Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

THE FLYING WATCHES AND THE BROKEN PLATE.--This is a rather more elaborate form of the trick last described. The performer collects three or four watches from the company, the assistant, meanwhile, being sent to fetch a plate. On his return, the watches are laid one by one on the plate, and he is ordered to place them on the table. In attempting to do so he trips and falls, the watches being scattered in all directions, and the plate being smashed to pieces. The performer reprimands the offender for his carelessness, and picking up the watches, finds that they are injured in various ways. After a momentary hesitation, he hits on a way of repairing the damage. Calling for his pistol, he drops the battered watches and the fragments of the plate into it, keeping all down with a wad of newspaper. The assistant now brings in the picture-frame, as in the last trick, and the performer, taking good aim, fires at it. At the instant of firing, the plate is seen restored in the centre of the frame, with the borrowed watches encircling it. The performer advances to remove and return them to the owners, but is (or appears to be) thunderstruck at perceiving that the restoration is incomplete, a large piece being missing from the plate. (See Fig. 295.) After a moment’s reflection, he discovers the cause of the defect, for, looking about upon the stage, he finds and picks up a fragment which he had overlooked when he put the rest in the pistol, and which consequently is wanting in the restored plate. He apologizes for the oversight, and proceeds to remedy it. Standing at the furthest portion of the stage, he makes the motion of throwing the recovered fragment towards the frame. It is seen to vanish from his hand, and the plate at the same moment appears whole as at first. The plate is removed, and with the restored watches handed to the audience for examination, when the closest inspection fails to discover any trace of fracture.