 
poisons may be destroyed, if the medium through which they are imbibed, as 
we suppose to. be the case here, is a strong 

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alkali. Many experiments, as to the extent to which the human frame could 
bear heat, without the destruction of the vital powers, have been tried 
from time to time; but so far as recollection serves, Monsieur Chabert's 
fire- resisting qualities are greater than those professed by individuals 
who, before him, have undergone this species of ordeal." 

   It was announced some time ago, in one of the French journals, that 
experiments had been tried with a female, whose fire-standing qualities 
had excited great astonishment. She, it appears, was placed in a heated 
oven, into which live dogs, cats, and rabbits were conveyed. The poor 
animals died in a state of convulsion almost immediately, while the Fire- 
queen bore the heat without complaining. In that instance, however, the 
heat of the oven was not so great as that which M. Chabert encountered. 

   Much of the power to resist greater degrees of heat than can other men 
may be a natural gift, much the result of chemical applications, and much 
from having the parts indurated by long practice; probably all three are 
combined 

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in this phenomenon, with some portion of artifice. 

   In Timbs' Curiosities of London, published in 1867, I find the 
following: 

   At the Argyle Rooms, London, in 1829, Mons. Chabert, the Fire-King, 
exhibited his powers of resisting poisons, and withstanding extreme heat. 
He swallowed forty grains of phosphorus, sipped oil at 333o with impunity, 
and rubbed a red-hot fire-shovel over £,his tongue, hair, and face, 
unharmed. 

   On September 23d, on a challenge of £50, Chabert repeated these feats 
and won the wager; he next swallowed a piece of burning torch; and then, 
dressed in coarse woolen, entered an oven heated to 380o, sang a song, and 
cooked two dishes of beef steaks. 

   Still, the performances were suspected, and in fact, proved to be a 
chemical juggle. 

   Another challenge in the same year is recorded under the heading, 
"Sights of London," as follows: 

   We were tempted on Wednesday to the 

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Argyle Rooms by the challenge of a person of the uncommon name of J. Smith 
to M. Chabert, our old friend the Fire King, whom this individual dared to 
invite to a trial of powers in swallowing poison and being baked! The 
audacity of such a step quite amazed us; and expecting to see in the 
competitor at least a Vulcan, the God of all Smiths, was hastened to the 
scene of strife. Alas, our disappointment was complete! Smith had not even 
the courage of a blacksmith for standing fire, and yielded a stake of £50, 
as was stated, without a contest, to M. Chabert, on the latter coming out 
of his oven with his own two steaks perfectly cooked. On this occasion 
Chabert took 20 grains of phosphorus, swallowed oil heated to nearly 100o 
above boiling water, took molten lead out of a ladle with his fingers and 
cooled it on his tongue; and, besides performing other remarkable feats, 
remained five minutes in the oven at a temperature of between 300 and 400o 
by the thermometer. There was about 150 persons present, many of them 
medical men; and being convinced that these things were fairly done, 
without 

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trickery, much astonishment was expressed. 

   The following detailed account of the latter challenge appeared in the 
Chronicle, London, September, 1829. 

   THE FIRE KING AND HIS CHALLENGER. -- An advertisement appeared lately 
in one of the papers, in which a Mr. J. Smith after insinuating that M. 
Chabert practised some juggle when he appeared to enter an oven heated to 
five hundred degrees, and to swallow twenty grains of phosphorus, 
challenged him to perform the exploits which he professed to be performing 
daily. In consequence M. Chabert publicly accepted Mr. J. Smith's 
challenge for £50, requesting him to provide the poison himself. A day was 
fixed upon which the challenge was to be determined, and at two o'clock on 
that day, a number of gentlemen assembled in the Argyle-rooms, where the 
exhibition was to take place. At a little before three the fire-king made 
his appearance near his oven, and as some impatience had been exhibited, 
owing to the non-arrival of Mr. 

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J. Smith, he offered to amuse the company with a few trifling experiments. 
He made a shovel red-hot and rubbed it over his tongue, a trick for which 
no credit, he said, was due, as the moisture of the tongue was sufficient 
to prevent any injury arising from it. He next rubbed it over his hair and 
face, declaring that anybody might perform the same feat by first washing 
themselves in a mixture of spirits of sulphur and alum, which, by 
cautersing [sic: cauterising] the epiderms [sic: epidermis], hardened the 
skin to resist the fire. 

   He put his hand into some melted lead, took a small portion of it out, 
placed it in his mouth, and then gave it in a solid state to some of the 
company. This performance, according to his account, was also very easy; 
for he seized only a very small particle, which, by a tight compression 
between the forefinger and the thumb, became cool before it reached the 
mouth. At this time Mr. Smith made his appearance, and M. Chabert 
forthwith prepared himself for mightier undertakings. A cruse of oil was 
brought forward and poured into a saucepan, which was previously turned 
upside down, to show that there 

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was no water in it. The alleged reason for this step was, that the vulgar 
conjurors, who profess to drink boiling oil, place the oil in water, and 
drink it when the water boils, at which time the oil is not warmer than an 
ordinary cup of tea. He intended to drink the oil when any person might 
see it bubbling in the saucepan, and when the thermometer would prove that 
it was heated to three hundred and sixty degrees. The saucepan was 
accordingly placed on the fire, and as it was acquiring the requisite 
heat, the fire-king challenged any man living to drink a spoonful of the 
oil at the same temperature as that at which he was going to drink it. In 
a few minutes afterwards, he sipped off a spoonful with greatest apparent 
ease, although the spoon, from contact with the boiling fluid, had become 
too hot for ordinary fingers to handle. 

   "And now, Monsieur Smith," said the fire-king, "now for your challenge. 
Have you prepared yourself with phosphorus, or will you take some of mine, 
which is laid on that table?" Mr. Smith, walked up to the table, and 
pulling a vial bottle 

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out of his pocket, offered it to the poison- swallower. 

   Fire-king -- "I ask you, on your honor as a gentleman, is this genuine 
unmixed poison?" 

   Mr. Smith -- "It is, upon my honor." 

   Fire-king -- "Is there any medical gentleman here who will examine it?" 

   A person in the room requested that Dr. Gordon Smith, one of the 
medical professors in the London University, would examine the vial, and 
decide whether it contained genuine phosphorus. 

   The professor went to the table, on which the formidable collection of 
poisons -- such as red and white arsenic, hydrocyanic acid, morphine and 
phosphorus -- was placed, and, examining the vial, declared, that, to the 
best of his judgment, it was genuine phosphorus. 

   M. Chabert asked Mr. Smith, how many grains he wished to commence his 
first draught with. Mr. Smith -- "Twenty grains will do as a 
commencement." 

   A medical gentleman then came forward and cut off two parcels of 
phosphorus, containing twenty grains each. He was placing them in the 
water, when the fire- 

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king requested that his phosphorus might be cut into small pieces, as he 
did not wish the pieces to stop on their way to his stomach. The poisons 
were now prepared. A wine-glass contained the portion set aside for the 
fire-king -- a tumbler the portion reserved for Mr. Smith. 

   The Fire-king -- "I suppose, gentlemen, I must begin, and to convince 
you that I do not juggle, I will first take off my coat, and then I will 
trouble you, doctor (speaking to Dr. Gordon Smith), to tie my hands 
together behind me. After he had been bandaged in this manner, he planted 
himself on one knee in the middle of the room, and requested some 
gentleman to place the phosphorus on his tongue and pour the water down 
his throat. This was accordingly done, and the water and phosphorus were 
swallowed together. He then opened his mouth and requested the company to 
look whether any portion of the phosphorus remained in his mouth. Several 
gentlemen examined his mouth, and declared that there was no phosphorus 
perceptible either upon or under his tongue. He was then by his own desire 
unbandaged. The fire-king forthwith 

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turned to Mr. Smith and offered him the other glass of phosphorus. Mr. 
Smith started back in infinite alarm -- 'Not for worlds, Sir, not for 
worlds; I beg to decline it.' 

   The Fire-king -- "Then wherefore did you send me a challenge? You 
pledged your honor to drink it, if I did; I have done it; and if you are a 
gentleman, you must drink it too." 

   Mr. Smith -- "No, no, I must be excused: I am quite satisfied without 
it." 

   Here several voices exclaimed that the bet was lost. Some said there 
must be a confederacy between the challenger and the challenged, and 
others asked whether any money had been deposited? The fire- king called a 
Mr. White forward, who deposed that he held the stakes, which had been 
regularly placed in his hands, by both parties, before twelve o'clock that 
morning. 

   The fire-king here turned round with great exultation to the company, 
and pulling a bottle out of his pocket, exclaimed, "I did never see this 
gentleman before this morning, and I did not know but that he might be 
bold enough to venture to take 

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this quantity of poison. I was determined not to let him lose his life by 
his foolish wager, and therefore I did bring an antidote in my pocket, 
which would have prevented him from suffering any harm." Mr. Smith said 
his object was answered by seeing twenty grains of genuine phosphorus 
swallowed. He had conceived it impossible, as three grains were quite 
sufficient to destroy life. The fire-king then withdrew into another room 
for the professed purpose of putting on his usual dress for entering the 
oven, but in all probability for the purpose of getting the phosphorus out 
of his stomach. 

   After an absence of twenty minutes, he returned, dressed in a coarse 
woolen coat, to enter the heated oven. Before he entered it, a medical 
gentleman ascertained that his pulse was vibrating ninety-eight times a 
minute. He remained in the oven five minutes, during which time he sung Le 
Vaillant Troubadour, and superintended the cooking of two dishes of beef 
steaks. At the end of that time he came out, perspiring profusely, and 
with a pulse making one hundred and sixty-eight vibrations in a minute. 
The thermometer, 

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when brought out of the oven, stood at three hundred and eighty degrees; 
within the oven he said it was above six hundred. 

   Although he was suspected of trickery by many, was often challenged, 
and had an army of rivals and imitators, all available records show that 
Chabert was beyond a doubt the greatest fire and poison resister that ever 
appeared in London. 

   Seeking new laurels, he came to America in 1832, and although he was 
successful in New York, his subsequent tour of the States was financially 
disastrous. He evidently saved enough from the wreck, however, to start in 
business, and the declining years of his eventful life were passed in the 
comparative obscurity of a little drug store in Grand Street. 

   As his biographer I regret to be obliged to chronicle the fact that he 
made and sold an alleged specific for the White Plague, thus enabling his 
detractors to couple with his name the word Quack. The following article, 
which appeared in the New York Herald of September 1st, 1859, three days 
after Chabert's death, 

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gives further details of his activities in this country: 

   We published among the obituary notices in yesterday's Herald the death 
of Dr. Julian Xavier Chabert, the "Fire King," aged 67 years, of pulmonary 
consumption. Dr. C. was a native of France, and came to this country in 
1832, and was first introduced to the public at the lecture room of the 
old Clinton Hall, in Nassau Street, where he gave exhibitions by entering 
a hot oven of his own construction, and while there gave evidence of his 
salamander qualities by cooking beef steaks, to the surprise and 
astonishment of his audiences. 

   It was a question to many whether the Doctor's oven was red-hot or not, 
as he never allowed any person to approach him during the exhibition or 
take part in the proceedings. He made a tour of the United States in 
giving these exhibitions, which resulted in financial bankruptcy. At the 
breaking out of the cholera in 1832 he turned Doctor, and appended M.D., 
to his name, and suddenly his newspaper advertisements claimed for him the 
title of 

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the celebrated Fire King, the curer of consumption, the maker of Chinese 
Lotion, etc. 

   While the Doctor was at the height of his popularity, some wag 
perpetrated the following joke in a newspaper paragraph: "During some 
experiments he was making in chemistry last week, an explosion took place 
which entirely bewildered his faculties and left him in a condition 
bordering on the grave. He was blown into a thousand atoms. It took place 
on Wednesday of last week and some accounts state that it grew out of an 
experiment with phosphoric ether, others that it was by a too liberal 
indulgence in Prussic acid, an article which, from its resemblance to the 
peach, he was remarkably fond of having about him." 

   The Doctor was extensively accused of quackery, and on one occasion 
when the Herald touched on the same subject, it brought him to our office 
and he exhibited diplomas, certificates and medical honors without number. 

   The Doctor was remarkable for his prolific display of jewelry and 
medals of honor, and by his extensive display of 

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beard. He found a rival in this city in the person of another French 
"chemist," who gave the Doctor considerable opposition and consequently 
much trouble. 

   The Doctor was famous, also, for his four-horse turnouts in Broadway, 
alternating, when he saw proper, to a change to the "tandem" style. He 
married an Irish lady whom he at first supposed to be immensely rich, but 
after the nuptials it was discovered that she merely had a life interest 
in a large estate in common with several others. 

   The Doctor, it appears, was formerly a soldier in the French Army, and 
quite recently he received from thence a medal of the order of St. Helena, 
an account of which appeared in the Herald. Prior to his death he was 
engaged in writing his biography (in French) and had it nearly ready for 
publication. 

   Here follows a supposedly humorous speech in broken English, quoted 
from the London Lancet, in which the Doctor is satirized. Continuing, the 
articles says: 

   "The Doctor was what was termed a 

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'fast liver,' and at the time of his death he kept a drug store in Grand 
Street, and had very little of this world's goods. He leaves three 
children to mourn his loss, one of them an educated physician, residing in 
Hoboken, N. J. 

   Dr. C. has 'gone to that bourne whence no traveller returns,' and we 
fervently trust and hope that the disembodied spirits of the tens of 
thousands whom he has treated in this sphere will treat him with the same 
science with which he treated them while in this wicked world."



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CHAPTER V.
FIRE-EATING MAGACIANS [sic: MAGICIANS]: CHING LING FOO AND CHUNG LING 
SOO.--FIRE-EATERS EMPLOYED BY MAGICIANS: THE MAN- SALAMANDER, 1816; MR. 
CARLTON, PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, 1818; MISS CASSELLI, AGED NINE, 1820; THE 
AFRICAN WONDER, 1843; LING LOOK AND YAMADEVA DIE IN CHINA DURING KELLAR'S 
WORLD TOUR, 1872; LING LOOK'S DOUBLE, 1879.--ELECTRICAL EFFECTS, THE 
SALAMBOS.--BUENO CORE.--DEL KANO.--BARNELLO.--EDWIN FORREST AS A HEAT-
REGISTER.--THE ELDER SOTHERN AS A FIRE-EATER.--THE TWILIGHT OF THE ART. 

   MANY of our most noted magicians have considered it not beneath their 
dignity to introduce fire-eating into their programmes, either in their 
own work or by the employment of a "Fire Artist." Although seldom 
presenting it in his recent performances, Ching Ling Foo is a fire-eater 
of the highest type, refining 

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the effect with the same subtle artistry that marks all the work of this 
super-magician. 

   Of Foo's thousand imitators the only positively successful one was 
William E. Robinson, whose tragic death while in the performance of the 
bullet-catching trick is the latest addition to the long list of 
casualties chargeable to that ill-omened juggle. He carried the imitation 
even as far as the name, calling himself Chung Ling Soo. Robinson was very 
successful in the classic trick of apparently eating large quantities of 
cotton and blowing smoke and sparks from the mouth. His teeth were finally 
quite destroyed by the continued performance of this trick, the method of 
which may be found in Chapter Six. 

   The employment of fire-eaters by magicians began a century ago; for in 
1816 the magician Sieur Boaz, K. C., featured a performer who was billed 
as the "Man-Salamander." The fact that Boaz gave him a place on his 
programme is proof that this man was clever, but the effects there listed 
show nothing original. 

   In 1818 a Mr. Carlton, Professor of Chemistry, toured England in 
company with Rae, 

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the Bartholomew Fair magician. As will be seen by the handbill reproduced 
here, Carlton promised to explain the "Deceptive Part" of the performance, 
"when there is a sufficient company." 

   In 1820 a Mr. Cassillis toured England with a juvenile company, one of 
the features of which was Miss Cassillis, aged nine years, whose act was a 
complete reproduction of the programme of Boaz, concluding her performance 
with the "Chinese Fire Trick." 

   A Negro, Carlo Alberto, appeared in a benefit performance given by Herr 
Julian, who styled himself the "Wizard of the South," in London, on 
November 28th, 1843. Alberto was billed as the "Great African Wonder, the 
Fire King" and it was promised that he would "go through part of his 
wonderful performance as given by him in the principal theaters in 
America, in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, etc." 

   A later number on the same bill reads: "The African Wonder, Carlo 
Alberto, will sing several new and popular Negro melodies." Collectors of 
minstrel data please take notice! 

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   In more recent times there have been a number of Negro fire-eaters, but 
none seems to have risen to noticeable prominence. 

   Ling Look, one of the best of contemporary fire performers, was with 
Dean Harry Kellar when the latter made his famous trip around the world in 
1877. Look combined fire-eating and sword-swallowing in a rather startling 
manner. His best effect was the swallowing of a red-hot sword.(1) Another 
thriller consisted in fastening a long sword to the stock of a musket; 
when he had swallowed about half the length of the blade, he discharged 
the gun and the recoil drove the sword suddenly down his throat to the 
very hilt. Although Look always appeared in a Chinese make-up, Dean Kellar 
told me that he thought his right name was Dave Gueter, and that he was 
born in Buda Pesth.

   Yamadeva, a brother of Ling Look, was also 

(1. I never saw Ling Look's work, but I know that some of the sword 
swallowers have made use of a sheath which was swallowed before the 
performance, and the swords were simply pushed into it. A sheath of this 
kind lined with asbestos might easily have served as a protection against 
the red-hot blade.)

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with the Kellar Company, doing cabinet manifestations and rope escapes. 
Both brothers died in China during this engagement, and a strange incident 
occurred in connection with their deaths. Just before they were to sail 
from Shanghai on the P. & O. steamer Khiva for Hong Kong, Yamadeva and 
Kellar visited the bowling alley of The Hermitage, a pleasure resort on 
the Bubbling Well Road. They were watching a husky sea captain, who was 
using a huge ball and making a "double spare" at every roll, when Yamadeva 
suddenly remarked, "I can handle one as heavy as that big loafer can." 
Suiting the action to the word, he seized one of the largest balls and 
drove it down the alley with all his might; but he had misjudged his own 
strength, and he paid for the foolhardy act with his life, for he had no 
sooner delivered the ball than he grasped his side and moaned with pain. 
He had hardly sufficient strength to get back to the ship, where he went 
immediately to bed and died shortly afterward. An examination showed that 
he had ruptured an artery. 

   Kellar and Ling Look had much difficulty 

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in persuading the captain to take the body to Hong Kong, but he finally 
consented. On the way down the Yang Tse Kiang River, Look was greatly 
depressed; but all at once he became strangely excited, and said that his 
brother was not dead, for he had just heard the peculiar whistle with 
which they had always called each other. The whistle was several times 
repeated, and was heard by all on board. Finally the captain, convinced 
that something was wrong, had the lid removed from the coffin, but the 
body of Yamadeva gave no indication of life, and all save Ling Look 
decided that they must have been mistaken. 

   Poor Ling Look, however, sobbingly said to Kellar, "I shall never leave 
Hong Kong alive. My brother has called me to join him." This prediction 
was fulfilled, for shortly after their arrival in Hong Kong he underwent 
an operation for a liver trouble, and died under the knife. The brothers 
were buried in Happy Valley, Hong Kong, in the year 1877. 

   All this was related to me at the Marlborough- Blenheim, Atlantic City, 
in June, 1908, by Kellar himself, and portions of it were repeated 

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in 1917 when Dean Kellar sat by me at the Society of American Magicians' 
dinner. 

   In 1879 there appeared in England a performer who claimed to be the 
original Ling Look. He wore his make-up both on and off the stage, and 
copied, so far as he could, Ling's style of work. His fame reached this 
country and the New York Clipper published, in its Letter Columns, an 
article stating that Ling Look was not dead, but was alive and working in 
England. His imitator had the nerve to stick to his story even when 
confronted by Kellar, but when the latter assured him that he had 
personally attended the burial of Ling, in Hong Kong, he broke down and 
confessed that he was a younger brother of the original Ling Look. 

   Kellar later informed me that the resemblance was so strong that had he 
not seen the original Ling Look consigned to the earth, he himself would 
have been duped into believing that this was the man who had been with him 
in Hong Kong. 

   The Salambos were among the first to use electrical effects in a fire 
act, combining these 

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with the natural gas and "human volcano" stunts of their predecessors, so 
that they were able to present an extremely spectacular performance 
without having recourse to such unpleasant features as had marred the 
effect of earlier fire acts. Bueno Core, too, deserves honorable mention 
for the cleanness and snap of his act; and Del Kano should also be named 
among the cleverer performers. 

   One of the best known of the modern fire- eaters was Barnello, who was 
a good business man as well, and kept steadily employed at a better salary 
than the rank and file of his contemporaries. He did a thriving business 
in the sale of the various concoctions used in his art, and published and 
sold a most complete book of formulas and general instructions for those 
interested in the craft. He had, indeed, many irons in the fire, and he 
kept them all hot. 

   It will perhaps surprise the present generation to learn that the well-
known circus man Jacob Showles was once a fire-eater, and that Del Fugo, 
well-known in his day as a dancer in the music halls, began as a fire-
resister, and 

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did his dance on hot iron plates. But the reader has two keener surprises 
in store for him before I close the long history of the heat- resisters. 
The first concerns our great American tragedian Edwin Forrest (1806-1872) 
who, according to James Rees (Colley Cibber), once essayed a fire-
resisting act. Forrest was always fond of athletics and at one time made 
an engagement with the manager of a circus to appear as a tumbler and 
rider. The engagement was not fulfilled, however, as his friend Sol Smith 
induced him to break it and return to the legitimate stage. Smith 
afterwards admitted to Cibber that if Forrest had remained with the circus 
he would have become one of the most daring riders and vaulters that ever 
appeared in the ring. 

   His adventure in fire-resistance was on the occasion of the benefit to 
"Charley Young," on which eventful night, as the last of his acrobatic 
feats, he made a flying leap through a barrel of red fire, singeing his 
hair and eyebrows terribly. This particular leap through fire was the big 
sensation of those days, and Forrest evidently had a hankering to show his 

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friends that he could accomplish it -- and he did. 

   The second concerns an equally popular actor, a comedian this time, the 
elder Sothern (1826-1881). On March 20, 1878, a writer in the Chicago 
Inter-Ocean communicated to that paper the following curiously descriptive 
article: 

   Is Mr. Sothern a medium? 

   This is the question that fifteen puzzled investigators are asking 
themselves this morning, after witnessing a number of astounding 
manifestations at a private seance given by Mr. Sothern last night. 

   It lacked a few minutes of 12 when a number of Mr. Sothern's friends, 
who had been given to understand that something remarkable was to be 
performed, assembled in the former's room at the Sherman House and took 
seats around a marble-top table, which was placed in the center of the 
apartment. On the table were a number of glasses, two very large bottles, 
and five lemons. A sprightly young gentleman attempted to crack a joke 
about spirits being confined in bottles, but the company 

Page 91

frowned him down, and for once Mr. Sothern had a sober audience to begin 
with. 

   There was a good deal of curiosity regarding the object of the 
gathering, but no one was able to explain. Each gentleman testified to the 
fact Mr. Sothern's agent had waited upon him, and solicited his presence 
at a little exhibition to be given by the actor, not of a comical nature. 

   Mr. Sothern himself soon after appeared, and, after shaking hands with 
the party, thus addressed them: 

   "Gentlemen, I have invited you here ths [sic: this] evening to witness 
a few manifestatons [sic: manifestations], demonstrations, tests, or 
whatever you choose to call them, which I have accidentally discovered 
that I am able to perform. 

   "I am a fire-eater, as it were. (Applause). 

   "I used to dread the fire, having been scorched once when an innocent 
child. (A laugh.) 

   Mr. Sothern (severely) -- "I hope there will be no levity here, and I 
wish to say now that demonstrations of any kind are liable to upset me, 
while demonstrations 

Page 92

of a particular kind may upset the audience." 

   Silence and decorum being restored, Mr. Sothern thus continued: 

   "Thirteen weeks ago, while walking up Greenwich Street, in New York, I 
stepped into a store to buy a cigar. To show you there is no trick about 
it, here are cigars out of the same box from which I selected the one I 
that day lighted." (Here Mr. Sothern passed around a box of tolerable 
cigars.) 

   "Well, I stepped to the little hanging gas-jet to light it, and, having 
done so, stood contemplatively holding the gas-jet and the cigar in either 
hand, thinking what a saving it would be to smoke a pipe, when, in my 
absent-mindedness, I dropped the cigar and put the gas-jet into my mouth. 
Strange as it may appear, I felt no pain, and stood there holding the 
thing in my mouth and puffing till the man in charge yelled out to me that 
I was swallowing his gas. Then I looked up, and, sure enough, there I was 
pulling away at the slender flame that came from the glass tube. 

   "I dropped it instantly, and felt of my 

Page 93

mouth, but noticed no inconvenience or unpleasant sensation whatever. 

   " 'What do you mean by it?' said the proprietor. 

   "As I didn't know what I meant by it I couldn't answer, so I picked up 
my cigar and went home. Once there I tried the experiment again, and in 
doing so I found that not only my mouth, but my hands and face, indeed, 
all of my body, was proof against fire. I called on a physician, and he 
examined me, and reported nothing wrong with my flesh, which appeared to 
be in normal condition. I said nothing about it publicly, but the fact 
greatly surprised me, and I have invited you here to-night to witness a 
few experiments." 

   Saying this, Mr. Sothern, who had lit a cigar while pausing in his 
speech, turned the fire end into his mouth and sat down, smoking 
unconcernedly. 

   "I suppose you wish to give us the fire- test," remarked one of the 
company. 

   Mr. Sothern nodded. 

   There was probably never a gathering more dumbfounded than that present 
in the room. A few questions were asked, and then five gentlemen were 
appointed to 

Page 94

examine Mr. Sothern's hands, etc., before he began his experiments. Having 
thoroughly washed the parts that he proposed to subject to the flames, Mr. 
Sothern began by burning his arm, and passing it through the gas-jet very 
slowly, twice stopping the motion and holding it still in the flames. He 
then picked up a poker with a sort of hook on the end, and proceeded to 
fish a small coil of wire from the grate. The wire came out fairly white 
with the heat. Mr. Sothern took the coil in his hands and cooly proceeded 
to wrap it round his left leg to the knee. Having done so, he stood on the 
table in the center of the circle and requested the committee to examine 
the wrappings and the leg and report if both were there. The committee did 
so and reported in the affirmative. 

   While this was going on, there was a smile, almost seraphic in its 
beauty, on Mr. Sothern's face. 

   After this an enormous hot iron, in the shape of a horseshoe, was 
placed on Mr. Sothern's body, where it cooled, without leaving a sign of a 
burn. 

   As a final test, a tailor's goose was put 

Page 95

on the coals, and, after being thoroughly heated, was placed on Mr. 
Sothern's chair. The latter lighted a fresh cigar, and then coolly took a 
seat on the goose without the least seeming inconvenience. During the last 
experiment Mr. Sothern sang in an excellent tone and voice, "I'm Sitting 
on the Stile, Mary." 

   The question now is, were the fifteen auditors of Mr. Sothern fooled 
and deceived, or was this a genuine manifestation of extraordinary power? 
Sothern is such an inveterate joker that he may have put the thing upon 
the boys for his own amusement; but if so, it was one of the nicest tricks 
ever witnessed by yours truly, ONE OF THE COMMITTEE. 

   P. S. -- What is equally marvellous to me is that the fire didn't burn 
his clothes where it touched them, any more than his flesh. P. C. 

   (There is nothing new in this. Mr. Sothern has long been known as one 
of the most expert jugglers in the profession. Some years ago he gained 
the soubriquet of the "Fire King!" He frequently amuses his friends by 
eating fire, though he long ago ceased to give public exhibitions 

Page 96

Probably the success of the experiments last night were largely owing to 
the lemons present. There is a good deal of trickery in those same 
lemons. -- Editor Inter-Ocean.)

which suggests that the editor of the Inter- Ocean was either pretty well 
acquainted with the comedian's addiction to spoofing, or else less 
susceptible to superstition than certain scientists of our generation. 

   The great day of the Fire-eater -- or, should I say, the day of the 
great Fire-eater -- has passed. No longer does fashion flock to his doors, 
nor science study his wonders, and he must now seek a following in the 
gaping loiterers of the circus side-show, the pumpkin- and-prize-pig 
country fair, or the tawdry booth at Coney Island. The credulous, wonder- 
loving scientist, however, still abides with us and, while his serious-
minded brothers are wringing from Nature her jealously guarded secrets, 
the knowledge of which benefits all mankind, he gravely follows that 
periennial Will-of-the-wisp, spiritism, and lays the flattering 

Page 97

unction to his soul that he is investigating "psychic phenomena," when in 
reality he is merely gazing with unseeing eyes on the flimsy juggling of 
pseudo-mediums.



Page 98

CHAPTER VI.
THE ARCANA OF THE FIRE-EATERS: THE FORMULA OF ALBERTUS MAGNUS.--OF HOCUS 
POCUS.--RICHARDSON'S METHOD.--PHILOPYRAPHAGUS ASHBURNIENSIS.--TO BREATHE 
FORTH SPARKS, SMOKE, AND FLAMES.--TO SPOUT NATURAL GAS.--PROFESSOR 
SEMENTINI'S DISCOVERIES.--TO BITE OFF RED-HOT IRON.--TO COOK IN A BURNING 
CAGE.--CHABERT'S OVEN.--TO EAT COALS OF FIRE.--TO DRINK BURNING OIL.--TO 
CHEW MOLTEN LEAD.--TO CHEW BURNING BRIMSTONE.--TO WREATHE THE FACE IN 
FLAMES.--TO IGNITE PAPER WITH THE BREATH.--TO DRINK BOILING LIQUOR AND EAT 
FLAMING WAX. 

   THE yellow thread of exposure seems to be inextricably woven into all 
fabrics whose strength is secrecy, and experience proves that it is much 
easier to become fireproof than to become exposure proof. It is still an 
open question, however, as to what extent exposure 

Page 99

really injures a performer. Exposure of the secrets of the fire-eaters, 
for instance, dates back almost to the beginning of the art itself. The 
priests were exposed, Richardson was exposed, Powell was exposed and so on 
down the line; but the business continued to prosper, the really clever 
performers drew quite fashionable audiences for a long time, and it was 
probably the demand for a higher form of entertainment, resulting from a 
refinement of the public taste, rather than the result of the many 
exposures, that finally relegated the Fire- eaters to the haunts of the 
proletariat. 

   How the early priests came into possession of these secrets does not 
appear, and if there were ever any records of this kind the Church would 
hardly allow them to become public. That they used practically the same 
system which has been adopted by all their followers is amply proved by 
the fact that after trial by ordeal had been abolished Albertus Magnus, in 
his work De Mirabilibus Mundi, at the end of his book De Secretis 
Mulierum, Amstelod, 1702, made public the underlying principles of heat-
resistance; namely, the use of certain 

Page 100

compounds which render the exposed parts to a more or less extent 
impervious to heat. Many different formulas have been discovered which 
accomplish the purpose, but the principle remains unchanged. The formula 
set down by Albertus Magnus was probably the first ever made public: the 
following translation of it is from the London Mirror: 

   Take juice of marshmallow, and white of egg, flea-bane seeds, and lime; 
powder them and mix juice of radish with the white of egg; mix all 
thoroughly and with this composition annoint your body or hand and allow 
it to dry and afterwards annoint it again, and after this you may boldly 
take up hot iron without hurt. 

   "Such a paste," says the correspondent to the Mirror, "would indeed be 
very visible." 

   Another early formula is given in the 1763 edition of Hocus Pocus. 
Examination of the different editions of this book in my library discloses 
the fact that there are no fire formulas in the second edition, 1635, 
which is the earliest I have (first editions are very rare and 

Page 101

there is only one record of a sale of that edition at auction). From the 
fact that this formula was published during the time that Powell was 
appearing in England I gather that that circumstance may account for its 
addition to the book. It does not appear in the German or Dutch editions. 

   The following is an exact copy: 
HOW TO WALK ON A HOT IRON
BAR WITHOUT ANY DANGER
OF SCALDING OR BURNING.

   Take half an ounce of samphire, dissolve it in two ounces of aquævitæ, 
add to it one ounce of quicksilver, one ounce of liquid storax, which is 
the droppings of Myrrh and hinders the camphire from firing; take also two 
ounces of hematitus, a red stone to be had at the druggist's, and when you 
buy it let them beat it to powder in their great mortar, for it is so very 
hard that it cannot be done in a small one; put this to the afore-
mentioned composition, and when you intend to walk on the bar you must 
annoint your feet well therewith, and you may walk over without danger: 

Page 102

by this you may wash your hands in boiling lead. 

   This was the secret modus operandi made use of by Richardson, the first 
notably successful fire artist to appear in Europe, and it was disclosed 
by his servant.(2)

   Hone's Table Book, London, 1827, page 315, gives Richardson's method as 
follows: 

   It consisted only in rubbing the hands and thoroughly washing the 
mouth, lips, tongue, teeth and other parts which were to touch the fire, 
with pure spirits of sulphur. This burns and cauterizes the epidermis or 
upper skin, till it becomes as hard and thick as leather, and each time 

(2. Such disloyalty in trusted servants is one of the most disheartening 
things that can happen to a public performer. But it must not be thought 
that I say this out of personal experience: for in the many years that I 
have been before the public my secret methods have been steadily shielded 
by the strict integrity of my assistants, most of whom have been with me 
for years. Only one man ever betrayed my confidence, and that only in a 
minor matter. But then, so far as I know, I am the only performer who ever 
pledged his assistants to secrecy, honor and allegiance under a notarial 
oath.)

Page 103

the experiment is tried it becomes still easier. But if, after it has been 
very often repeated the upper skin should grow so callous and hard as to 
become troublesome, washing the parts affected with very warm water, or 
hot wine, will bring away all the shrivelled or parched epidermis. The 
flesh, however, will continue tender and unfit for such business till it 
has been frequently rubbed over with the same spirit. 

   This preparation may be rendered much stronger and more efficacious by 
mixing equal quantities of spirit of sulphur, sal ammoniac, essence of 
rosemary and juice of onions. The bad effects which frequently swallowing 
red-hot coals, melted sealing wax, rosin, brimstone and other calcined and 
inflammable matter, might have had upon his stomach were prevented by 
drinking plentifully of warm water and oil, as soon as he left the 
company, till he had vomited it all up again. 

   This anecdote was communicated to the author of the Journal des Savants 
by Mr. Panthot, Doctor of Physics and Member of the College at Lyons. It 
appeared at the time 

Page 104

Powell was showing his fire-eating stunts in London, and the correspondent 
naïvely added: 

   Whether Mr. Powell will take it kindly of me thus to have published his 
secret I cannot tell; but as he now begins to drop into years, has no 
children that I know of and may die suddenly, or without making a will, I 
think it a great pity so genteel an occupation should become one of the 
artes perditae, as possibly it may, if proper care is not taken, and 
therefore hope, after this information, some true-hearted Englishman will 
take it up again, for the honor of his country, when he reads in the 
newspapers, "Yesterday, died, much lamented, the famous Mr. Powell. He was 
the best, if not the only, fire-eater in the world, and it is greatly to 
be feared that his art is dead with him." 

   After a couple of columns more in a similar strain, the correspondent 
signs himself Philopyraphagus Ashburniensis. In his History of Inventions, 
Vol. III, page 272, 1817 edition, Beckmann thus describes the process: 

Page 105

   The deception of breathing out flames, which at present excites, in a 
particular manner, the astonishment of the ignorant, is very ancient. When 
the slaves in Sicily, about a century and a half before our era, made a 
formidable insurrection, and avenged themselves in a cruel manner, for the 
severities which they had suffered, there was amongst them a Syrian named 
Eunus -- a man of great craft and courage; who having passed through many 
scenes of life, had become acquainted with a variety of arts. He pretended 
to have immediate communication with the gods; was the oracle and leader 
of his fellow- slaves; and, as is usual on such occasions confirmed his 
divine mission by miracles. When heated by enthusiasm and desirous of 
inspiring his followers with courage, he breathed flames or sparks among 
them from his mouth while he was addressing them. We are told by 
historians that for this purpose he pierced a nut shell at both ends, and, 
having filled it with some burning substance, put it into his mouth and 
breathed through it. This deception, at present, is performed much better. 
The juggler rolls together some flax or hemp, 

Page 106

so as to form a ball about the size of a walnut; sets it on fire; and 
suffers it to burn until it is nearly consumed; he then rolls round it, 
while burning, some more flax; and by these means the fire may be retained 
in it for a long time. When he wishes to exhibit he slips the ball 
unperceived into his mouth, and breathes through it; which again revives 
the fire, so that a number of weak sparks proceed from it; and the 
performer sustains no hurt, provided he inspire the air not through the 
mouth, but the nostrils. By this art the Rabbi Bar-Cocheba, in the reign 
of the Emperor Hadrian, made the credulous Jews believe that he was the 
hoped-for Messiah; and two centuries after, the Emperor Constantius was 
thrown into great terror when Valentinian informed him that he had seen 
one of the body-guards breathing out fire and flames in the evening. 

   Since Beckmann wrote, the method of producing smoke and sparks from the 
mouth has been still further improved. The fire can now be produced in 
various ways. One way is by the use of a piece of thick cotton string 
which 

Page 107

has been soaked in a solution of nitre and then thoroughly dried. This 
string, when once lighted, burns very slowly and a piece one inch long is 
sufficient for the purpose. Some performers prefer a small piece of punk, 
as it requires no preparation. Still others use tinder made by burning 
linen rags, as our forefathers used to do. This will not flame, but merely 
smoulders until the breath blows it into a glow. The tinder is made by 
charring linen rags, that is, burning them to a crisp, but stopping the 
combustion before they are reduced to ashes. 

   Flames from the lips may be produced by holding in the mouth a sponge 
saturated with the purest gasoline. When the breath is exhaled sharply it 
can be lighted from a torch or a candle. Closing the lips firmly will 
extinguish the flame. A wad of oakum will give better results than the 
sponge. 

   Natural gas is produced as simply. A T- shaped gas pipe has three or 
four gas tips on the cross-piece. The long end is placed in the mouth, 
which already holds concealed a sponge, or preferably a ball of oakum, 
saturated with pure gasoline. Blowing through 

Page 108

the pipe will force the gas through the tips, where it can be ignited with 
a match. It will burn as long as the breath lasts. 

   In a London periodical, The Terrific Record, appears a reprint from the 
Mercure de France, giving an account of experiments in Naples which led to 
the discovery of the means by which jugglers have appeared to be 
incombustible. They first gradually habituate the skin, the mouth, throat 
and stomach to great degrees of heat, then they rub the skin with hard 
soap. The tongue is also covered with hard soap and over that a layer of 
powdered sugar. By this means an investigating professor was enabled to 
reproduce the wonders which had puzzled many scientists. 

   The investigating professor in all probability, was Professor 
Sementini, who experimented with Lionetto. I find an account of 
Sementini's discoveries in an old newspaper clipping, the name and date of 
which have unfortunately been lost: 

   Sementini's efforts, after performing several experiments upon himself, 
were 

Page 109

finally crowned with success. He found that by friction with sulphuric 
acid deluted [sic: diluted] with water, the skin might be made insensible 
to the action of the heat of red- hot iron; a solution of alum, evaporated 
till it became spongy, appeared to be more effectual in these frictions. 
After having rubbed the parts which were thus rendered in some degree 
insensible, with hard soap, he discovered, on the application of hot iron, 
that their insensibility was increased. He then determined on again 
rubbing the parts with soap, and after that found that the hot iron not 
only occasioned no pain but that it actually did not burn the hair. 

   Being thus far satisfied, the Professor applied hard soap to his tongue 
until it became insensible to the heat of the iron; and having placed an 
ointment composed of soap mixed with a solution of alum upon it, burning 
oil did not burn it; while the oil remained on the tongue a slight hissing 
was heard, similar to that of hot iron when thrust into water; the oil 
soon cooled and might then be swallowed without danger. 

   Several scientific men have since repeated 

Page 110

the experiments of Professor Sementini, but we would not recommend any 
except professionals to try the experiments. 

   Liquid storax is now used to anoint the tongue when red-hot irons are 
to be placed in the mouth. It is claimed that with this alone a red-hot 
poker can be licked until it is cold. 

   Another formula is given by Griffin, as follows: 1 bar ivory soap, cut 
fine, 1 pound of brown sugar, 2 ounces liquid storax (not the gum). 
Dissolve in hot water and add a wine-glassful of carbolic acid. This is 
rubbed on all parts liable to come in contact with the hot articles. After 
anointing the mouth with this solution rinse with strong vinegar. 

   No performer should attempt to bite off red- hot iron unless he has a 
good set of teeth. A piece of hoop iron may be prepared by bending it back 
and forth at a point about one inch from the end, until the fragment is 
nearly broken off, or by cutting nearly through it with a cold chisel. 
When the iron has been heated red-hot, the prepared end is taken between 

Page 111

the teeth, a couple of bends will complete the break. The piece which 
drops from the teeth into a dish of water will make a puff of steam and a 
hissing sound, which will demonstrate that it is still very hot. 

   The mystery of the burning cage, in which the Fire King remains while a 
steak is thoroughly cooked, is explained by Barnello as follows: 

   Have a large iron cage constructed about 4 x 6 feet, the bottom made of 
heavy sheet iron. The cage should stand on iron legs or horses. Wrap each 
of the bars of the cage with cotton batting saturated with oil. Now take a 
raw beefsteak in your hand and enter the cage, which is now set on fire. 
Remain in the cage until the fire has burned out, then issue from the cage 
with the steak burned to a crisp. 

   Explanation: On entering the cage the performer places the steak on a 
large iron hook which is fastened in one of the upper corners. The dress 
worn is of asbestos cloth with a hood that completely covers the head and 
neck. There is a small hole over the mouth through which he breathes. 

Page 112

   As soon as the fire starts the smoke and flames completely hide the 
performer from the spectators, and he immediately lies down on the bottom 
of the cage, placing the mouth over one of the small air holes in the 
floor of the same. 

   Heat always goes up and will soon cook the steak. 

   I deduce from the above that the performer arises and recovers the 
steak when the fire slackens but while there is still sufficient flame and 
smoke to mask his action. 

   It is obvious that the above explanation covers the baker's oven 
mystery as well. In the case of the oven, however, the inmate is concealed 
from start to finish, and this gives him much greater latitude for his 
actions. M. Chabert made the oven the big feature of his programme and 
succeeded in puzzling many of the best informed scientists of his day. 

   Eating coals of fire has always been one of the sensational feats of 
the Fire Kings, as it is quite generally known that charcoal burns with an 
extremely intense heat. This fervent lunch, however, like many of the 
feasts of the 

[image caption: Harry Kellar]

Page 113

Fire Kings, is produced by trick methods. Mixed with the charcoal in the 
brazier are a few coals of soft white pine, which when burnt look exactly 
like charcoal. These will not burn the mouth as charcoal will. They should 
be picked up with a fork which will penetrate the pine coals, but not the 
charcoal, the latter being brittle. 

   Another method of eating burning coals employs small balls of burned 
cotton in a dish of burning alcohol. When lifted on the fork these have 
the appearance of charcoal, but are harmless if the mouth be immediately 
closed, so that the flame is extinguished. 

   In all feats of fire-eating it should be noted that the head is thrown 
well back, so that the flame may pass out of the open mouth instead of up 
into the roof, as it would if the head were held naturally. 

   To drink burning oil set fire to a small quantity of kerosene in a 
ladle. Into this dip an iron spoon and bring it up to all appearance, 
filled with burning oil, though in reality the spoon is merely wet with 
the oil. It is carried blazing to the mouth, where it is tipped, as if to 

Page 114

pour the oil into the mouth, just as a puff of breath blows out all the 
flame. The process is continued until all the oil in the ladle has been 
consumed; then the ladle is turned bottom up, in order to show that all 
the oil has been drunk. A method of drinking what seems to be molten lead 
is given in the Chambers' Book of Days, 1863, Vol. II, page 278: 

   The performer taking an iron spoon, holds it up to the spectators, to 
show that it is empty; then, dipping it into a pot containing melted lead, 
he again shows it to the spectators full of the molten metal; then, after 
putting the spoon in his mouth, he once more shows it to be empty; and 
after compressing his lips, with a look expressive of pain, he, in a few 
moments, ejects from his mouth a piece of lead impressed with the exact 
form of his teeth. Ask a spectator what he saw, and he will say that the 
performer took a spoonful of molten lead, placed it in his mouth, and soon 
afterwards showed it in a solid state, bearing the exact form and 
impression of his teeth. If deception be insinuated, the spectator will 
say. "No! Having the 

Page 115

evidence of my senses, I cannot be deceived; if it had been a matter of 
opinion I might, but seeing, you know, is believing." Now the piece of 
lead, cast from a plaster mould of the performer's teeth, has probably 
officiated in a thousand previous performances, and is placed in the mouth 
between the gum and the cheek, just before the trick commences. The spoon 
is made with a hollow handle containing quicksilver, which, by a simple 
motion, can be let run into the bowl, or back again into the handle at 
will. 

   The spoon is first shown with the quicksilver concealed in the handle, 
the bowl is then dipped just within the rim of the pot containing the 
molten lead, but not into the lead itself, and, at the same instant the 
quicksilver is allowed to run into the bowl. The spoon is then shown with 
the quicksilver (which the audience takes to be the melted lead) in the 
bowl, and when placed in the mouth, the quicksilver is again allowed to 
run into the handle. 

   The performer, in fact, takes a spoonful of nothing, and soon after 
exhibits the lead bearing the impression of the teeth. 

Page 116

   Molten lead, for fire-eating purposes, is made as follows: 

Bismuth . . . . . . . . . . . 5 oz. 
Lead. . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 oz. 
Block tin . . . . . . . . . . 2 oz. 

Melt these together. When the metal has cooled, a piece the size of a 
silver quarter can be melted and taken into the mouth and held there until 
it hardens. This alloy will melt in boiling water. Robert-Houdin calls it 
Arcet's metal, but I cannot find the name elsewhere. 

   The eating of burning brimstone is an entirely fake performance. A 
number of small pieces of brimstone are shown, and then wrapped in cotton 
which has been saturated with a half-and-half mixture of kerosene and 
gasoline, the surplus oil having been squeezed out so there shall be no 
drip. When these are lighted they may be held in the palm of any hand 
which has been anointed with one of the fire mixtures described in this 
chapter. Then throw back the head, place the burning ball in the mouth, 
and a freshly extinguished candle can be lighted from the flame. Close the 
lips 

Page 117

firmly, which will extinguish the flame, then chew and pretend to swallow 
the brimstone, which can afterwards be removed under cover of a 
handkerchief. 

   Observe that the brimstone has not been burned at all, and that the 
cotton protects the teeth. To add to the effect, a small piece of 
brimstone may be dropped into the furnace, a very small piece will suffice 
to convince all that it is the genuine article that is being eaten. 

   To cause the face to appear in a mass of flame make use of the 
following: mix together thoroughly petroleum, lard, mutton tallow and 
quick lime. Distill this over a charcoal fire, and the liquid which 
results can be burned on the face without harm.(3)

   To set paper on fire by blowing upon it, small pieces of wet phosphorus 
are taken into the mouth, and a sheet of tissue paper is held about a foot 
from the lips. While the paper is being blown upon the phosphorus is 
ejected on it, although this passes unnoticed by the spectators, and as 
soon as the continued blowing 

(3. Barnello's Red Demon.)

Page 118

has dried the phosphorus it will ignite the paper. 

   Drinking boiling liquor is accomplished by using a cup with a false 
bottom, under which the liquor is retained. 

   A solution of spermaceti in sulphuric ether tinged with alkanet root, 
which solidifies at 50o F., and melts and boils with the heat of the hand, 
is described in Beckmann's History of Inventions, Vol. II., page 121. 

   Dennison's No. 2 sealing wax may be melted in the flame of a candle 
and, while still blazing, dropped upon the tongue without causing a burn, 
as the moisture of the tongue instantly cools it. Care must be used, 
however, that none touches the hands or lips. It can be chewed, and 
apparently swallowed, but removed in the handkerchief while wiping the 
lips. 

   The above is the method practiced by all the Fire-Eaters, and 
absolutely no preparation is necessary except that the tongue must be well 
moistened with saliva. 

   Barnello once said, "A person wishing to become a Fire-Eater must make 
up his or her 

Page 119

mind to suffer a little at first from burns, as there is no one who works 
at the business but that gets burns either from carelessness or from 
accident." 

   This is verified by the following, which I clip from the London Globe 
of August 11th, 1880: 

   Accident to a Fire-Eater. A correspondent telegraphs: A terrible scene 
was witnessed in the market place, Leighton Buzzard, yesterday. A 
travelling Negro fire eater was performing on a stand, licking red-hot 
iron, bending heated pokers with his naked foot, burning tow in his mouth, 
and the like. At last he filled his mouth with benzolene, saying that he 
would burn it as he allowed it to escape. He had no sooner applied a 
lighted match to his lips than the whole mouthful of spirit took fire and 
before it was consumed the man was burned in a frightful manner, the 
blazing spirit running all over his face, neck and chest as he dashed from 
his stand and raced about like a madman among the assembled crowd, tearing 
his clothing from him and howling in most intense agony. A portion of the 
spirit was 

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swallowed and the inside of his mouth was also terribly burnt. He was 
taken into a chemist's shop and oils were administered and applied, but 
afterwards in agonizing frenzy he escaped in a state almost of nudity from 
a lodging house and was captured by the police and taken to the work- 
house infirmary, where he remains in a dreadful condition. 

   Remember! Always have a large blanket at hand to smother flames in 
burning clothing -- also a bucket of water and a quantity of sand. A 
siphon of carbonic water is an excellent fire extinguisher. 

   The gas of gasoline is heavier than air, so a container should never be 
held above a flame. Keep kerosene and gasoline containers well corked and 
at a distance from fire. 

   Never inhale breath while performing with fire. Flame drawn into the 
lungs is fatal to life. 

   So much for the entertaining side of the art. There are, however, some 
further scientific principles so interesting that I reserve them for 
another chapter.