Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

The performer comes forward with the pistol in one hand and the ramrod in the other, and having a small charge of gunpowder, screwed up in a bit of soft paper, concealed between the second and third fingers of his right hand. He hands the pistol and ramrod for inspection. While they are under examination, he asks, “Can any lady or gentleman oblige me with a little gunpowder?” Nobody answers, and he continues, addressing some mild elderly gentleman, “Perhaps you can accommodate me, sir?” The elderly gentleman naturally replies that he is not in the habit of carrying gunpowder about with him. “Excuse me,” says the performer, “but I fancy you have a small packet of powder under your coat-collar. Permit me!” and drawing his hand gently down beneath the collar, he produces the little packet. This he hands to the person who is holding the pistol, with a request that he will load it. While he puts in the powder, the performer drops his left hand to the pochette, and palms the little bag of bullets, which he forthwith produces from a gentleman’s hat, or a lady’s muff.[N] From among the bullets he requests the person who put in the powder to select and mark one. While this is done, he himself takes the pistol in his left hand, holding it muzzle upwards, and in the act of transferring it with apparent carelessness to the other hand, secretly drops into it the little tube, the open end upwards.