The Mirror Representative fastens the Cuff on Houdini’s Wrists
I have been intrigued by the London Hippodrome Match and the famous Mirror Handcuff ever since I saw the cuff along with the silver replica as a kid at the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in June 1980. The original cuff and silver replica are now in David Copperfield’s private museum.
In the spring of 1904 Houdini was in England playing the London Hippodrome. Each day he issued his standard challenge to the audience to bring forth their handcuffs to challenge him. One day in March a representative [TBD] of the Daily Illustrated Mirror newspaper issued a special challenge to Houdini to escape from a special pair of handcuffs supposedly built by a blacksmith [Nathaniel Hart] in Birmingham over a five year period. Houdini accepted the challenge and it was scheduled for St. Patrick’s Day, March 17. [handcuffs.org]
The account of Houdini’s great victory appeared in the Daily Illustrated Mirror March 18, 1904.
In “Houdini – The Key”, Patrick Culliton mentions a couple times (page 146 and page 155) that no one knows the name of the representative from the Mirror.
So who was this representative and what was his story?
Click the link below to finally learn the name and read the press agents entertaining story:
Some observations about the story:
The Press Agents story comes out a little over 6 years after the famous match, while Houdini is appearing at the Tivoli Theatre in Sydney, Australia.
It would have been on March 11th, 1904 that the press agent 1) suggested the challenge “gag” for the paper, 2) bribed a policeman, 3) first discovered the locksmith in Birmingham who spent 5 years of his life perfecting a lock that no mortal can pick, and 4) borrowed the cuff to test Houdini.
There is no mention of anyone giving Houdini a glass of water during the match.
The locksmith is still referred to as Nathaniel Hart.
“It was only a peculiar physical defect that enabled Houdini to defeat his beautiful mechanism”.
H A P P Y N E W Y E A R!
Great stuff!
Thanks John! I would love to know what Pat Culliton, Mick Hanzlik and other experts make of this story.
I use to play with them when my grandparents own them, i do not remember. A key.they sold them in 1972.
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing that.
Just looking at the picture. In my collection its weird that there is no key with the photo,and do not show the end where the key goes. Are there picture of the key hole?
I would love to see the photo in your collection. As far as a photo of the key hole, I have not seen one. I have only seen photos of the cuffs and key(s). And only one photo where the key was inserted.
Are there any other pictures of the cuffs at different Engle with Houdini in them and the key?
I don’t recall seeing any other picture of Houdini in the cuffs but would love to see one.
Nice. ” Holmes ” would proud. Not sure about his creator. 😉
LoL
I have heard from the experts Patrick Culliton and Mick Hanzlik over at Wild About Harry and they both smell a rat. As Patrick put it, a Houdini rat. They both questioned the timing of the article compared to the date of the challenge, as well as why Nathanial Hart (if that was his real name) was not in the audience; surely he should have been there. Patrick feels that the article is an apologia to cover up loose ends and divert rumors. And Mick points out why would a guy who had spent 6 years of his life around a set of unique handcuffs, suddenly “loan” them to a complete stranger for a “gag” to try and beat Houdini. Also, as Houdini ended up with the cuffs, surely there was much more going on than we are led to believe.
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