CHAPTER SEVEN

DAYS IN HAWAII

DURING the War years I was engaged in taking my entertainment round the world. I played throughout the Far East, and from there I was to sail over to the U.S.A. for another tour of the great country where I had originally begun as a magician. On my way across the Pacific I stopped at the Hawaiian Islands to play for a short season there.

My first engagement was on the beautiful island of La Hina, and after a very successful week there I was due to move on to Hilo, the island which has the strangest volcano in the world; it is not a mountain, but a hole in the ground from which the molten lava wells.

La Hina harbour is not meant for large ships, and the one which was to transport me and my baggage had to anchor four miles away, and all the passengers and baggage were taken out to her in small boats which were towed by a launch.

I did not intend to board the large boat until all the baggage was aboard, and so I was not a witness of the following tragedy. Apparently, when my great glass illusion, which weighed seven hundred and eighty pounds, was being trans-shipped the rope broke, the illusion fell backwards, capsized the smaller boat, and so many of my most valuable illusions were lost, including the glass illusion itself.

When I arrived on board and heard what had happened I was distraught. I think it is the only time in my life that I have completely lost myself. I stood and stared at the waves beneath which my life's work was lying and suddenly I made a dash and tried to leap over the side into the sea. Luckily for me, I was seen and caught just in time. The captain heard about it and ordered two men to stand guard over me. They even stood outside my cabin door all night.

When I recovered from my despair I began to look about and see if there was no method of raising the illusions. The depth of the sea there was nine fathoms, and it seemed possible that something might be done, especially as there are many very clever divers in that part of the world.

I returned to La Hina and discovered two Japanese divers who thought they could do something for me. You can imagine my anxiety as I watched them dive time and time again, taking a rope with them. The first reports were disappointing, but at length they found the baggage and told me that they could bring it up.

First they fastened the rope to one of my trunks, and the ship's donkey-engine hoisted it. I was very glad to see it appear above the waves. Then, after a long rest, they did the same with the big glass illusion. Naturally I was as overjoyed to see that again, for I had given it up as irretrievably lost.

The other things, however, were in a large trunk, and this they said had sunk into the sand so that they could not tie the rope round it. We had to sail away and leave it there.

I was not able to open on the day for which I was booked at Hilo, for many of my things needed to be rebuilt. I reckoned up my loss at about £4000. Naturally I looked round for some way to make this good.

It came to my notice that quite a number of people had witnessed the accident and that they were all in agreement that it was due to gross neglect on the part of the shipping company. The aft rope had been insecurely fastened and the whole method of shipment was defective. There seemed every reason to believe that the company should pay me compensation.

With this in mind I went to Honolulu to start proceedings. The reply came back to say that the company disclaimed all liability. I decided to go further, and then something happened which persuaded me to bear my loss philosophically.

I met one of the local judges, and during the course of conversation in the hotel lounge I told him what I was engaged on.

"Give it up," he said.

"But why should I? It seems evident that the company was quite in the wrong, and I do not see why I should have to foot the bill for other people's negligence."

"That may be so, but I tell you that there isn't the slightest chance of your even starting that case, let alone winning it. Here everyone is related. Your lawyer is the cousin of the owner of the steamship company. Probably the very man who tries the case will be a relative of the people who ought to suffer. What chance do you think you stand? Take my advice: give up the idea."

I thought over what he had said and decided that he was quite right. It was a case of "Back to Hilo and on with the show!"

You will have gathered from this that I was not very happy in those pleasant islands, and soon something happened which made me even more miserable. America had now entered the War, and all the shipping was suddenly disorganized and there was no transport to take me to the West Coast of America. All ships were needed by the authorities for the transport of food, munitions, and troops. It looked as if I was to be marooned in mid-Pacific for quite a while, and the prospects was a most depressing one, for I had good engagements waiting in San Francisco, and after this loss I could hardly afford to let them go.

I went round and talked. I tried to pull strings. I brought influence to bear. It was all to no purpose. "There are no ships," I was told. There was no arguing with the officials; they treated everyone in the same abrupt and final manner.

After a few days of this I began to be desperate and I decided that I must think of some scheme for escaping from the island, with all my baggage and company as well. And in the middle of the night, the time when I have most of my inspirations, I thought of a way of escape.

Before going to bed I had been arguing to myself like this: "Who are the people who are having all their own way on the island at present?"

"The military authorities."

"Then, Horace, you must do something which makes you valuable to the military, and they will see that you get to America all right."

The question was--what?

This idea came to me in the middle of that warm night. If I could invent an invisible camouflage, the power who owned the secret would be in a most advantageous position. This was trench warfare. If I could think of some way to make snipers invisible I should have done my country a service and incidentally have rescued myself from Honolulu.

The idea for the invisible camouflage came into my head, practically complete, at three o'clock in the morning. I jumped out of bed and jotted it down, for I was running no risks of forgetting it, and then I felt happier than I had felt for a long time. My freedom was in sight.

The next day I busied myself with the apparatus needed for this marvellous camouflage which would render men invisible, and after two days' work I had it completed and working to my satisfaction. In the bedroom of my hotel I tinkered with it until I felt that the time for the military authorities to see it had come.

It was evident to me that there would be no point in going straight to the general in command and telling him of this invention. I knew enough of the military mind to know that the idea that a civilian could show a soldier something about war which he did not know would be treated as lunacy. I had to work so that it seemed that the suggestion came from one of themselves.

During my stay on the islands I had given several shows to the garrison of the island, and I had come to know some of the men quite well. In particular there was a sergeant who often came to have a chat with me. We were both Masons, and that seemed to bring us together. I decided that this should be the man to bring my invention to the notice of the authorities.

Accordingly I took him up to my bedroom, saying that I had a little thing to show him. Arrived there, I pointed out two toy soldiers standing in the corner. "Now I'm going to make them invisible."

He shut his eyes and then opened them. The soldiers were invisible. He shut and opened them again. The soldiers were there just as they had been before. He was absolutely astounded.

"Could you do that with full-grown men?" he demanded.

"I could."

"My God, there's something in this"--and he dashed out of the room. Everything I had planned had worked perfectly.

Later in the day a card was brought up to me bearing the name of Brigadier-General A. P. Blocksom, of the U.S. Army. With him came Colonel Mettler, Chief of the Ordnance Department in Washington. They had come to see me about my new invention, which, they understood, might possibly be of service to the Army.

"I am proud to be an American citizen, and I shall be glad to do all I can for my country." And with that I led the way to my bedroom, and I showed them the camouflage just as I had shown it to the sergeant. It worked perfectly, and they were both impressed.

"What can you do with this invention of yours they asked.

"If you had a column of soldiers with their heads showing above the trenches," I said, "I could make them invisible to the enemy. Twenty men could march into the enemy G.H.Q. and capture the officers and never be seen. I can make the invisible camouflage bullet-proof so that that action would be perfectly safe. I could render a motor-cycle invisible, so that you would hear the noise but never see the machine. Because of this invention men could be shot at and yet never know where the bullet had come from.

They asked me many questions, and I answered them all satisfactorily. I explained that there was a definite limit to the size of the object to be camouflaged, and that an aeroplane would offer difficulties I could not overcome. The upshot of the afternoon's chat was that the two officers assured me that I had invented something which they thought would be of considerable military value, and they asked me what I wanted for it.

I answered that I thought this so important that I wished to go myself to Washington and discuss the matter with the War Department. They agreed that this was a wise course, and assured me that I should receive every assistance. from them. In the meantime they took an option on the invention and gave me a receipt, signed by Colonel Mettler, which I still have, which ran as follows:

HAWAIIAN ORDNANCE DEPOT HONOLULU, H.T. July 8, 1918. To Whom It May Concern: This is to inform that I have inspected an illusion invented by Mr. Goldin for the Purpose of obscuring snipers and individual men in trees on or near the firing-line. The device operated satisfactorily on a small scale in a room and it appeared that it might be of value in the present war. Mr. Goldin has shown a considerable number of illusions on the stage in Hawaii, and his reputation in that art lends considerable value to his invention. (Signed) Charles G. Mettler, Lt.-Col., Ord. Dept., N.A., Commanding.

There was a ship due in Honolulu from Java and bound for San Francisco. She was the s.s. Metcham, and I had already made an attempt to book a passage on her and had failed. Now I went down to the offices of the shipping company to try again.

"Look you here," said the clerk. "I've got a list of seventy-nine people who want to board that ship, and there's only room for two or three to sleep on the deck. I can't possibly do a thing for you."

Then I took the "General's order?' out of my pocket, and everything changed. I was asked into the manager's office and given a cigar, while clerks dashed out and in making arrangements. I was assured that I myself and eleven of my company would be found cabins on board the Metcham, that the regulation that forty-eight hours' notice must be given to the Customs would be waived in my favour. To crown everything, it was arranged that my baggage, which was too bulky for the already overladen steamer, should be carried in two military transports.

Before I left, an article, censored by General Blocksom, appeared in the Pacific Commercial Advertiser on Monday, July 8, 1918.

ILLUSIONIST HAS DEVICE TO AID NATION'S FIGHTERS DEMONSTRATION OF CAMOUFLAGE TO DECEIVE FOE IS GIVEN BY HORACE GOLDIN, WHO WILL LAY PLANS BEFORE WASHINGTON Utilizing his talent as an illusionist upon the theatre stage, where for years he has fooled audiences all over the world with his mechanical devices, Horace Goldin, who has been in Honolulu for several weeks, is planning to leave soon for Washington to lay before the War Department a new illusion-invention which he asserts can be utilized upon battlefields or behind them to mystify the enemy. Brig.-Gen. A. P. Blocksorn, U.S.A. Department Commander, Colonel Mettler, U.S.A. Chief of the Ordnance Department, and other Army officers, have inspected the invention, and while they are reticent as to just what their opinions are as to the war use which can be made of the device, Mr. Goldin will at least carry letters from an Army officer here, addressed to War Department officials, which will pave the way for him to give a demonstration of his invention before high officials. Camouflage Device. The Inventor claims that the device will be of the camouflage variety and can be utilized to give advantage to America's snipers and machine-gunners, and at the same time completely mystify the Huns. A number of people were given an opportunity to witness a demonstration of this device and went away much mystified. "I have been doing illusions nearly all my life," said Mr. Goldin yesterday. "I am of a mechanical turn, which is necessary in order to build up new illusions. These are used upon the stage and are intended to mystify audiences. We are used to having people yell 'fake' when they think they have discovered how we do it, but that is part of the business--the fooling the people." Goes to Washington. "I wish to place the invention at the disposal of the country of my adoption--America--and will go to Washington for that purpose." Mr. Goldin lately received contracts in blank to be signed up with the Orpheum Circuit for a several weeks' tour, but he says he will lay this opportunity aside until he has had his interview with the War Department. W. S. S.

I arrived in San Francisco safely, and fulfilled my engagement at the Orpheum Theatre. During this time I was in correspondence with the War Department, and it was arranged that I should call on them in Washington during the week of November 11. From 'Frisco I went to Chicago, where I opened on November 4, 1918. At the end of that engagement I was to go to Washington to put my revolutionary invention before the officials.

On Monday, November 11, I travelled up to Washington. Hardly had I arrived there when special newspapers were being sold announcing the signing of the Armistice. My invention was too late.

The great wave of pacifist sentiment which followed the horror of the War years meant that my invention did not interest anyone, so I did nothing further about it. A few months ago, however, I decided that there was no point in wasting so valuable an idea, and I wrote to Washington asking if there was any intention of using this "Invisible Camouflage" of mine, and enclosing a bill for £5000, together with the receipt signed by Colonel Mettler.

In reply to this I received a curt letter stating that there was no record of this transaction and that I was quite free of all commitments to the War Department. That meant that they did not want it.

I am now negotiating with the British War Ministry, and I hope that, if the British Empire should ever be plunged into war again, this invention of mine will be of some use.