Miracle Mongers

MIRACLE MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS

Table of Contents:

Chapter I. Fire worship. Fire eating and heat resistance. The Middle Ages. Among the Navajo Indians. Firewalkers of Japan. The Fiery Ordeal of Fiji.
Chapter II. Watton’s Ship-swabber from the Indies.-Richardson, 1667. De Heiterkeit, 1713. Robert Powell, 1718-1780. Dufour, 1783. Quackensalber, 1794.
Chapter III. The nineteenth century. A “Wonderful Phenomenon.” “The Incombustible Spaniard, Senor Lionetto,” 1803. Josephine Girardelli, 1814. John Brooks, 1817. W. C. Houghton, 1832. J. A. B. Chylinski, 1841. Chamouni, the Russian Salamander, 1869. Professor Rel Maeub, 1876. Rivelli (died 1900).
Chapter IV. The Master-Chabert, 1792-1859.
Chapter V. Fire-eating magicians.
Chapter VI. The Arcana of the fire-eaters.
and more...


JOHN BROOKS.
We shall let this versatile John Brooks close the pre-Chabert record and turn our attention to the fire-eaters
of Chabert’s day. Imitation may be the sincerest flattery, but in most cases the victim of the imitation, it is
safe to say, will gladly dispense with that form of adulation. When Chabert first came to America and gave
fresh impetus to the fire-eating art by the introduction of new and startling material, he was beset by many
imitators, or— as they probably styled themselves—rivals, who immediately proceeded, so far as in them
lay, to out-Chabert Chabert.
One of the most prominent of these was a man named W. C. Houghton, who claimed to have challenged
Chabert at various times. In a newspaper advertisement in Philadelphia, where he was scheduled to give a
benefit performance on Saturday evening, February 4th, 1832, he practically promised to expose the method
of poison eating. Like that of all exposers, however, his vogue was of short duration, and very little can be
found about this super-Chabert except his advertisements. The following will serve as a sample of them:
ARCH STREET THEATRE
BENEFIT
OF THE AMERICAN FIRE KING
A CARD.—W. C. Houghton, has the
honor to announce to the ladies and
gentlemen of Philadelphia, that his
BENEFIT will take place at the ARCH STREET THEATRE, on Saturday evening next, 4th February, when
will be presented a variety of entertainments aided by the whole strength of the company.
Mr. H. in addition to his former experiments will exhibit several fiery feats, pronounced by Mons. Chabert
an IMPOSSIBILITY. He will give a COMPLETE explanation by illustrations of the PRINCIPLES of the
EUROPEAN and the AMERICAN CHESS PLAYERS. He will also (unless prevented by indisposition)
swallow a sufficient quantity of phosphorus, (presented by either chemist or druggist of this city) to destroy
THE LIFE OF ANY INDIVIDUAL. Should he not feel disposed to take the poison, he will satisfactorily
explain to the audience the manner it may be taken without injury.
In our next chapter we shall see how it went with others who challenged Chabert.
A Polish athlete, J. A. B. Chylinski by name, toured Great Britain and Ireland in 1841, and presented a
more than usually diversified entertainment. Being gifted by nature with exceptional bodily strength, and
trained in gymnastics, he was enabled to present a mixed programme, combining his athletics with feats of
strength, fire-eating, poison-swallowing, and fire-resistance.
In The Book of Wonderful Characters, published in 1869 by John Camden Hotten, London, I find an
account of Chamouni, the Russian Salamander: “He was insensible, for a given time, to the effects of heat.
He was remarkable for the simplicity and singleness of his character, as well as for that idiosyncrasy in his
constitution, which enabled him for so many years, not merely to brave the effects of fire, but to take a
delight in an element where other men find destruction. He was above all artifice, and would often entreat
his visitors to melt their own lead, or boil their own mercury, that they might be perfectly satisfied of the
gratification he derived from drinking these preparations. He would also present his tongue in the most
obliging manner to all who wished, to pour melted lead upon it and stamp an impression of their seals.”
A fire-proof billed as Professor Rel Maeub, was on the programme at the opening of the New National
Theater, in Philadelphia, Pa., in the spring of 1876. If I am not mistaken the date was April 25th. He called
himself “The Great Inferno Fire-King,” and his novelty consisted in having a strip of wet carpeting running
parallel to the hot iron plates on which he walked barefoot, and stepping on it occasionally and back onto
the hot iron, when a loud hissing and a cloud of steam bore ample proof of the high temperature of the
metal.
One of the more