The Metamorphosis by Bruce MacNab

Author:Bruce MacNab
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Goose Lane Editions
Published: 2014-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

Harry and Bessie celebrate Houdini’s birthday with Joe and Mildred Hyman. Joe Hyman was present the night Harry first met Bessie at Coney Island. The dog seen in front is Houdini’s dog Bobby, the Handcuff Dog. Houdini had miniature handcuffs and straitjackets made for Bobby and trained him to escape from them. Bobby once performed his escape act at the prestigious Annual Dinner of the Society of American Magicians. (Patrick Culliton Collection)

Crossing the Grand Parade, Houdini honed in on the busy Halifax police department that operated out of the lower floor of city hall. Upon entering the eight-year-old building, Houdini was welcomed by Chief John O’Sullivan along with policemen McNally, Nickerson, and Fitzpatrick. The police station was stifling hot this day; more than a century later, sweat droplets from the policemen making their shift comments are still visible on the June 25, 1896, page of the station patrol book.

Besides serving as police headquarters, the station housed the police court, which dealt with lesser charges related to public drunkenness, prostitution, and petty thievery. The police court and the council chamber upstairs offered plenty of fodder for Halifax reporters on the prowl for city news. Houdini could count on finding a handful of reporters to watch him challenge the police department’s handcuffs. Of course, he still had to get permission from the chief of police for his demonstration.

Luckily for Houdini, fifty-four-year-old Chief O’Sullivan had an interest in the theatre arts and personally kept a watchful eye on the Academy of Music, concerning himself with the safety of its patrons. The chief’s lookout earned him a series of threatening letters, thanks to his habit of harassing liquor saloons in the vicinity of the theatre. The anonymous letter writer warned the chief that his activity could become “dangerous” and a “punching” could result if he kept up his vigilance. The letters hardly rattled the tall, capable chief. He actually stepped up his efforts near the academy and personally visited the saloons, inquiring about just where and when he could look forward to receiving his “punching.”

The fearless Chief O’Sullivan offered his respectful station guest, Harry Houdini, the first challenge. The chief went easy on Houdini, testing him with a single pair of regulation handcuffs. Houdini shed them in thirty-two seconds. The chief then snapped three pairs of handcuffs on Houdini’s wrists and reached for a fourth set. If Houdini planned to slide the cuffs off one at a time, he was out of luck. O’Sullivan carefully attached the fourth pair to connect the first three together. Seemingly undaunted, Houdini retired to the chief’s office that overlooked the Grand Parade and returned two minutes later with all four of the restraints unlocked.

Chief O’Sullivan wasn’t finished with Houdini yet. The Irish-born chief produced an ancient pair of British naval irons that immediately caught the full attention of the curly-haired magician. A Halifax Herald reporter described the vintage irons as “the old ones used in days long ago.” Houdini had never seen anything like these restraints in the

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.