This week, I thought I would share an interesting article from Houdini Himself about Handcuffs (American, British, French, Hungarian and Russian) he has met:
The Chanute Daily Tribune Fri, Jun 6, 1919 Page 3
Thoughts?
Master Mystery Handcuffs I Have Met
It was these kinds stories that earned Houdini a reputation for spinning yarns about his past. From my studies of the man, my best guess is that he started experimenting with handcuffs and other manacles around the mid 1890s. By 1899, when he ran into Martin Beck, he was knowledgeable enough to escape from the regulation cuffs that Beck brought with him on his return to see Houdini’s performance again.
At the start, Houdini had counsel and help from men like August Roterburg who gave him information on certain types of handcuffs. There were others as well that gave Houdini pointers. Houdini acquired the technology required to escape from manacles with a little help from his friends..as Sgt. Pepper would say.
Dean Carnegie has an excellent blog on Gus Roterburg and Houdini
Thanks for the link, Joe! It was a pleasant read! Yes, Roterburg was good friends with Houdini.
What I found interesting about this article is the mention of his super cuffs (i.e., Russian, Hungarian/Seance, and French) and also the fact that he makes a point to say that “handcuffs are even mentioned in the bible”.
In Culliton’s The Key, there are a few pages devoted to other people who were pretty good at escaping from handcuffs and other manacles. But I suppose there was only room for one handcuff king.