Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 January 1902 — Novel Trick with a Stick. [ARTICLE]

Novel Trick with a Stick.

“Give me a cane, and I will make it stand unsupported in any position I please,” said a young man at an evening party recently. A cane was handed to him, and, sitting down, he placed it between his knees, says the New York Herald. Next he stroked it up and down two or three times, meanwhile mumbling some unintelligible words, and then he took his hands away, leaving the cane in a slanting position. To the surprise of the spectators, it did not fall but remained as firm as though it were rooted to the ground. Every one wanted to know how such a wonderful trick was done, and the young man solemnly answered that be had magnetized the cane, and that it was his deep study of magic and magnetism which had led him to make the experiment. Finally, however, he revealed the secret. "Before I offered to do the trick.” he said, “I fastened to my trouser’s near my knees a piece of wire so thin as to be practically invisible. When I sat down I began to move my knees away from each other, and in this way the wire was drawn out to its full length. The cane was then leaning against it, and naturally it did not fall when I took my hands away.”