Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

The interior of the table should be well padded with wadding or hay, that the animal may not be hurt by its sudden descent. Each of the traps above-mentioned should be so made as to be capable of being secured, when necessary, by a bolt, or there would be considerable risk of a trap giving way unexpectedly under any article carelessly placed on it. The mode of bolting, however, varies considerably. Some traps are fastened by little bolts on the under side, which, being only get-at-able from the inside of the table, must be bolted or unbolted for good before the curtain rises, occasioning considerable embarrassment in the case of a slip of the memory. Others again are secured by means of long bolts, or wire rods extending across the under surface of the top of the table, each terminating in a hook at the back, within reach of the performer’s hand. A third, and, we think, the best, plan is to have the bolt (as shown in Figs. 261 and 262, and therein marked c) worked backwards and forwards by means of a little pin projecting upwards through the surface plate and the cloth of the table. By the adoption of this plan the performer is enabled to draw back the bolt with the finger-tip in the very act of placing the article upon the trap. It will readily suggest itself to the reader that some provision must be made within the table for making the various articles drop noiselessly through the traps. The best plan of effecting this is to use what is called a “railway.” This is a wooden frame just large enough to lie within the table, with a piece of black serge or alpaca stretched all over its under side. This is so placed within the table, as to slope gently down to the level of the servante, with a fall of three or four inches. Any article dropped through a trap will not only fall noiselessly upon the surface of the stretched alpaca, but will immediately roll down the incline towards the servante, so that it is instantly get-at-able, should the performer have occasion to reproduce the same article at a later stage of the trick.