Page:Houdini - Miracle Mongers.djvu/169

Rh watch was swallowed by the same performer, and while one end of the chain hung from the lips, the incredulous onlookers were invited to place their ears against his chest and listen to the ticking of the watch, which had passed as far into the æsophagus as the chain would allow.

The following anecdote from the Carlisle Journal, shows that playing with sword-swallowing is about as dangerous as playing with fire.

DISTRESSING OCCURRENCE

On Monday evening last, a man named William Dempster, a juggler of inferior dexterity while exhibiting his tricks in a public house in Botchergate, kept by a person named Purdy, actually accomplished the sad reality of one of those feats, with the semblance only of which he intended to amuse his audience. Having introduced into his throat a common table knife which he was intending to swallow, he accidentally slipped his hold, and the knife passed into his stomach. An alarm was