Escape from Huge Can of Water After Being Locked in Chest.

An iron bound chest, four big steel locks, and what looks like a colossal milk-can provide the means by which Houdini, the hand-cuff king, is mystifying Victoria audiences this week.

The can, after being placed in the chest, is filled with water by the attendants. Then Houdini, in bathing togs, submerges himself, first for a test of a minute and a half during which the top of the water-filled can is in full view or the audience. All over the house people avail themselves of the performer’s suggestion to stop breathing for the same period of time, a feat by no means easy in itself.

So much accomplished, Houdini—after another of his brief impressive speeches to the audience and instructions to the attendants—again enters the can, the cover is placed on it, the chest is locked, and the entire paraphernalia is hidden behind curtains. Possibly three minutes pass, and then Houdini appears. The chest is still locked, the can still filled with water. Trick, illusion—call it what you will—it is highly interesting and effective.

Prior to this experiment—the performer calls it that though one imagines the result is never by any chance in doubt—Houdini has called for hand-cuffs and repeated his now familiar trick of getting out of their clutches. And he ends his performance by escaping from a straitjacket, an act which appears to be about as difficult as anything that could be attempted. Of all the things the man does this one seems to require the greatest amount of physical force. It is, in fact, anything but a pretty exhibition, though a remarkable one.

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