DID HOUDINI FAIL?

I CAN recall only one occasion when Houdini was baffled in an escape act. That he did eventually succeed in escaping from a pair of specially constructed cuffs after seventy minutes struggling was in itself a great triumph, but he afterwards told me it was the most nerve racking ordeal in all his long magical experience. There was one thing, however, which he refused to disclose. That was the manner in which he freed himself.

A well known newspaper challenged Houdini to escape from a pair of handcuffs made by a Birmingham blacksmith. This man had taken five years to perfect his invention, and it was said that the manacles could only be opened by a special key. Houdini, fearing nobody, and realising the value of the challenge as a free advertisement, readily accepted.

The test was held at the London Hippodrome, and it was generally expected that Houdini would free himself from the wonder cuffs in his customary time of two or three minutes. The manacles were placed on his wrists, and, following his usual procedure, he entered the small cabinet which exposed only his face to the audience of two thousand people.

Five, ten, twenty minutes passed, and still Houdini had not escaped. The audience grew restless. Had Houdini met his Waterloo? There was a cry of relief as he walked to the footlights at the end of half an hour, but when it was seen that his wrists were still secured, it turned to a sigh of disappointment. Perspiring profusely, he examined the handcuffs in the full glare of the electric light, and returned to his cabinet.

A few minutes later, he requested that a pillow might be placed on his knees in order to make his position more comfortable. But still the time went by, and he seemed no nearer success. The audience was amazed.

Fifteen minutes more elapsed, and Houdini asked that his coat might be removed. This request was refused since it would have necessitated removing the handcuffs. So he procured a penknife from his pocket, and slashed the lining of the coat to ribbons.

At the end of an hour, he asked his wife to bring him a glass of water. This she did, placing it on the edge of the cabinet. Houdini took the glass between his hands and drained it. Ten minutes later, he emerged from the cabinet, and flung the handcuffs on to the stage. He was free, and his appearance was greeted with thunderous applause.

How did Houdini escape? Presumably he manipulated the handcuffs by his ordinary methods, but in this case the locks had proved so stubborn that it had taken him over an hour to persuade them to yield. That, at least, is what the public concluded. Perhaps the public was right, it may have been deceived. I do not know.

I only know that on the following day I was told a very different story. A man whose sources of information were usually correct told me that Houdini never escaped from the handcuffs.

After an hour's struggling, said my informant, the magician realised he would never escape. So he asked his wife for a glass of water, and gave her to understand she would have to procure the key at all costs. Bessie, realising the terrible predicament of her husband, called one of the journalists aside, and frankly told him that her husband was beaten. Since failure would have meant the end of everything for Houdini, whilst to the paper it meant but little, she asked to be given the key to pass on to her husband.

This request was granted. It was rumoured that Bessie placed the key in the glass of water and took it to Houdini on the stage. Shortly afterwards, he walked from the cabinet with the handcuffs free from his wrists.

Personally, I think this story is an exaggeration. I can readily believe that Houdini was capable of such a plan when he found his escape impossible, but whether a newspaper man of standing would have consented to deliver up the key is quite another matter. One must remember it would have been a great triumph from newspaper's point of view to have brought about the defeat of such a celebrated escapologist as Houdini.

When Hondini came in to see me two days later, I put the question to him point blank, "Say, Harry," I said, "they're telling me you unlocked the handcuffs with the journalist's key. Is that true?"

"Who's been saying that?" he demanded.

"Never mind who. Is it true?"

"Since you know so much, Will, you had better find out the rest," was all he said.

This refusal of information on Houdini's part should not be construed as an admission of guilt. I expected it, for knowing him as I did, I guessed he would welcome the story as a means of quiet publicity. even if it was untrue. On the other hand, if he did actually fail to escape, one would hardly expect him to admit it.

I am afraid we shall never know what actually happened, but you can take it from me that Houdini had the greatest shock of his life. He afterwards told me that he would sooner face death a dozen times than live through that ordeal again.